Singapore has maintained its No. 2 global ranking in the use of infocomm technology to improve economic productivity and social development for five years in a row.

This is according to a report released by business school Insead on April 23.

The country's rank last year is just behind Finland and is ahead of the United States (No. 7), Hong Kong (No. 8) and South Korea (No. 10).

Some 148 countries and territories were ranked in the Global Information Technology Report, which is now in its 13th edition this year.

Singapore ranked well and managed to hold its No. 2 spot because of the Government's strong showing in the use of infocomm technology, said Mr Bruno Lanvin, co-editor of the report.

Mr Lanvin, who is also executive director of the Insead European Competitiveness Initiative, told The Straits Times that another reason was that Singapore has a high level of education among its people, especially in mathematics, science and technology.

"Singapore has shown a remarkable ability to anticipate what the next challenge would be for IT," he added.

For instance, he said Singapore had prepared for the rise in data analytics at least four years ago, whereas some countries had began looking into it only in the last couple of years.

In data analytics, organisations try to make sense of large amounts of information to help them improve what they do.

While the use of infocomm technology is high in the public sector and large companies, Mr Lanvin said one area Singapore could improve on is getting more individuals, as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises, to make use of the technology.

"Singapore has not been seen yet as a source of innovation in business services. This could change very quickly, which may help Singapore move to the No. 1 spot," he added.