Speeches
Opening Keynote Address by Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Education Mr S. Iswaran at the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES) Inaugural Global Conference in Service Excellence 2009 on Thursday, 23 July 2009, at 9.15 am
Prof Howard Hunter, President, Singapore Management University,
Mr Tan Suee Chieh, Co-chair, Governing Council of the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES),
Mr Chan Heng Kee, Chief Executive, Workforce Development Agency,
SMU’s Trustees, Advisory Board members and ISES Governing Council Members,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good morning.
I am happy to join you today at the Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Institute of Service Excellence’s (ISES’s) Inaugural Global Conference in Service Excellence. I am told that many of you attended the conference’s sessions yesterday afternoon which I trust you found to be fruitful. I also hope that the ISES itself has been exemplary by providing you with an excellent service experience at this conference.
Service Excellence is Key to Enhancing Business Growth
“What keeps CEOs and top management awake at night?” In the 1990s, IBM conducted a global research survey to find the answer to this question and discovered that the overwhelmingly cited response was how to forge closer and stronger linkages with their customers. The importance of service excellence to business growth clearly resonated with the corporate leaders then who understood the power of a memorable service experience.
More than a decade later, the importance of building strong and inextricable relationships between organisations and their customers has, if anything, taken on added significance. As economies around the world develop and grow in sophistication, consumers are increasingly offered greater choice and inevitably form higher expectations.
The era of digitization and the internet has broken down physical and global barriers. Customers are now able to access and share information on companies, and their products and services, instantaneously, regardless of where they are. Leveraging on the latest in communications platforms — be they online forums, blogs, or the latest craze, Twitter — word-of-mouth testimonials about service experiences can spread at unprecedented rates. This can have a profound effect on the reputations of governments, organisations and corporations.
Clearly, the advent of the internet and allied applications, while offering many opportunities, concurrently poses new challenges to businesses. Ironically, the very technology that enables greater efficiencies and effectiveness in service delivery can also be a multiplier of the adverse consequences of a bad service experience. Therefore, in tandem with these technological shifts, it is important that companies sustain their competitive edge by rethinking their strategies, dedicating significant resources to capture and analyse information on customers, and use this intelligence creatively to enhance product and service offerings.
Businesses Should Seize Opportunities in this Economic Downturn to Reinvent their Service Delivery
Training is critical to prepare for higher levels of service delivery
Amidst one of the worst economic downturns in recent history, there will be tremendous pressure on management to find ways to cut costs. This is inevitable and, indeed, essential in the quest for a leaner organisation to contend with equally lean times. However, despite the downturn (or perhaps because of it), I would strongly urge companies to also use this opportunity and some of the current spare capacity to train and prepare your employees for higher levels of service delivery. This will not only help companies weather the downturn but also stand them in good stead to take advantage of the eventual recovery. Indeed, as studies have shown, it is the companies that deliver superior customer service that are resilient in good times and bad.
Service leaders must lead by example
Hence, it is important that companies put in place frameworks to generate continual improvements in the overall service experience they deliver to their customers. These changes must be led by leaders who champion service excellence in their respective industries and organisations. As well-regarded decision-makers, they can take the lead in instilling a service excellence mindset, while motivating and empowering their colleagues to continuously improve their service delivery and commitments.
Introduce benchmarking to achieve new areas of growth
At a practical level, it is essential to keep track of our progress as we work towards achieving world-class service excellence. Many countries and companies have adopted benchmarking as a strategic tool to track development in service excellence and to identify areas for improvement. Simply put, in management parlance, “What gets measured gets done.”
I would urge all companies to adopt benchmarking as it helps companies to know where they stand, enables them to study best practice, and to aim for even higher standards. For example, to improve customer service standards, some banks and restructured hospitals here are studying The Ritz Carlton’s approach to customer service.
The Government is Committed Towards Achieving Service Excellence
The Government is mindful of the value of high service standards and is committed to supporting companies to achieve world-class levels of service excellence. In February this year, we announced that $100 million will be set aside to support the second phase of the “Go the Extra Mile for Service” movement (also known as GEMS) over the next three years. In particular, this second phase aims to drive service excellence through three initiatives:-
- Research and Thought Leadership;
- Customer Centric Initiative (CCI) for Service Capability Development; and
- Promotion, Publicity and Recognition.
We have made good progress since the launch of this movement with enthusiastic response from industry. To-date, more than 100,000 workers have committed themselves to participating in the CCI. Moving forward, another 27,000 workers from 65 companies and malls will be embarking on this initiative. In addition, about 18,000 workers will be trained under the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) Certified Service Professional (CSP) and Service Excellence Workforce Skills Qualifications (SE WSQ) programmes this year.
The Government hopes to see more businesses tap on the various programmes under GEMS to help them improve key components of their customer satisfaction strategies. A range of programmes catering to different needs are available including service leadership seminars such as this Conference, where captains of industry and experts in service excellence can share with, and learn from, each other.
Role of the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES)
To help steer us to new heights in this arena, the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) was established at SMU in July 2007, as a research institute to champion service excellence in Singapore. As part of the overall national GEMS movement, ISES aims to engage top business leadership through research, analysis and benchmarking. ISES is well-positioned to achieve its aims as it can draw upon the research expertise and academic rigour of the SMU faculty, while ensuring its industry relevance by keeping updated on the latest trends via industry gatherings and through its experienced and well-regarded Governing Council.
Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG)
Notwithstanding its relative infancy, ISES has already started contributing to the GEMS movement by developing our first ever Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (or CSISG). First released in 2008, the Index (which is based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)) was a milestone in Singapore’s service excellence journey because prior to that we did not have a comprehensive, national level benchmark for customer satisfaction.
The Index is a scientifically robust reference point for independent benchmarking and holistic measurement of customer satisfaction. Going beyond service quality, the CSISG aims to measure the entire gamut of customer satisfaction including customer expectations, the perceived overall quality of the product and service, as well as its value.
ISES’s Inaugural Global Conference in Service Excellence
This inaugural global conference is yet another aspect of ISES’ efforts to drive Singapore’s journey towards world-class service excellence and customer satisfaction. By focusing on the value of benchmarking, this conference provides a platform for intellectual engagement between representatives from academia and practitioners from industry. It also serves to emphasise the importance and usefulness of competitive benchmarking in increasing the growth opportunities of businesses.
Beyond this conference, ISES also facilitates businesses in their efforts to develop service strategies, formulate innovative business solutions and raise service standards. I encourage industry and business leaders to tap the rich reservoir of research expertise within SMU and our other autonomous universities (AUs) to develop solutions for industry and business problems, and hope that this conference will catalyse future collaborations.
Conclusion
The global emphasis on service standards is rising inexorably. It is evident that organisations that deliver superior customer experiences are best positioned to weather, if not capitalise on, economic cycles.
The government, industry, businesses and academia all have a role to play in developing service excellence for Singapore. We need collective ownership of this important effort. With strong partnership and support, I am confident that we can be well on our way towards achieving world-class service excellence standards which will drive Singapore’s next phase of growth. I wish you all a fruitful and enriching session ahead.
Thank you.