Speech at 14th Excellent Service Award 2008 Presentation Ceremony (Hospitality Industry)
Mr Gan Kim Yong, Acting Minister for Manpower, NUS University Cultural Centre
Mdm Kay Kuok, President of Singapore Hotel Association
Board and EXCO members of the Association
Award Recipients
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
Good afternoon to all of you. I am pleased to join you this afternoon at this Excellent Service Award ceremony to recognise exemplary service staff from the hospitality industry who have gone the extra mile for their customers.
Looking beyond the economic uncertainty
2. While the near term economic outlook may be somewhat uncertain, we are optimistic that the tourism sector in Singapore will continue to grow over the medium to long term. With the Tourism 2015 Plan, the Singapore Tourism Board aims to achieve a target of 17 million visitor arrivals by 2015. What lies ahead are therefore exciting times for our tourism industry. We have just hosted the 2008 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix last month to much acclaim. We are now looking forward to the Volvo Ocean Race which will stop over in Singapore early next year. We will witness the opening of the two Integrated Resorts over the next two years. In 2010, the International Cruise Terminal is due to open and we will also have the honour of hosting the inaugural Youth Olympic Games that year. These events bear testimony to Singapore's position as a premier destination for business and leisure.
3. The need to enhance our service competitiveness remains paramount so that Singapore will be well-positioned to capitalise on the growth opportunities in the tourism industry and hospitality sector.
Thinking strategically about service excellence
4. Our efforts to drive service excellence have largely been centered on front-line workers. While this is an important step especially in the initial phases of the service excellence movement, we need to do more to bring about a fundamental change in our service excellence culture.
5. Good service will help to achieve customer satisfaction. This is what generates customer loyalty, repeat business and higher profits. Customer satisfaction is driven by factors beyond front-line service. It is about providing a total customer experience that meets or even exceeds customers' expectations. It includes branding and customers' perception of quality, of how much value he is getting for his money, how he compares his current and his past experiences, as well as his future expectations.
6. Therefore, everyone has a role to play in achieving service excellence. This includes the receptionist who is not only courteous but is also able to answer customers' queries, to the line manager who trains his staff and schedules the roster to maximise staff productivity. Senior managers also play a part by deciding how to position their brand and how much investment be made in training, demand forecasting and customer relationship management systems. A service excellence culture must be part of an organisation's culture, and this is ultimately shaped by the leaders in the organisation. Recognising this, the Institute of Service Excellence@SMU, or ISES for short, was set up in 2007 to engage business leaders and encourage them to incorporate service excellence into their business strategies, processes and systems.
7. In April this year, ISES released the results of the first Customer Satisfaction Index for Singapore (CSI-SG in short), which measures and diagnoses the service competitiveness of the Singapore economy, different industries and individual companies. The CSI-SG is based on the same robust and established American Customer Satisfaction Index which has been widely used as the standard indicator of customer service levels in the United States. We hope that this index will eventually help companies understand the drivers of customer satisfaction, sharpen their business strategy as well as improve operations.
8. As Mdm Kay Kuok mentioned earlier, among the eight key economic sectors surveyed in the CSI-SG, the tourism sector had the highest customer satisfaction score. Within the Tourism sector, the hotels and attractions sub-sectors were the best performers. This is something we can be proud of but we should not rest on our laurels, and we should continue to strive to improve each year.
9. I encourage hoteliers to leverage on the CSI-SG to benchmark themselves against the rest of the hotel industry. They should also seek out ways to constantly improve their service excellence. A key area to look into is the development of human capital in order to build a core group of dedicated staff who can deliver excellent service. This is vital for companies' service competitiveness and survival.
Looking into the future
10. We have come a long way in improving our service competitiveness. In 2006, the Global Competitiveness report, published by the World Economic Forum, ranked Singapore number 26th in the world for customer service. Singapore then jumped several notches to the 15th position in 2007. This year, we have advanced to the 10th position.
11. These improvements in service competitiveness have also come in part from efforts by individuals and companies that we are recognising today. They exemplify what it means to go beyond customer expectations and have set higher benchmarks for others to follow.
12. One example is Mr Mohamed Zafirudin from the Amara Hotel Singapore. Mr Zafirudin is a Supervisor in Amara Singapore who has been instrumental in helping the Food & Beverage Department to achieve high service standards. His dedicated and personalised customer service has earned him many commendations over the years from both customers and the management. Mr Zafirudin has also been upgrading himself through various training programmes to sharpen his customer management skills. He exemplifies how if you have a positive attitude and service mindset, and are committed to providing a high level of customer satisfaction, you can improve your career prospects in the service industry.
13. Service culture cannot change overnight. It takes time to improve. We will only succeed when customer orientation and service excellence are entrenched in the company's processes and practices. The award recipients today show that it can be done. So, let us work together and continue to strive for service excellence in Singapore.
14. On this note, let me congratulate all the recipients on their awards and wish them every success and a fulfilling service career ahead of them.
15. Thank you.