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Singaporeans spent more than 30 million hours on hold to address a customer service complaint or issue, according to new research by ServiceNow, the leading digital workflow company. The average person in Singapore spent approximately two full working days (equivalent to 16.1 hours) on hold last year equivalent to a staggering loss of SGD $1.24 billion in wages nationwide.

A total of 1,030 Singaporeans aged 18 and above took part in ServiceNow’s study, conducted by Lonergan Research in early 2024, to assess the state of service in Singapore within the past year.

Slow service solutions will see Singapore businesses’ operating costs increase, with employees spending an average of 4.7 working days to resolve each customer issue. According to Wee Luen Chia, Managing Director at ServiceNow Asia: “The effect goes wider than just the individual businesses putting their customers on hold, it’s impacting Singapore’s competitiveness.”

In total, 34% of Singaporeans actually resolve issues by themselves because of poor service

Customers ranked the top three frustrations with customer service as:

1. Having to repeat their issues to multiple people/departments (60% of respondents)
2. Being transferred to multiple people or departments (53%)
3. Relentless wait on hold (42%)

ServiceNow Uncovers Why Singapore Is Stuck on Hold

Respondents to the ServiceNow study believe Singapore is “stuck on hold” due to:

• Staff not having any power to make decisions/resolve issue (52%).
• A lack of ownership and responsibility between different departments (48%).
• Inefficient communications within the organisations (48%).
• Customer service department is understaffed or overwhelmed (47%).
• Customer service staff not listening to me (40%).

A whopping 72% of Singaporeans have even less patience with bad service because of inflated costs; a similar number of locals (70%) think customer service is getting worse because companies are cutting costs.

Additionally, 1 in 3 respondents believe that the time they spent on hold in 2023 is an increase from the previous year; almost 1 in 2 respondents (43%) believe the time it takes to resolve an issue has also increased. 43% of Singaporeans say their expectations of an organisation’s customer service department has increased in 2023.

A staggering 70% of Singaporeans also reported encountering service disruptions from key providers. On average, each Singaporean experienced two disruptions each year.

“Businesses that empower their employees and teams to collaborate quickly and transparently to resolve issues will succeed in 2024,” said Chia. Frustrating wait times, little resolution, and abrupt service disruption is costing Singapore its patience along with National productivity, too.”

Shifting Service Needs to Support All Generations

The ServiceNow research also compared generational service experiences, revealing signs of a digital divide in customer service quality. Baby Boomers were left waiting the longest for service in Singapore, in 2023, spending an average of 5.7 days for their issue to be resolved. For younger generations, it takes around 2 days less on average to have their issues resolved (3.6 days).

More than half (56%) of Gen Z have used self-service options more frequently over the past year to resolve issues and are less likely to speak to an agent, while 55% of Baby Boomers preferred to speak directly to a person (24% for Gen Z).

“A better customer experience starts with clearer visibility of where and why processes are currently letting customers down,” said ServiceNow’s Chia. “Only then can organisations invest in improving operations, to consolidate, augment, or replace the service gaps. Instead of betting on quick-fix solutions, customer experience requires a long-term commitment to building service roadmaps to progressively meet and even exceed Singaporeans’ evolving expectations.”

ServiceNow Asked: What Does Good Service Look Like?

Two-thirds of Singaporeans think that having their issues resolved quickly is key to good customer service, with transparency and empathy frequently emerging as top themes for an exemplary customer experience:

Poor customer service is a big issue.

• Having the issue resolved quickly (67%).
• Getting through to someone quickly by phone, chat, or in person (52%).
• Having an empathetic customer service agent who cares (47%).
• Being able to track progress (46%).
• Customer service agent knowing all your service details/interaction history (42%).

“Customers expect every part of a business to communicate and work together to solve their issues, fast. The research shows that customers attribute an organization’s inability to solve issues to business siloes and disempowered teams,” added Chia. “To break this downward spiral and earn back trust, customer service needs to enable the service teams to do their best work. Routing the right people to the right process, at the right time will solve the customer’s issue fast—this is where automation and Artificial Intelligence technologies can deliver their best work in the service of employees and also for customers.”

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