Service companies need to be innovative and courageous enough to implement new ways of conducting business
RECENT data released by the Singapore Department of Statistics showed that the service sector is growing in importance in the Singapore economy, echoing the World Bank's view that services play an increasingly crucial role in fostering economic growth and stability.
Singapore's services sector is not only a tour de force that continues to propel the country and the region's economy, but also helps to build Asean's resilience against any impact a global economic slowdown may have.
Singapore's services sector, particularly the communications and IT industry, received another bonus earlier in May when the identities of the two consortiums racing to become the country's Network Company (NetCo) were unveiled.
With this announcement, Singapore's super-broadband network dream embarked on its first gigantic step to becoming a reality. What this means is Singapore will be able to leverage infocomm to enable innovation throughout all social and economic industries including the services sector in Singapore.
At the core of the services sector lies the very notion of 'service' - most simply defined as 'an act of helpful activity'. Of course, the services trade encompasses a plethora of specialisations ranging from logistics management and education, to healthcare and hospitality.
Yet there is one constant across these different fields, and that is the aim to provide extra value that satisfies the needs of customers and create the best user experience. Going by this line of thought, the best example to use in discussing service is clearly Singapore's hospitality industry, which continues to surpass expectations and carve an unparalleled niche of its own.
On one hand, we have the super-broadband network coming into fruition. On the other, we have a strong performing hospitality services sector that presents vast opportunities for sustained growth and success.
The question is: how do we bring together these two success stories together to reap greater results and success? How will Singapore's infocomm masterplan elevate the nation's service and hospitality standards? What a wonderful challenge we have.
With tourist arrival rates in Singapore and Asia-Pacific expected to increase exponentially, hospitality service providers are facing greater pressure to attract travellers who have fast-changing needs and who can choose from a widening range of service providers during their travels.
Hotels, for instance, strive to create a 'home away from home' for guests, such that every basic amenity is available and accessible in a hassle-free and comfortable manner.
What constitutes 'basic' these days is quite different from what one may have had in mind, say, 10 years ago. For example, back then, you probably did not expect that secure, high-speed Internet should be a given in any hotel you stay in.
You almost certainly did not expect that you could access a wireless connection easily at the coffee lounge without having to foot a shockingly expensive bill when you checked out. Today, however, both business and leisure travellers increasingly demand connectivity on the go. Not only is secure, high-speed Internet at hotels seen as a must, WiFi and other radio connectivity is also expected. The very definition of 'service' in the hospitality industry has changed quite significantly.
Once Singapore's super-broadband network is rolled out, it will strengthen the call for hotels and even budget accommodation providers to provide their guests with the same, if not better high-speed Internet access.
This Internet connection needs to be secure and complemented by round-theclock customer and technical support to add value to the guest's experience. A fast Internet connection is incomplete without security and reliability. This responsibility ultimately falls on the service provider but hotels also play an important role in asserting their discerning choice.
For hotels that want to go the extra mile, the challenge goes beyond providing high-speed and wireless Internet access and other basic amenities. An islandwide ultra-high-speed and wireless network will create an endless multitude of possibilities for hospitality technology service providers to develop new solutions
and services that will further enhance the guest's experience and open up new revenue sources for the hotel.
Riding on the next-generation network will be the four 'winds of convergence' that will spur the largest range of new possibilities and applications for the user. They are:
- Network: where different modes of content such as voice and Internet are transmitted via the same cable;
- Mobile: where voice calls on a mobile device can be made via voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP);
- Media: deregulation of the media content industry such that advertisements on a hotel room television, for example, can be customised according to guests' needs; and finally,
- Application convergence, creating the same look and feel across different 'techie' gadgets (mobile phones, laptops, television sets) so that hotel guests get the same hassle-free user experience without having to learn how to use a new application all over again.
With a high-speed wireless network, this consistent 'interface' can be delivered efficiently and seamlessly to hotel guests. This sounds like an omnipotent solution that will fill all the gaps that are missing in world-class hospitality and service.
But at the end of the day, Singapore's super-broadband network needs service companies to be innovative and courageous enough to implement new ways of conducting business so that the potential of the network is maximised.
For the successful marriage of a super-fast broadband network and the service sector, service providers must ultimately ensure that any technology they implement that rides on the network will enhance the user experience.
After all, it is the user experience that will determine the growth and success of Singapore's services sector, and consequently benefit the national economy.
The writer is the CEO of DOCOMO interTouch.
This article first appeared in the Business Times (Singapore) on 11 September 2008.