Speaking at the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES) Global Conference on Service Excellence, Minister in Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say said that technology creates the space for businesses to grow in Singapore’s tight labour market and allows them “to work smarter, evolving rapidly to allow us to innovate and capture the markets we want”. Mr Lim thinks that it is possible to improve service productivity and customer satisfaction with a lean workforce through the innovative use of technology and business process re-engineering. Drawing similarities between the manufacturing and service sectors, he said that managing the expectations of consumers amidst the changing landscape was important. He outlined key factors which would help organisations gear up for the future of service. They include competitive benchmarking, corporate leadership, customer-centric culture and better customers.