In a special feature on service culture in Singapore produced by the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) at SMU, ISES Executive Director Neeta Lachmandas highlighted that service competiveness is being leveraged as a differentiator in this difficult economic climate. “Retailers are paying more attention to store ambience, exploring digital innovations and refreshing their brand strategies to better align with changing customer profiles,” said Ms Lachmandas. She also noted that customer service and sales jobs can make for good careers, adding that there is a lot of mobility and opportunities in service roles, such as leading, coaching or becoming product specialists. On the art of service, ISES head of research and consulting pointed out that when companies that face high expectations from its customers meet those expectations, they enjoy even greater expectations. “Customer expectations are what customers use to ‘fill in the blanks’ when interacting with companies and their products and services,” Mr Chen said. A recent study conducted by ISES shows that customer satisfaction rose for the Info-communications sector by 1.6 per cent year on year to 68.5 points, on a scale of zero to 100, in this quarter’s Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore.