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The following is the full text of a speech by the Secretary for Economic Services, Ms Sandra Lee, at the Second Anniversary Celebration Ceremony of the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence today (January 29): (English only)
Mr Chiang, ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to be able to join you on this occasion, the second anniversary of the formation of the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service. I want to thank you all for giving me this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of your Association.
In the last two short years since your formation, the Association has been firmly committed to the promotion of customer service standards among members and to foster the development of service excellence through training and experience sharing.
This work is both timely and important.
Hong Kong is undoubtedly a customer driven society. In such a situation, businesses must compete for the attention of their customers. In the short-term, price and design can make a difference. Unfortunately, it is an inescapable fact that price is ultimately inelastic, and design is not always going to be enough to make the difference.
In the long-term, the difference between successful businesses and those that, at best, merely survive is the quality of service that customers receive. The best effort for any company is the recommendation of a satisfied customer. The best way to achieve this is through providing quality goods, at reasonable prices, in a manner, which makes the whole experience a positive and pleasant one. In short: through Service Quality.
The most renowned companies in the world place a premium on this. From the fast-food chain where every customer is wished "have a nice day" to the fashion houses where customers are welcomed as a members of an exclusive club, the recognition of the good service results in satisfied customers and more sales is no longer the exception but the rule.
And it works.
The members of your Association have recognised that service quality can give them an edge. Through your example, I hope that even more organisations will come to realise that quality customer service is not optional but must be central to their operating philosophy.
Service quality is not an issue that is limited in its relevance to the private sector but is equally important to the public sector. I am delighted therefore to see that membership in the Association is open to both public and private sector organisations. The range of services that the twelve members provide - from transportation to property management; from car sales to information technology; and postal services by Hong Kong Government to banking - demonstrate most clearly how every sector of the economy can benefit from the Association's work.
One of the highlights of the ceremony this evening will be the presentation of awards for customer excellence. These are intended to give recognition to those organisations and individuals who have stood out over the last year in their pursuit of customer service excellence. In my view, awards such as these are equally important as a measure of the progress to improve standards. Each year the competition gets keener and the quality of those being considered improves.
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all those who have received awards and I encourage those who do not get award this year to try to work harder and get the award next year.
The Hong Kong Association for Customer Service has a short history but has already made a significant impact on Hong Kong customer service quality. The research into organisation structure and human resource practices for excellent customer service delivery has been ground breaking. The seminars organised in conjunction with the Hong Kong Productivity Council for 300 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the Customer Service Excellence Symposium held earlier today for 500 SMEs have helped to spread the word about customer service to this very important sector of our service economy. I know that these initiatives will continue and will have an impact on the economic life of Hong Kong. Of course, I will not be doing justice to my policy portfolio, not to mention tourism in fact depends on service quality. For our economy to grow and for our tourism sector to develop, all the hardware and other things that we need to put our efforts in, we need all of you in the industry to provide us good service.
We have to live up to the title of "Asia's World City". And as "Asia's World City", we need to provide impressive, memorable service to those who visit us, to those who live here and use your service. With these words, let me once again wish the Association every success and those of you receiving awards also greater success in your endeavour. And I hope more will be able to join the celebration next year.
Thank you.
End/Tuesday, January 29, 2002
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