strange days
14/06/2007
In the last few days I’ve run enough errands to say that the government stat boards have really been a lot more useful than they used to be.
First – the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA). KF is a PR and needs to get a little stamp (re-entry permit) in his passport to allow him to re-enter Singapore and stay freely.
We went to the ICA Building in Lavender, and it’s not a trip I particularly enjoy. The building is usually crowded some of the walkways are terribly narrow (the corridor outside the photo taking and photo copy booth especially) and you HAVE to pass it to get around to the escalator.
However, the last two trips there have been super fast and super efficient. There might be a long queue just to state your business and get directed to the right counter (if you don’t use the automated queue machine and choose to speak with a human), but it’s not a long wait. And the person behind the counter isn’t some mean-assed old civil servant who is just making it past the day, it’s a nice lady who can give you advice on your options.
Next to her there is a board with the kinds of cases they deal with, and your expected waiting time (in minutes). We spoke to the lady, got a queue number and went inside to wait. I expected to wait about ten minutes (based on what the signboard said) but when we got inside to the waiting area our number was already flashing. Behind the counter, a friendly service officer greeted us. The whole process took ten minutes. No strange questions. No suspicious looks. No tongue-clicks, no eye rolling, they accept cashcard and NETS – not cash, and a smile at the end of things. No “come back again”, no wait for a letter in the mail, no “fill in this and present yourself on another day”.
Completely unlike the experience at the US Embassy.
And I thought the process was quick and efficient for citizen services only! The last time I had to go to the ICA was to get a new Identity Card. They sent me a form in the mail, I responded via the website with my updated particulars and photo, a week later they sent me notification that the card was ready and I could collect it. It took me longer to get to the ICA building than it did to collect my card. Again, I hardly waited 5 minutes and the process was pleasant.
It’s really something. I’ve always expected nothing less than the minimum from the civil service but sometimes they move in such mysterious ways. Good job.
It was much the same experience when I headed to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Building to reset my Singpass. The Singpass is a PIN/password that can be used on stat board website to access personalised services, like my Income Tax returns or my CPF Funds statement. When we got to the second floor (for walk-in enquiries) we were greeted by a nice lady who directed traffic to the right areas. The nice lady helped some folks access terminals (so they could check their CPF balances) or to a counter (if they had specific issues) or in my case, sent me on to Counter 9 (just walk in, no queue number needed) to reset my Singpass.
I went to Counter 9, got verified to be me, and reset my Singpass on the spot. I signed a form, and left the counter. All in three minutes. No wait, no fuss.
I’m really quite impressed with both the ICA and the CPF. Some private sector firms would do nicely for themselves to take a leaf out of their books. When we went United Overseas Bank (UOB) to apply for tokens for internet banking, we didn’t even know there were two separate queues. I don’t even understand why there would need to be 2 lines. What really got me going was:
1) The other over-the-counter transaction line wasn’t visible.
2) It doesn’t make sense to have a queue ticket system (right at the entrance of the bank!) for investment related services and NOT indicate that; and not require a queue ticket system for over the counter services. And why would you have the waiting area of the first stupid queue obscure the view of the other physical queue (where people are standing in line)?
3) How do you expect the user to differentiate between an arbitrary division in labour set by the bank? How do I make the call which line to follow? Shouldn’t I be able to open an account over the counter instead of taking a queue number? And the best part is, they probably won’t bat an eyelid making me queue/wait all over again if I joined the wrong line.
This is why local businesses in Singapore – internet ones included – aren’t very compelling products. Customers/users here are just soft on crap service. Or maybe the market just isn’t large enough for many large businesses in each sector to survive – leaving the customer/user with little choice. But the result is highly uncompetitive businesses. Sure, they invest their money well, the bottom line is looking good, etc. But where it comes down to serving the consumer – they suck badly. Perhaps providing the service isn’t a primary business – last I checked I really wasn’t listening in my banking class and I could be mistaken that they borrow and lend money to people (me, you, consumers, users) for a living – so they don’t have to count on it or make it count, so to speak.
Good service isn’t about having an apologetic bank officer take the blame when someone yells at him about how the layout of the bank was so stupid he/she wasted half an hour waiting for nothing. Service is making it easy for the customer to get what he needs – information, transaction, whatever. The less I have to interact with someone at the bank, the better.
It’s a shame that the private sector doesn’t understand that as well as the public sector. I’d hope for the bank to fail, but for the fact that I use them, and the other 3 (or 2) are complete crap as well, so I hope someone (maybe more than one) there retires soon so that a newer breed of smarts can take over.
