Singaporeans spent nearly 40 million hours on hold in the past year, as reported by new research from ServiceNow, a platform focused on AI-driven business transformation. This marks a rise in average individual wait times to 19 hours annually—an increase of 2 hours per person compared to the previous year.
The ServiceNow Customer Experience Report reveals that Singaporeans now wait nearly five working days to resolve customer service issues, a 4% increase year-on-year. This sharply contrasts with the perception of customer service staff, who believe complex issues take no more than 30 minutes to solve.
Disconnection between staff effort and customer outcomes
The report highlights a significant disconnect between what customers experience and how staff understand the process. On average, service staff only spend 18% of their five-day work week—roughly one day—handling direct customer needs. The remaining time is consumed by administrative tasks, interdepartmental coordination, or sales efforts. This limited focus on customer issues is seen as a key reason for prolonged resolution times.
Complicating matters further, staff often rely on more than three systems just to resolve a single query, adding delays and inefficiencies.
CK Tan, APJ Innovation Officer for Singapore at ServiceNow, said, “Service is only complex because organisations are complex. Brands that are delivering the best service, make it feel like you’re talking to one company. If you have to speak with five departments to resolve one issue, you risk losing business. Customers want to have one conversation to resolve their issue. To do this, businesses need to connect all systems for employees and AI agents to deliver the best, speedy service to customers, all in one.”
Customer expectations remain consistent and simple
Singaporean customers continue to expect three main things from businesses: fast service (47%), not being transferred between departments (45%), and having employees who are empowered to resolve their issues (32%). Despite these clear expectations, the research found that 85% of Singaporeans would consider switching brands in 2025 due to poor service experiences.
Some sectors, however, still manage to meet or exceed expectations. Government services, healthcare, and financial institutions were rated the highest for customer service. According to Tan, “The Singapore Government continues to retain strong service leadership in ServiceNow’s research year on year, with a focus to enable people with technology to improve services. Applying AI to drive value creation was further underscored in The Singapore 2025 to enhance national competitiveness and efficiency.”
Only the financial services sector was able to maintain the same average on-hold time as last year. Industries such as telecommunications and transport experienced the largest increase in wait times.
AI and self-service solutions gain traction
To address these growing delays, many customers are turning to technology. About 75% of Singaporeans say they prefer to use self-service tools before calling customer service. In fact, social media has emerged as the fastest resolution channel, averaging just 1.5 hours to handle complaints.
Artificial Intelligence is also being welcomed as a means to improve service efficiency. The study found that 62% of respondents saw round-the-clock availability as AI’s greatest benefit for customer experience. Additionally, 75% of Singaporeans said they were comfortable with AI replacing human roles in customer service, provided the quality of service stays the same or improves.
Tan commented, “A lot of simple issues can now be resolved through self-service and AI options. Singapore consumers are among the most optimistic in the APAC region to unlock the true potential of AI services. But the best service always connects people and technology in a way where it doesn’t matter to the consumer as they’ve been delighted by a brilliant service experience.”
Moreover, 62% believe AI has improved access to quality customer service, while 65% say tools like ChatGPT have raised their expectations for how customer support should perform.
