The recession has created a clear divide between SME customer service success and failure, according to a Cisco survey.

Out of the 1,000 business polled in the survey, 57 per cent had refocused their business on customers to steer their way out of recession, while the remaining 43 per cent had failed to implement changes which would enhance customer loyalty.

Nearly one third of businesses agreed that customers are more likely to shop around than they were 12 months ago, underlining the need to focus on customers. Social media has also helped UK business engage more effectively, with 43 per cent of those using sites such as YouTube and Twitter to communicate seeing a growth in custom as a result.

David Critchley, head of SME and commercial for Cisco UK and Ireland, said the results indicate that ‘customer kings’ will thrive in 2010, by ‘remodelling their business around the needs of their customers, embracing new technology, routes to market, and ways of communicating with their audiences, these customer kings are set to thrive in 2010’.