Zim angles for customer centric culture

Zimbabwe commemorated National Customer Service Week (NCSW), with calls for corporates and service providers to move from ‘customer service’ to ‘customer experience’, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic has changed business-consumer dynamics.

Social distancing requirements, in particular, have changed the consumer habits of buying and shopping, as well as how businesses offer their products and services and otherwise engage with their customers.

Resultantly, improving customer experience is the main rallying point of this year’s NCSW, that is organised by the Contact Centre Association of Zimbabwe (CCAZ).

The NCSW, which is in its 10th edition, is part of the International Customer Service Week that is held annually in the first full week of October.

This year the week is running from the 5th to the 9th.

Customer experience (CX) is largely viewed, as customers’ holistic perception of their experience with a particular business or brand.

CCAZ president and BancABC managing director Dr Lance Mambondiani, said the ability for companies and organisations to provide genuine customer experiences was incumbent upon the organisational system.

“When your team’s work is aligned to the same goal, service excellence is guaranteed. Success is an inside job,” he said.

Some Zimbabwean companies and organisations have a long way to go to optimise customer experiences.

The country’s customer satisfaction ranking weakened marginally on the latest National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) Report.

The fourth edition of the NCSI was launched earlier in August by the Chartered Institute of Customer Management (CICM) in partnership with the CCAZ.

The overall National Index for 2020 was 62,6, a point decrease from 63,6 last year.

The theme for this year’s NCSW is ‘Dream Team’, which Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) secretary-general Dr Rosemary Siyachitema said is fundamental in view of the goal of achieving a broad customer-centric culture in the country.

“It doesn’t help for two or three organisations to be excellent at providing efficient customer experiences, it’s more useful when as a country we develop a customer-centric culture,” she said.-herald.cl.zw