The organizers of the Nigeria Customer Service Awards (NCSA) made a bold statement on the importance of excellent customer service with this year’s edition of the award held at Four Point By Sheraton in Lekki area of Lagos this October.
The event which coincided with this year’s International Customer Service Week was a an assemblage of who’s who in the customer service industry in Nigeria.
The well-attended award which is in its third year was described by convener, Dr. Ilias Aliyu, a customer service expert and consultant, as “the culmination of an eventful year of planning and resource mobilization”. It had courier giant, DHL and one of Nigeria’s e-commerce platform, Konga.com as sponsors with Mr. Allwell Nwankwo, author of two books on customer service, and Professor S. F. BrIisibe, a professor of medicine in the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, as speakers.
They both provided key insights into the current state of customer service in Nigeria and suggested ways of improving on it including for organizations to look into customer satisfaction and not just profit making.
Part of the event’s highlight was the presentation of the seven professionals of different backgrounds as Nigeria Customer Service Ambassadors representing the six geopolitical region of Nigeria and Africa.
They include Oluwaseun Okegbemiro (South-west), Barr.Anyiam Uju Jessy (South-east), and Engr,Ebenezer Isokariari (JNR) (South-south). Other are Bulus Ladidi Lilian (North-cenral), AbdulAzeez Dikko (North-west) and Nkechi Okoroafor representing Africa. The idea behind the ambassadors according to Aliyu is to give a “boost and face to customer service in Nigeria”
Also at the event the “Mystery Shopping Report” was also launched which contains the technical evaluation of findings from secret investigations of customer service delivery in branches of nominated companies for NCSA 2015 across sectors in Nigeria. Ilias described it as “a high-value report supported with video and data evidence”.
According to Dr. Ilias “this is in our bid to preserve a truly transparent ratings system, tradition of sharing the details of the nomination and vetting processes, and also promised an improvement towards future events”
Some of the award winners include Konga.com as most supportive customer service company in Nigeria, Phase 3 Telecoms as Best Customer Service Network Management Company in Nigeria, Inspiration FM as Best Radio Station in Nigeria and Fortis Microfinance as Best Customer Service Microfinance Bank in Nigeria.
Others include Globacom as Best Customer Service in Telecom, Diamond Bank as Best Customer Service Bank, Dana Air as Best Customer Service(Local Airline), and DHL as Best Customer Service Courier Company and Wakanow.com as Best in Hotel Booking and Ticketing,Nairaland Best in online media, Smile was Best Customer Service Company in Internet Service Provision, Aso Savings and Loans PLC is the Best Customer Mortgage Bank Company in Nigeria 2015, and CHI limited as Best Customer Service (Beverage) company in Nigeria 2015. Also Shoprite was award the Best Customer Service Departmental Store in Nigeria, while kia is Best in Automobile and Jumia.com, Best in E-Commerce.
