Equity Bank, Safaricom, University of Nairobi, Nakumatt among others have been named the best in customer service in Kenya by the Institute of Customer Service Kenya (ICS-Kenya), a professional body for customer service in the country.
ICS in partnership with mSurvey, a mobile surveys company, and Dalberg, a strategic advisory firm did a survey for the inaugural Service Excellence Awards 2014 which was held last evening. The awards, which were announced during the Gala Dinner to mark the culmination of the Customer Service Week 2014 (CS Week 2014), aim to recognize the success of corporates and individuals who have provided exemplary customer service.
The Awards bring to focus the importance of excellent customer service as a strategic tool for business success. It also seeks to raise the profile of customer service practice and professionalism nation-wide as well as provide a platform for corporates and individuals to benchmark themselves and learn best practice from service excellence leaders.
The winners, determined from a survey that sourced information directly from a target of 6,000 respondents nation-wide, were drawn from banking, telecommunications, supermarkets, universities, fuel stations, insurance and government services sectors.
The winners of inaugural Service Excellence Awards are:
Banking Sector
Winner – Equity Bank
1st Runner Up – KCB
2nd Runner Up – Coop Bank
Mobile Communications Sector
Winner – Safaricom
1st Runner Up – Airtel
2nd Runner Up – YU
Universities
Winner – University of Nairobi
1st Runner Up – JKUAT
2nd Runner Up – Kenyatta University
Supermarkets
Winner – Nakumatt
1st Runner Up – Naivas
2nd Runner Up – Tuskys
Public Service Sector
Winner – Huduma Centers
1st Runner Up – NHIF
2nd Runner Up – NSSF
Petrol Stations
Winner – Total
1st Runner Up – Shell
2nd Runner Up – Oil Libya
Insurance Sector
Winner – ICEA Lion
1st Runner Up – APA
2nd Runner Up – CIC
Julius Kipng’etich, Board and Founding Member of ICS Kenya gave an account of the conception and vision of ICS Kenya. He noted, “It is time we recognized exceptional customer service as a strategic instrument in the growth of businesses. Customers are a huge component in creating a perfect referral system to their networks”.
The Service Excellence Awards Corporate Category was based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS), a service metric that uses one key question to establish if respondents are likely to recommend a product or service to their networks.
Edwin Macharia a partner at Dalberg, gave an overview of the methodology for the awards noting that NPS is taking centre stage as a critical service metric as it provides a strong correlation to customer retention and referrals. He noted that the Service Excellence Awards Survey used a simple tool that incorporates the most important element in customer service –the voice of the customer.
The NPS customers’ responses were analyzed as follows: Promoters (score 9-10) who are loyal enthusiasts that keep buying and referring others fuelling growth, Passives (score 7-8) who are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers that are vulnerable to competitive offerings and Detractors (score 0-6) who are unhappy customers that can damage a brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.
Macharia said, “Whereas the Net Promoter Score is established by deducting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of Promoters, the SE Awards focus on the Net Promoter Approach which encourages organizations to adopt a customer centric approach to business, nurturing customers as promoters and effectively dealing with detractors”.
The survey was conducted on a mobile phone platform. Respondents were requested to complete the survey on their mobile phones which was then collated and analyzed in real time by the Service Excellence Awards Technical Partner mSurvey www.msurvey.co.ke. The final results were then validated by Service Excellence Awards Knowledge Partner – Dalberg www.dalberg.com
While issuing the certificates to the winners, Muema Muindi Managing Director, Kenya Orient Insurance Limited, who lauded the organizers of the award as well as the winners said, ‘ICS Kenya is raising the profile of customer service by driving customer service performance and professionalism and we hope these awards will act as an incentive for companies to appreciate and act on customer feedback.”