Customer Service Management in Africa

A Strategic and Operational Perspective

Robert Hinson, Ogechi Adeola, Terri Lituchy, Abednego Amartey, Robert Ebo Hinson, Ogechi Adeola, Terri Lituchy, Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, Robert Hinson, Abednego Amartey, Robert Ebo Hinson, Ogechi Adeola, Terri Lituchy, Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey

• Publisher: Productivity Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367143374
• eBook ISBN: 9780429631948
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Customer Service Management in Africa: A Strategic and Operational Perspective (978-0-367-14337-4, K410515)

"Customer Service is Changing!"

The message of 34 authors featured in Customer Service Management in Africa: A Strategic and Operational Perspective is clear: Today's consumers are no longer 'passive audiences' but 'active players' that engage with businesses at each stage of product or service design and delivery systems. Consumer demands and expectations are also increasingly being dictated by changing personal preferences, enhanced access to information and expanding digital reality. The customer service principles – strategic and operational – advocated by these authors are universal, but particularly compelling as they apply to Africa's unique and dynamic operating environment.

In recognition of the importance of excellent customer service, this comprehensive and well-timed book provides an essential guide on the increasing role of the customer to business success. This book discusses the management and delivery of customer service under seven broad themes: Customer Service as Shared Value, Customer Service Strategy, Customer Service Systems, Customer Service Style, Customer Service Culture, Customer Service Skills and Customer Experience – Advancing Customer Service in Africa.

Central questions posed and addressed include: What is the new definition of customer service management? How should organisations position themselves to create value for customers and stakeholders? How should employees project themselves to align with customer service promises made by their organisations?

Overall, this book provides strategic and operational insights into effective customer service management in Africa. The customer service management concepts, roles and practices outlined, particularly as they apply to the African context, make it an important addition to scholars' or practitioners' reference works.

Chapter 1

Introduction to Customer Service Management in Africa: A Strategic and Operational Perspective

Robert Ebo Hinson, Ogechi Adeola, Terri R. Lituchy and Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey

Contents

Introduction

Book Thematic Areas

Theme A: Customer Service as Shared Value

Theme B: Customer Service Strategy

Theme C: Customer Service Systems

Theme D: Customer Service Style

Theme E: Customer Service Culture

Theme F: Customer Service Skills

Theme G: Customer Experience – Advancing Customer Service in Africa

Conclusion

References

Introduction

Customer Service Management in Africa: A Strategic and Operational Perspective is a new book that discusses all the crucial issues to consider in building customer-driven organisations. The book seeks to examine the concepts, roles and practices of customer service management and addresses critical questions such as what addresses means today, how organisations should position themselves to create value for customers and stakeholders, and how individuals representing organisations should project themselves to align with the service delivery promises made by their organisations.

Organisations sometimes erroneously operate on the notion that customers depend on them, when in reality, the reverse is true. Delighted customers are the reason any organisation stays in business. Delighted customers lead to repeat business, give positive word-of-mouth recommendations and make organisations profitable. Unless organisations also have engaged, empowered and energised ‘internal customers’ – employees – the achievement of external customer delight will remain a mirage.

Customer service management is one of the key pillars of today’s business environment. Businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa and other frontier markets have begun to embrace the concept of customer service management, with many incorporating the notion into their mission statements (Verhoef et al., 2009). For example, the Dangote Group states that their mission is to ‘touch the lives of people by providing their basic needs’. MTN states that their purpose is to ‘make our customers’ lives a whole lot BRIGHTER’, while Shoprite’s mission is to be the consumers’ ‘preferred shopping destination’ by retailing low-price products in an environment conducive to shopping.

Customer service management in Africa is dynamic, with companies transitioning from a transactional to a more strategic view of the customer. Customers have evolved and transformed from ‘passive audiences’ to ‘active players’ (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2000). Consequently, businesses are moving away from ‘the old industry model that sees value as created from goods and services to a new model where value is created by experiences’ (Prahalad, 2004, p. 172). Today, customers engage in dialogue with businesses and customer experience is factored into service design and service delivery for enhanced value creation (Altinay & Poudel, 2016; Melvin, 2016; Urban, 2016). This dialogue is an interactive process of learning together (Ballantyne, 2004), as it helps organisations understand the customer’s or consumer’s point of view, thereby improving customer experience.

Book Thematic Areas

Given the increasing recognition of the importance of value creation to customers, this comprehensive and well-timed book aims to be an essential reference on appropriate strategies for customer service management. The book highlights an organisation’s customer service systems, strategies, skills and style, amongst others, as potential enablers of value creation.

The book discusses the management and delivery of customer service under seven broad themes.

Theme A: Customer Service as Shared Value

Part A discusses three topics, namely, Who is a customer?; defining a customer-driven organisation; and ethical customer service. In Chapter 2, Ayentimi opens up the book with some thought-provoking arguments on who a customer is. The chapter extends the notion of customers to include employees as a very important component of customer service management. It also discusses the scope and application of strategic customer service principles aimed at building and sustaining effective customer service systems. Ayentimi further explores the utilisation of customer service delivery systems as well the crucial role marketing research plays in the development of customer insights required to decentralise and implement customer service management programmes. The chapter lastly makes recommendations for organisations in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Mulili, in Chapter 3, writes on defining a customer-driven organisation by exploring how a strong customer service orientation can be developed in organisations the world over. It further identifies the main characteristics of customer-driven firms as well as the advantages and disadvantages of being customer-driven. The chapter finally provides some recommendations for African businesses on how being customer-driven can be beneficial to them. Kiraka, in Chapter 4 writes on ethical customer service, and this chapter discusses what ethics is in the context of customer service, the codes of customer service ethics in the African context, ethical dilemmas and the role of management in promoting and maintaining ethical customer service practices in Africa. Kiraka concludes in this chapter by arguing that African ethics and morality is indeed the bedrock of ethical customer service.

Theme B: Customer Service Strategy

This section of the book addresses two topics. Achi and Otubanjo explored an institutional economics-led model of customer service strategy in Chapter 5. They argue that there is no holistic model that takes cognisance of the role of environmental factors in the development of customer service strategy. Hence, the authors developed an institutional economics-led framework for customer strategy that encompasses the impact of external and internal environmental factors for a successful customer strategy. Chapter 6 by Kimani focuses on barriers to implementing customer service strategy. The chapter discusses the benefits of implementing customer service strategy, as well as approaches for implementing a successful customer service strategy. The author further argues that different approaches and tools can be used for successful implementation, such as the define, measure, analyse, improve and control (DMAIC) cycle. The barriers to implementation of customer service strategy, according to the author, may be related to structure, technology, policy, people, knowledge management and resources. Various strategies to overcome these identified barriers are also provided in the chapter.

Theme C: Customer Service Systems

This part of the book discusses customer service systems under three chapters. In Chapter 7, Katuse explores various customer service systems as well as their components. Discussions in the chapter include service charters, service blueprints, standard operating procedures and service level. Katuse further advocates that customer service systems should be linked to the specific core business of the organisation and its stakeholders. Adeola, Ehira and Ibelegbu write on the application of digital technology and social media to enhance customer service experience in Chapter 8. This chapter explores the role of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, chatbots, mixed-reality technologies and social media channels as key drivers to increase the value of customer experience in the twenty-first century. Strategies for evaluating customer experience are discussed, and they include social listening, reputation management and deep customer insight via Internet of Things (IoT). The authors explored various digital and mobile technologies prevalent in Africa. They further advocate that for a seamless and effective customer service experience journey, it is highly pertinent for organisations to understand the best medium to reach their audience in relation to the cultural generation to which they belong. In Chapter 9, Meru, Ciambotti, Ebong, Kinoti and Mugendi-Kiarie discuss technology and social media in customer service. The chapter presents evidence of how technology is changing the practices and strategies of customer service, particularly in Africa. The authors argue that it is important for businesses to recognise the disruptions of social media and adapt to social media dynamics.

Theme D: Customer Service Style

This part of the book focuses on behavioural styles and observable tendencies associated with customer service processes relative to varying sociocultural environments. Chapter 10 by Munyoki explored innovation and customer service. The author argues that the definition, scope and nature of what constitutes innovation may vary from one context to another. However, in all cases, innovations should aim at enhancing customer service. Consequently, innovation should not be considered as coincidental; rather, it must be a deliberate act by organisations. Munyoki further argues that innovation, in this case, requires a well-structured approach to continuously search for customers’ changing requirements and experiences, which will yield innovative ways of serving customers better. Effectively, the author writes to convince readers that innovation is about taking customer service to a higher level of satisfaction. Following this, Kiraka sheds light on entrepreneurial customer service in Chapter 11. The chapter argues that entrepreneurial customer service implies new, exciting and innovative ways of serving the customer such that value is created in a responsive and friendly manner. The author presents two Kenyan cases of the public sector citizens’ service centres and the private firm Safaricom’s M-Pesa innovation, to effectively dissect the meaning and practice of innovative customer service. Seven sources of customer service innovation are discussed in this chapter. Nine stages of developing an innovative customer service experience are also presented ranging from idea generation, idea screening, concept development and testing, market strategy development, business analysis and service development amongst others. The chapter further outlines the managerial and practical implications for innovative customer service.

Going forward, Chapter 12 by Chao explores leadership and customer service with a major focus on how to improve leadership in order to achieve quality customer service in organisations, particularly in the context of Africa. The author argues that customer service cannot thrive without proper organisational structure and management. Therefore, the chapter postulates that most of the barriers to organisational performance can be properly addressed when proper design, implementation, control and consistent improvement in customer service delivery are put in place. This chapter specifically explores the barriers to quality service, the role of leadership in delivering excellent customer service, attaining holistic service quality and strategic leadership frameworks for delivering exceptional customer service both in public and private sectors. Additionally, Opute discusses teamwork and customer service in Chapter 13. As a result of the research gap in understanding how to operationalise customer service to maximise its benefits for organisations, the author advocates that effective teamwork in service management organisations is very key to attaining success and effective customer service. The chapter highlights the importance of optimum symbiotic interrelation in teams, thereby emphasising the core attributes of effective teamwork to include information sharing, cohesion and a sense of belonging amongst others. Opute further stresses the importance of managing team conflicts to make organisations exhibit harmonious working relationships that would enhance excellent customer service and boost organisational performance. Lastly in this section of the book, Mulili writes on customer service training in Chapter 14 wherein he emphasises that customer service training aids employees to unswervingly deliver excellent services to both internal and external customers. Based on extant literature reviews, the author discusses the components of customer service training to include product and service knowledge, knowledge of competitors’ products and services, customer service skills, communication and human relation skills, emotional intelligence, digital capabilities, and handling customer complaints and conflicts. This chapter further highlights the benefits of customer service training to both the employees and the organisation at large. Also, the author briefly provided insights on how to develop a customer service training programme to include at least five steps, namely, conducting training needs analysis, establishing training objectives, selecting training methods, conducting the training, and evaluating the training programme. The chapter finally provides practical implications for service organisations in Africa.

Theme E: Customer Service Culture

This part of the book contains three chapters. Chapter 15 by Anning-Dorson, Christian, and Nyamekye discusses the relationship between organisational culture and customer service delivery. The authors propose that a right blend of excellent customer service delivery and organisational culture is key to gaining a competitive edge and creating value in both profit and not-for-profit organisations. Hence, the chapter argues that it is impossible for organisations without the right customer-focussed culture to deliver excellent customer service. The authors identify the challenges in the business environment that make it difficult to build a service-oriented culture. Consequently, organisations must take into cognisance the major factors to develop excellent customer service in line with their culture, which includes having knowledge and understanding of their target market in terms of their expectations from the overall customer experience, the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation, and the external forces that compete for resources. Anning-Dorson et al. conclude by stating that organisations must have exceptional and perceptible values that do not only benefit them but are also convenient for their customers in order to enjoy growth. Going furt...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• 1 Introduction to Customer Service Management in Africa: A Strategic and Operational Perspective
• Theme A: Customer Service as Shared Value
• Theme B: Customer Service Strategy
• Theme C: Customer Service Systems
• Theme D: Customer Service Style
• Theme E: Customer Service Culture
• Theme F: Customer Service Skills
• Theme G: Customer Experience – Advancing Customer Service in Africa
• Index