KAMPALA – Customer experience has been highly undervalued for long, however, due to the post-COVID-19 era and changes demanded, it can no longer be ignored. How clients/customers are handled, treated, responded to are now a top priority in the delivery of a service and a product at every touchpoint. Management can no longer ignore how for example; the company’s receptionist handles a walk-in inquiry or picks up the phone while trying to respond to the caller on the other side of the line, furthermore, this must be extended to non-customer facing staff too.
Human resource management plays a vast role in delivering customer experience value and corporate culture change as they are tasked with the hiring, training, embedding core values into new hires through orientation and development programs while onboarding.
With employees being the key driving force behind brand differentiation in a market, as they deliver the ultimate value of the service to the consumer. Ultimately, employees (internal customers) expect a golden experience as well, and this practise can then be paid forward to external clients. We must look into the communication channels applied, the digital facets of interaction between staff and HR departments, forms of employee engagement and the internal customer journey through a progressive lens and not a complacency to maintain or applaud the status quo.
With the unavoidable rise and integration of digital platforms/ tools into service and product delivery. Management must address whether staff have the competency to manage digital transformation and how best to leverage these platforms to manage expectations and make service delivery work seamlessly for both those receiving/consuming vis-a vis delivering services to attain a positive customer experience and enhance brand reputation.
The future of thriving customer experience largely relies on breaking down siloes amongst departments with assistance from the HR department and continuous alignment to customer expectations by top management. In addition, teamwork is required to create a positive customer-centric culture, putting the clients’ needs first at all times is imperative. The better we handle our clients and add value to the available touchpoints, the better the reputation of businesses, whether owned or employed by. As employees we must all ask ourselves, “how did we handle our last client and how can we do better?”
The writer is a Senior Marketing Officer at Uganda National Bureau of Standards
