Excellence awards should spur efficiency

In a country where service delivery is generally poor and customer service is seldom up to scratch, it was refreshing to see the Chartered Institute of Customer Management (CICM) last Friday honouring some 87 service providers in appreciation of their service and to inspire others to do even better.

Mediocrity has generally characterised service delivery across the board. However, the CICM awards, spread over 29 categories, were a reminder that all is not lost. There are still some service providers out there striving to satisfy customers through excellence and innovation.

Customer service is critical to economic growth. It is a fact that businesses cannot do without customers. This is why many businesses worldwide invest in customer satisfaction surveys to gauge how their customers rate the services they offer.

To emphasise the important role of consumers or customers in business, March 15 is observed as World Consumer Rights Day. The day traces its origins from March 15 1962 when John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America, made a historic address to the United States Congress, outlining his vision of consumer rights.

Briefly, in a speech touted as the first by any politician on consumerism, JFK said: “Consumers by definition, include us all. They [consumers] are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group… whose views are often not heard.”

Unfortunately, though, many times consumers are on the receiving end. Their voices are hardly heard by many established authorities.

In Malawi, poor service delivery has been entrenched or normalised by the culture of suffering in silence. I see many Malawians entertaining half measures when delivery is mediocre by uttering statements such as “ndi ku Malawi kuno, zimakhala choncho [This is how things work in Malawi]” everytime there is substandard service offered. No, we deserve better.

You pay for the goods and services you get or use and, as a consumer, you have several rights, including satisfaction of basic needs through access to basic, essential goods and services such as adequate shelter, clothing, healthcare, education and public utilities, including water and sanitation.

Consumers also have the right to be heard, to choose, to seek redress and to a healthy environment. Where a service provider says “terms and conditions” apply, the same should be clearly outlined to consumers.

Through this column, I have celebrated some innovations geared at improving service delivery by several players. I have also pointed out shortfalls by service providers across the board, including commercial banks, information and communications technology (ICT) providers, utility firms and others.

I would like to congratulate the winners in the 29 categories of the excellence awards. Worth special mention is the recognition of State-owned enterprises Northern Region Water Board (NRWB), Malawi Posts Corporation (MPC) and Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) as outstanding alongside the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services, Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc) and Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra).

I have reservations on some of the awardees such as Macra and MHC, though. However, I believe the judges had the best justification for the honours. In the case of Macra, it has let down consumers by failing to take to task telecommunications service providers who charge the moon for poor service delivery characterised by high rate of dropped calls (mafoni oduka-duka) whereas MHC is failing to meet the demand to provide housing and even maintaining the existing units.

My heartfelt congratulations to Protea Ryalls, Sunbird Tourism Limited and Umodzi Park for being awarded as outstanding in the hospitality industry as well as Blantyre City Council for scooping the first position in local councils followed by Lilongwe City Council and Zomba City Council.

In individual awards, service excellence personalities of the year 2016 were Blantyre City Mayor Noel Chalamanda-my childhood friend and classmate, newly-hired Press Corporation Limited group chief executive officer George Partridge and Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito.

Partridge must have been awarded for his contribution as National Bank of Malawi CEO before his appointment whereas Chalamanda has worked to restore the glory of Blantyre City and Kapito for his relentless fight for c onsumer rights.

To the winners, well done. To the rest, these awards should spur you to strive for the best.