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Livingstone Marufu
THE Contact Centre Association of Zimbabwe (CCAZ) will host the fourth edition of the Zimbabwe Service Excellence Awards on Friday this week.
The awards, which are now being monitored by the Chartered Institute of Customer Management CICM) – a global customer service board – are organised and managed by CCAZ in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
CICM has regional offices in South Africa.
Currently, the service sector in Africa is booming.
Last week, CCAZ public relations, events and awards assistant Ms Cynthia Tapera said the awards afford customer service providers the ability to showcase their excellence, while at the same exchanging notes on service excellence with their peers.
“It brings to focus the importance of excellent customer service as a strategic tool for business success, serves to raise the profile of customer service practice and professionalism nationwide by providing a platform to showcase customer service excellence. It also provides an opportunity for Zimbabwean organisations to benchmark themselves and to learn best practice from service excellence leaders,” said Ms Tapera.
The awards, which are being sponsored by CBZ bank, MBCA and Drishti Soft from India, will cover the hospitality sector, ICT and telecoms, banking and financial services, Government departments, local authorities and utilities, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, transport sector (air, rail, and road) and retail and fast food sectors.
Education, health insurance, funeral insurance, financial insurance, automobile industry (vehicle servicing, assembling and sales), security and the courier services will also be covered.
Special awards will be given for the Lifetime Achievement Award, Customer Service Executives of the Year, Best Call Centre Award and the Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Award.
Winners of excellence awards from Zimbabwe, including winners from countries that conduct similar awards such as Malawi, Kenya, and Zambia, will participate at continental awards next year.
About 400 delegates are expected for the event.
Explained Ms Tapera: “This year’s awards are coming at a stage when service delivery is topping on the national agenda.”
In order to set the minimum standard for service delivery, Government has since introduced the Consumer Protection Bill that seeks to establish the Consumer Protection Commission.
The envisaged Commission is expected to coordinate and network consumer activities, promote fair business practices and protect consumers from unreasonable, unjust and improper trade practices.
In addition, the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services is working on a Government national call centre that is designed to handle complaints against state owned enterprises and government departments.
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