eBusiness Weekly
Tawanda Musarurwa
Chartered Institute of Customer Management (CICM) in partnership with Contact Centre Association of Zimbabwe (CCAZ) is hosting the second edition of the Customer Experience and Service Delivery Symposium this Wednesday.
Over 150 delegates are expected to attend the event.
According to the organisers, this year`s conference will bring delegates from the local, regional and international corporate community and representatives from parastatals and Government departments to share ideas on Zimbabwe’s service delivery status at the macro level.
CICM chief executive officer Dr Ricky Harris said the Symposium will bring new insights into effective service delivery in both the public and private sectors, and how they can contribute to further economic development.
“The growth of an economy and any business is directly related to the organisation’s approach to customer experience and service delivery. Customer loyalty is becoming a much bigger, broader, richer and complex idea than it has ever been before.
“As technology opens up global competition, the number of service providers are increasing every year and it is therefore becoming more and more difficult for organisations to retain customers against the backdrop of shrinking disposable income,” she said.
“We have entered ‘the customers’ era’ – in which service delivery is no longer an option. The conference will set stage for an inclusive framework that will help to improve service delivery across all sectors of the economy.
The Symposium will have six panel discussion groups, with each panel will constitute three panelists with a topic to present.
The organisers have confirmed that Dr Nigel Chanakira will be the guest of honor at the event, while Dr Shingi Munyeza will be the guest speaker.
Added Dr Harris:
“The topics will shift paradigms, challenge assumptions, and spark new insights on customer experience. This is an exciting opportunity to learn best practices, share ideas and make connections.”
The Symposium will focus on insightful presentations and thoughtful dialogue around critical issues such as service delivery and standards for social and economic transformation; unpacking the public sector performance management framework for service delivery; technology as an enabler for excellent customer experience; how to improve returns on business intelligence through effective CRM data investment, and contact centres as a new frontier for client engagement.
Other key topics to be put under the spotlight are: shifting from call centre to contact centres; the use of new technologies to expand business directions; customer experience as a new frontier for service delivery; understanding the role of CRM in customer loyalty and retention strategies; using design thinking to differentiate your organisation from your competitors; linking issue resolution to drive and improve the overall customer experience, and leveraging social media as a catalyst for customer experience transformation among others.
CICM is a globally-recognised customer service and call center professional board, which carries out a series of customer-centric conferences across Africa, while CCAZ is a non-profit making national body focused on uniting the Zimbabwe contact centre industry
