Members of the media update team were in attendance on Thursday, 16 August, at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town.

Put the customer at the centre

Among the highlights from day one was Aditya Rath, lead partner at KPMG India, who addressed the huge channel shift that has made devices now more important than ever. Technology is more accessible and companies need to take advantage of that, but the customer needs to be the focus.

It’s all about creating a journey for, and with the target audience, he explained. Technology is a given in today’s world, he said, but brands are not listening to what their customers need and want.

The most difficult step is earning the trust of customers, and the task is heavily influenced by the medium of communication the business has chosen. The traditional channel is linear, from brand to employee to customer, but in 2017 the customer should be at the centre of all decisions.

In addition, a happy employee makes for a happy customer and vice versa. If the internal structure enthusiastically represents the brand, there will be an immediate positive effect on the customer interface.

The future, he said, will be defined by seamless commerce – operating models that allow for transactions at any point in time, but this will require existing platforms to evolve.

Human-centric customer service

Graham Stephen, COO of Wonga South Africa, spoke about how to make technology human. Wonga removed the human interaction from their model allowing customers to get a loan instantly without speaking to anyone. While technology brings speed, convenience, and connects communities, there are three points that need focus in order to make that technology human:
  • Purpose (defining what the brand stands for);
  • Connecting people; and
  • Listening (allowing for active engagement with a person rather than a machine).
When loan policies changed around 2011, Wonga had to re-invent themselves using these guidelines. They created online support structures by building human-centric customer service through clever technology and great people, Stephen explained, as people want to be heard and a machine cannot empathise. He added that passionate people within a business will help to make that technology more human.

For more information, visit www.cemafricasummit.com.

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The Customer Experience Africa Awards were held on Tuesday, 15 August. To learn more about them, read our article Awards shine spotlight on Africa’s customer experience industry.