At Nedbank, "the customer comes first" is not an empty slogan but a fundamental business principle.

As part of its ongoing quest to enhance the client experience, Nedbank today unveiled a major initiative that will set an industry benchmark for service excellence.

Aptly named 'ASK ONCE', the initiative promises to raise the bar on the quality and standard of service delivery by optimising the client and stakeholder interface process.

According to Tom Boardman, CE of Nedbank, with the 'ASK ONCE' initiative the bank endeavours to significantly improve the client experience by dealing with client requests more effectively.

"As the name suggests, Nedbank clients will only have to 'ASK ONCE'."

Boardman insists the 'ASK ONCE' campaign will not result in the bank reinventing the wheel, but will rather ensure a more concerted effort to deliver service excellence consistently throughout the bank.

To demonstrate its commitment to service delivery, Nedbank has pledged to donate R50 to a Nedbank approved charity every time it breaks the 'ASK ONCE' promise.

"Many organisations have generic service charters, but we are putting our money where our mouth is by providing a financial guarantee to support the ASK ONCE promise. This initiative demonstrates our commitment to world-class service and the value we place on building long term client relationships," says Boardman.

A dedicated 'ASK ONCE' help desk (0860 ASK ONCE or 0860 275 662 has been established through which clients will be able to log cases where Nedbank has not delivered in full on its promise.

Boardman says the bank's commitment to its clients is centred on responding to their requests as promptly and as efficiently as possible. The commitment is:

To provide clients, where feasible, with an on-the-spot response to a request
Where this is not possible, for the staff member the client approached first, to take ownership of having the request resolved by the right person
To keep the client in the loop and provide on-going feedback on the resolution of the request
For more complex requests that may require further investigation, the initial representative will escalate the query to the relevant department, and where necessary, put the client in contact with the relevant person.

The promise applies to EVERY Nedbank staff member and is not limited to branches or call centres only.

"The 'ASK ONCE' initiative was heavily informed and driven by client input - with most clients highlighting the need for friendly, knowledgeable, fast and personalised service where the bank does the running around and not the client," says Boardman.

He says keeping pace with the changing expectations of clients has required the continued renewal of the bank's service delivery infrastructure and strategy. The infrastructure is built on a foundation of technology investments that are essential to enable new or improved service offerings.

A key building block for service excellence is the World Class Service (WCS) programme, which was launched in 2005 in Nedbank Retail.

The WCS programme was put in place to help Nedbank Retail achieve its vision to deliver the best client experience in the market - founded on an extensive consultative process to determine client needs.

"The WCS programme is intended to leverage Nedbank's point of distinction - 'Make Things Happen,' by enhancing the customer experience and creating enduring relationships by meeting unique customer needs and addressing them even beyond banking," concludes Boardman.