Time for entities to rethink call centre model

If there is anything that annoys customers, it is having to engage call centres for inquiries or to resolve issues.

It is a modern business trend for any company with a substantial customer base to set up a call centre ostensibly to speed up responses to customer inquiries. This is supposed to enhance the customer experience.

The problem is companies seem to have fobbed off their customers onto call centres and forgotten about them. The quality of service in most call centres leaves a lot to be desired. It  matters little whether those call centres are servicing a private company or government entity, including some of the most iconic corporates.

On calling, a customer is taken through a rigmarole in the name of being apprised of the menu. On pushing the requisite button, a customer is taken through another menu, and finally invited to wait to an agent. Waiting takes forever. In the meantime, the customer is being treated to mechanical music and voice, and self-praising messages from the organisation. All these on the customer’s airtime. Many times, frustrated customers simply drop off. A few call centres will later reach out via SMS, but that’s it. Another mechanical input.

Organisations have built a dam between themselves and their customers to shield themselves from the torrent of complaints and inquiries, freeing themselves to continue their lives blissfully downstream without being “disturbed” by their customers. Imagine that!

The call centre model needs a complete rethink in Kenya if it is to achieve its intended objectives.

Create toll-free hotlines for call centres. An organization will then be forced to speed up resolution of customer inquiries. Currently, customers are financing inefficiency of those organisations by draining their airtime, a cost that should be borne by the organisation.

Develop customer service standards. A customer must not wait more than two minutes before being served. Along with that, the really annoying menus must be truncated and replaced with a maximum of three prompts.

Customers need a complaints desk when dissatisfied with the service at call centres. Currently they have nowhere to go as call centres are a dead end. Agents must escalate any issue they cannot handle, not keep parroting the same answer to an increasingly frustrated customer.

Organisations must invest in two things- training of agents, and optimal staffing. Agents must be properly trained in the organisation’s procedures, policies, and culture. Many times, agents are tackling issues for which they have no answer. The result is a situation where there is escalating acrimony in that interaction.

These agents are the organisation’s face to the world, yet many come through to the customer as befuddled when asked questions beyond a very low threshold.

Communications skills and self-confidence are a big deficit with the agents. Yet, this is very basic to their work.

Organisations must take care of their agents. High stress levels and burnout among them could be some of the reasons why the level of productivity and morale is so low. And they should be paid well to boost motivation. They are part of the organization in all but name, and their performance is a reflection of that organization.

The bigger problem, of course, is the very low priority customer service is accorded in Kenya, whether it is in the private or government ecosystems. And because of this, customer service in Kenya is an afterthought even for commercial organisations. After all, customers have really little recourse. Organisations with poor customer service have little fear of retribution, either from a regulator, or public sanction in terms of losing business.

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has shown true ambition in terms of sanctioning excesses by commercial enterprises. Parliament should look to enhance the mandate of this regulator to include customer service. This will give the customer some recourse when aggrieved.

The CAK should then work out with the government and corporates service standards for call centres. Right now, none exist, and it is really hurting the customer.

— gathukara@gmail.com