Being a regular visitor to Africa in the last 11 months I have experienced varying degrees of customer service quality and concluded that getting “good” quality customer service is still a far fetched dream in almost all service encounters.

A few other travelling colleagues have been discussing how we could drive Africa towards universal good customers service as some research has identified Africa as a future destination for western companies looking to outsource customer service functions to African countries. There are several implications to finding a solution to customer service delivery in Africa, first of which is creating better experiences for customers and improving customer retention. Secondly if Africa is to realise the potential expressed in the above research referred then we need to have a marketable product by ensuring that every customer encounter with service delivery is positive, because you never know who your next customer might be.

It is my opinion that the process of improving African customer service provision must start with developing a clear understanding of how customer service is perceived in the Africa context. The lack of resources, imbalance between demand and supplier in many service encounters means that the supplier usually has an upper hand in most encounters thus removing the obligation on their part to be good to the customer who is dependent on them. This is in total contrast to environments where supply outstrips demand and so companies’ service provision is obliged to treat the customer as “king” in order to retain their custom. This reality of the service encounter in Africa reduces the customers’ bargaining power and potential to switch to an alternative source for either product or service. In the end the African customer feels obliged to accept sub standard customer service as a means to an end.

African private enterprise has substantially better service delivery than public service especially government services like passport offices, registration of births and deaths, medical service and any other essential services that a customer might expect from the government. Perhaps customer service personnel in public service offices do not even regard the people they serve as customers, which then removes the need for “good” customer service. Private enterprise on the other hand recognises the relationship it has with the people they service but greater demand than supplier reduces the impetus to provide “good” customer service.

My conclusion is that there is need for cultural re-orientation to get the customer to demand “good” customer service and service providers from both public and private sectors to view customers as opportunities to create relationships that will continue positively beyond each service encounter. This change will require leadership in both private and public sectors, training and adoption of clearly defined performance parameters supported by systematic evaluation. But the starting point must be a review and analysis of prevailing perceptions of “good” customer service to the provider and customer in Africa.