It is an interesting coincidence that as I work on my services feature this month, I have been met with some of the worst service levels in my life.
Before I get into the issue that gave me more grey hair than I had hoped for at my age, I must say I probably deserved the experience as a wake-up call.
I was recently interviewing the CEO of one of the top ICT services companies, who pointed out that SA needs to become more services-oriented, and not only in the ICT industry, but also in every other sector.
He told me of some of the experiences he had in the Middle East, saying that local companies can only dream of measuring up to the standard of service and professionalism that is offered there.
Naturally, I was quick to defend the local (African) companies, saying that I mostly enjoy good service on a daily basis.
Then the slap in the face came.
I was at my regular optometrist having my annual check-up and when I presented my Discovery Health medical aid card to pay for the treatment and new lenses, I was told the records show that I am no longer a member of the scheme.
Since I recently changed companies, I thought it was a simple mistake on the scheme`s side and could be sorted out with a phone call.
Boy was I wrong!
I was quick to defend the local (African) companies, saying that I mostly enjoy good service on a daily basis. Then the slap in the face came.
Kaunda Chama, Features editor, ITWeb
After a half-day-long marathon of phone calls to my old company and my current employer, I found that some manager at Discovery Health, who had been informed of my changing companies and continuation with my current scheme, had been sitting on the information for the last two months. As a result, my membership had been terminated due to non-payment.
After calling the company`s call centre twice to have my problem solved, I was told on the third day that none of my requests to have my information updated had been recorded on the company`s database and I had to start everything from scratch.
I had major problems with this situation, as despite the fact that Discovery boasts of having one of the most up-to-date ICT systems in place, it seems to have incompetent people working it.
After having written articles about automation of processes bringing about real-time environments and how computers are helping to improve customer relationship management, I was left wondering why all this time I had overlooked that fact that even the best systems are not "idiot-proof".
I must mention that Discovery Health was a major contributor to one of these articles, in which its IT director convinced me that I would not encounter any silly problems.
Another issue is that despite the fact that some manager at the company had forgotten to update my records, it should have rung alarm bells that someone who had been a member of the scheme for five years had suddenly stopped paying for two months.
Is it too much to ask for a courtesy call?
All I could picture is the image of me being pulled into a hospital reception on a stretcher and the computer systems declining my card because records show that I am a non-payer. Where would the nearest general hospital be, and would I survive the trip?
At the end of the day, I can conclude that no matter what systems you put in place and no matter how many bells and whistles it has, if the people using the technology do not understand their jobs to begin with, the systems will remain nothing but expensive boxes with screens and flashing lights and knobs.
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