For the second consecutive time, Ghana’s public sector placed bottom in the Customer Service Index conducted on some selected entities in the country.
The survey, commissioned by the Institute of Customer Service Professionals, looked at the perception of customer satisfaction in a wide array of organizations providing various services such as finance, transport, utility as well as retail.
A total of 1,200 respondents were interviewed. These comprised 1,188 Ghanaians with the remainder being non-Ghanaians.
The survey showed that Ghana’s public sector, which had institutions like the Ghana Water Company Limited; the Electricity Company of Ghana as well as the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, would still have to do more to meet customer satisfaction.
Commenting on the scores, the President and Head Consultant for the Institute of Customer Service Professionals, Yvonne Ohui McCarthy, said she’s hopeful the outcome will propel a change in service delivery in the public sector to give value for money.
“There is a lot that needs to be done, but a lot has to do with the mindset of the people that work there. The willingness to change, addressing the skill set issue, and then looking at people who will have the ownership mentality which is something that a lot of people in the public sector do not have,” she stated.
She added that, “I also think the very people who are supposed to be making sure that these people do their jobs properly are a bit more relaxed.”
The Index looked at eight indicators such as competence, feedback and complaints, professionalism, customer focused innovations, among others.
Eventually, the public sector scored a total of 56.45 out of one hundred to score a grade D, placing it at the ninth position of all the sectors surveyed.
Immediately preceding the public sector were the telecom and utility sectors which scored 58.28 and 59.88 also with grade D.
The sector that topped the ranking was the Retail Malls, which recorded 67.16 resulting in a grade C+.
It was followed by online businesses, Transportation and Hospitality industry.
Yvonne McCarthy further explains the need for telcos to improve their customer service considering their essential nature to the digital era.
“Some companies are still enjoying some type of monopoly because if people were switching in real time, when they feel dissatisfied, then the telcos would have rectified their issues. I think for the telcos, it is a sector that we cannot do without so they have become a part that we need and sometimes they play on that,” she surmised.
Meanwhile, some top performing brands in the various categories were Shoprite for Retail, Jumia for online business, Bolt, now Taxify for transportation, Alisa hotel for hospitality, as well as Access Bank for the banking sector.
Others were Ridge hospital for healthcare, Ghana Water Company Limited for utility, Vodafone for Telecoms and DVLA for the overall public sector.
