Business

These companies provide the best customer service in South Africa

Staff Writer

 ·2 Nov 2016

Market research company Ask Afrika has revealed the winners of its Orange Index for 2016/17 – which benchmarks service levels in South Africa across 32 industries.

The Ask Afrika Orange Index, first released in 2001, gathers views through 15,000 interviews across 33 industries and 228 companies, which are independently audited.

The aim is to create a snapshot for South African companies, establish and maintain best of breed practices, and ultimately boost the country as a service destination.

And according to Ask Afrika, consumers don’t differentiate much between service interactions – be it a brand, a public office or other layers of society.

“Customers don’t make industry specific differentiations,” said Sarina de Beer, MD at Ask Afrika.

“They compare best-in-class regardless of industry. That’s why we started this ranking, so it doesn’t just reflect service levels within a particular industry, but actually compares across sectors.”

“South Africans are very open to change. It’s a good thing, because it plays a part of being the rainbow nation and having gone through significant changes over the past years.

“But that change also implies – and you can see it with the latest elections – from a brand perspective we are equally open to change. If I am not getting what I want from a brand, I am more than happy to look around for something better,” said de Beer.

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According to De Beer, the quest for loyalty and client commitment is becoming increasingly more complicated, so there are more dimensions that entrench service excellence, such as reputation, trust and corporate social responsibility.

“Consumers have opened this up – they are expecting far more from businesses, but under the umbrella of service.”

Ask Afrika generates brand reports and workshops to offer guidance around the specifics of the Ask Afrika Orange Index, categorized over 10 different benchmarks.

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