Marketing Society of Rwanda joins the African Marketing Confederation
Its aims include developing professional standards and creating opportunities for Rwandan marketers to learn and network.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Companies and employees like remote-hybrid work. Customers don’t!
By our News Team | 2023
Customer satisfaction is on the decline in the brave new world of work, new research into remote-hybrid work finds.
Employees tend to favour a remote-hybrid working model because it’s flexible and reduces their daily commute. Many companies like it too because it boosts productivity and cuts costs.
But where’s the long-term benefit if, in the process, you’re creating unhappy clients who feel that the customer experience is now worse than in pre-Covid times?
New research finds that remote workers in key customer-facing jobs such as sales are losing touch with their clients at a time when service expectations have never been higher. It’s a similar situation in call centres, where customers are left fuming by bad connectivity, dropped calls, high levels of background noise, and slow response times when interacting with work-from-home agents. Case in point, of the survey respondents, 50% noted issues with communication breakdowns and connectivity since working on a hybrid work model.
Photo by Antoni Shkraba from Pexels
“It’s clear from our study that there are many barriers to delivering a good customer experience when staff are working remotely, says Nathalie Schooling, CEO of Nlightencx, leading customer experience (CX) specialists.
The study involved a blend of verbatim telephonic interviews and electronic research with special emphasis on South Africa’s top financial services companies to include multinationals.
Our world of work has changed
“Post-Covid, the world of work in South Africa has changed. But so too has the customer journey and client expectations. People now demand high levels of excellence, instant attention to their queries, and quick turnaround times when they have problems.
“This is creating a disconnect and customer experience will continue to suffer if remote-hybrid work is not managed correctly – and the appropriate training, AI and automation tools aren’t put in place to streamline customer service processes.”
Schooling further emphasises that, with 63% of survey respondents saying their departments operate on a hybrid work model, it’s safe to say that remote and hybrid work is not going to disappear anytime soon. Neither is load shedding, which is clearly a catalyst for many of the problems being encountered.
Among the specific concerns raised by the survey respondents around CX and a hybrid-remote working environment, these came out tops:
- Remote workers are offline for extended periods of time because of load shedding.
- Voice calls are being dropped due to load shedding.
- Poor online connectivity.
- More inbound calls (calls from customers) are being abandoned before they can be answered.
- Unacceptable background noise during voice calls when staff are working from home.
- Staff seem distracted by goings-on at home (e.g., children and pets).
- Remote staff are struggling to quickly share important client information with each other, resulting in delayed or low-quality customer responses.
“The solution is not to get rid of hybrid-remote work, it’s more about how management teams implement the right tools, technologies and procedures – as well as the appropriate leadership and management styles – to ensure employees are happy and the end-user customer experience doesn’t suffer,” says Schooling.
SA tourism destination marketing campaign brings back Trevor Noah
Latest campaign aims to boost international arrivals while highlighting tourism’s contribution to South Africa’s economy and job creation.
Changan auto brand enters Ethiopian market with first dealership
Fast-growing middle class and promotion of electric vehicle adoption presents ‘substantial growth opportunities’ for Chinese brand.
MAZ’s 2026 Marketing Week engages local marketers on key topics
Week of activities and events creates opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing and hearing insights from industry experts.
Memorable visuals in ads are more likely to lead to purchase – study
Research suggests that attention-grabbing campaigns may need to be paired with memorable visual design to influence buying decisions.
Underperforming Port of Cape Town seeks a private sector boost
Cape Town’s port must be a competitive advantage rather than a bottleneck that constrains trade, investment and supply chains.
H&M makes senior leadership appointment for South African market
Experienced retail executive Ricardo Valente Da Conceicao returns to Africa as GM, bringing expertise gained in various overseas markets.
Turkish supermarket group BIM hits 1,000-store landmark in Morocco
Local consumers are proving receptive to BIM’s private-label goods and hard-discount model as they struggle with inflationary pressure.
Current issue of AMC magazine brings critical insights for marketers
Issue 1 2026 of Strategic Marketing for Africa, the magazine for deep-thinking African marketing professionals, highlights key trends.
Visit Rwanda announces partnership with Aston Villa Football Club
Rwanda’s tourism marketing arm signs agreement to be the English club’s main shirt sponsor after deal with Arsenal FC ends.
Africa declares a new standard for its communications profession
For too long, the PR landscape has had no shared standard for who practises in it or what responsibility they carry, founders say.
