The announcement by the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) that it will soon be implementing several initiatives aimed at improving the quality of service to customers and developing better relations with them is most welcome and commendable.

Indeed, one of the trouble spots with respect to GWI has been in this area and it is good to see that the utility company is coming with creative and innovative ways of improving its quality of service.

It should be the aim of all service providers to constantly review the quality of service they provide with the intention of continuously improving it.

The “Camp Resolution” initiative recently launched is an excellent one as it provides officials the opportunity to interact directly with customers and address their concerns on the spot thereby cutting out the “red tape” and saving customers having to travel back and forth to have problems rectified.

One of the irritants which has caused customers much headache has been inaccurate bills and it is heartening that GWI has recognised this, but more importantly is taking steps to remedy this problem. In this regard it has embarked on “Read it Yourself” pilot projects whereby customers will be able to read water meters themselves and this will definitely eliminate one source of conflict between GWI and its customers.

Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali alluding to this problem noted: “……there has been a lot of difficulties in terms of estimated and actual readings. What we have found is that our inability to do 100% reading, greatly affects our billing system. That is, in a lot of cases, we actually do estimated billing and this creates conflicts between the customers and GWI.”

He added: We are introducing another initiative where we will take a pilot area, and for the next three months we are going to do 100% reading. This would give us a fair understanding of the consumption patterns of that pilot area. We will then initiate a programme where the customers will read their meters themselves and report that reading to GWI and the billing and payment are then generated as the read it yourself initiative.”

This he explained would help to prevent collusion between customers and meter readers; improve efficiency; creating confidence in the billing system thereby sustaining a healthy relationship between GWI and its customers.

This is certainly the correct path the utility is taking and shows that its management is thinking in the right direction and is placing its fingers on the right buttons.

The importance and relevance of quality customer service is becoming increasingly evident in today’s competitive world and therefore service oriented businesses have to keep pace with changes.

According to the Communications Workers of America in today’s information-based service economy, where success depends on being “customer focused,” the number and importance to organisations of customer service professionals is growing.

Nationally, more than 3.3 million women and men work as customer service and sales representatives in virtually every industry. Job titles include customer service representative, airline reservation and customer service ticket and gate agent, account executive, account representative, newspaper advertising sales representative, telemarketing representative, technical support representative, and eligibility and claims specialist in the public sector.

Customer Service – The Importance of Quality Service

James A Karl in his article Customer Service – The Importance of Quality Service points out:

“A business’s main purpose is to create a customer because it is basically the consumer who essentially determines what a business is. Although it is significant to provide time and effort on how you are going to improve your products and services, it is still the customers who establish the future success of a business. Therefore, consumer service enhancement is very important if you would want your business to prosper.”

“Customer service is a key factor in achieving business success. It can either make or break your business. This is the reason that the entire business plan, marketing strategies, sales and profits will solely depend on its impact on the customers. Essentially, you are in business to generate revenue through selling your products to people who are in need of these services. These people want to discern if your products will be able to make their lives much easier.”