No fooling around!
Digicel big man serious about customer service
NEW chief executive officer of Digicel Jamaica Ltd Abdujabor “Jabbor” Kayumov is big on customer service.
So serious is he that the company’s customers ought to be respected and treated with honour, respect and dignity, that he has established an
Instagram account which will make him available to every customer who is served by the company.
It is not a first stop on the road to complaints, if the customer happens to have grouses. Rather, it is like a last resort if after that customer tries all channels to solve a problem, through the call centre, in the store and other official means and still does not get through, you can contact the big boss.
“Even if that customer comes to the office and raises his voice and it doesn’t work, the customer can come to me, explain what happened, and then I will react immediately,” he said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer last week.
“And it’s not the first time I am doing this. In every single country I go, I make myself available to my customers and this will help me to learn about what the customer wants and it will signal to my staff that guys, we have to serve our customers, and if we don’t serve, this gentleman will write to your CEO’S office and the CEO will kick off an investigation,” he said.
Getting closer to the customer, in another physical way too, is high on his agenda item of matters arising. Soon, Jabbor will be hitting the road, without even specifically alerting his many retail store personnel, and hear the cry of those who support the business, first hand.
“I am going to be travelling across the island, and maybe spending half the month, or maybe a quarter, depending on how busy I will be. This is how important it is to me to make myself aware of what is happening on the ground — staying half a day in one of the shops, serving customers and just spending time with them, seeing what the temperature is. That’s the channel for me to communicate with my customers and keeping that channel open.
“I’m just going to pop up. It’s not that I am going to surprise or stress the retailers, but I want to feel the real thing. If I don’t get the flavour of the real thing I might not be taking the right decisions.
“I am running this business as if it was my own. Every single customer should ensure that his voice is heard. Customer behaviour changes, the new generation likes new things, customers are becoming more digital and you can see our strategy reflecting their preferences. In particular, I will be making sure we serve our customers with something that is made in Jamaica,” he revealed to the Sunday Observer.
The Central Asian-born said that his vision for the company in Jamaica is to ensure that Digicel becomes the number one digital lifestyle partner. “This is a very strong statement,” he said, “when everyone in Jamaica will consider us as the digital provider which addresses all their lifestyle needs – check news, music, video call, traditional calls, digital storage, watch movies, content, listen to the radio… it’s a big statement — 24 hours a day every single minute.
“Whomever works for this company will be sharing the same passion as me. You won’t always meet customers’ expectations, but there must be a promise to do all you can to walk the talk.”
Customers too, those now out of the loop, will be pleased that the company’s Internet penetration now has 93 per cent population coverage, and plans are afoot to expand that, and improve geographic coverage, subject to regulatory agency Spectrum Management Authority, and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
Places which do not have coverage will require heavy investment, he said, which he admitted that Digicel has been doing for a long time, in the last four years alone, approximately US$300 million has been pumped into Jamaica.
“It needs a lot of stars to get along.what will make us different from our main rivals in coming years is quality, and I am not going to compromise the quality. I will do everything possible to ensure that every single customer gets what he wants,” the CEO said.