Punjab Skills Development Fund CEO Jawad Khan pledged that by this time next year he would have trained or would be training 5,000 people with 90 percent service rate. He made this announcement at Service Punch 2017 conference held on Thursday in Lahore. He said that he was taking this initiative in hopes that from now on some corporation or entity will continue to make such a pledge every year and work towards improving the service industry in Pakistan.
Head of Customer Care Jazz Nauman Fakhar appeared at the conference and shared his insights into how jazz became one of the best customer service providers in the country.
He said that while Mobilink was the pioneer in establishing a call center, the company soon enough realized that operations and call center efficiency could not both be made the priorities at the same time. He said, “My boss asked me who do people call when they have a problem suing whatsapp? I then realized that the thing is not to provide timely complaint resolution only but also to make sure that there are no complaints to begin with.” He informed that Jazz then outsourced its call center to outside parties while it kept its focus on providing good services.
A panel discussion was also held to discuss need for women’s leadership in customer services with four key speakers including Pepsico’s Lead Culture, Engagement and Diversity, Asia Pacific Amra Mubashir, CEO Claywork Mahbina Waheed, Daali Foods CEO Mariam Akbar and Abacus Consulting’s regional Director Fatima Asad. Amra said that the discrimination against women just because of their biological differences has to be eliminated. Fatima Asad said that corporate world thinks that women are less efficient than men, while in her own experience women have been better performers than men in just about everything at the workplace. She also stressed on the partnership between men and women for better service provision and higher efficiency. Mahbina Waheed said that women themselves need to come out and join workforce if the disparity between both genders has to be removed. Mariam Akbar said that making women financially independent will incentivize them to enter the job market.
Ahmed Ali Butt, Juggun Kazim, and Munizae Jahangir talked about the importance and limitations on the media in efforts to take corporate interests and social responsibility side by side.
Actor and Writer Adeel Hashmi also appeared on the occasion and talked on the importance of ‘Words,’ focusing on “Curiosity, Dreams, Fears, Success.” Participants of the conference gave him a standing ovation at the end of his speech. Lucky draws for Rs 10,000 each were also held throughout the conference and an award ceremony concluded the conference awarding the top ten best customer service providers. Zong, Ufone and Jazz, received these awards with TCS Pakistan getting the first prize. Quadrum band musical instruments to the participants at the conference and gave an interactive drum circle performance.
