Sierra Leone’s leading telecoms company,  Orange Sierra Leone (OSL) has celebrated Customer Service Week with the theme ‘One Team, One Goal.’ The ceremony took place last Monday at OSL headquarters in Freetown attended by several dignitaries including OSL officials.
Chairman of the ceremony said customer Service week was one that they shared help with customers who are considered part of the Orange SL family.
“This IS a week to appreciate the people who keeps them in business and also celebrating themselves for the work that they do,” he explained the purpose of the week.
He further stated that Customer Service Week touched the lives of all of individuals especially OSL customers.
In his address, OSL Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sekou Amadou Bah said the week should be seen as as a devotion and commitment to innovation in delivering services to the people of Sierra Leone.
He said their customer perception initiative was also a proof that he was proud to witness the Casablanca situation when the team presented  work that was done by OSM in bridging the gap between the brand and their customer.
The objective, he said, was achieved together as they strived every day to improve their service to customers. “In doing this, everyone is involved,” he said  while expressing gratitude to everyone.
CEO Bah hopes that customers would trust the company and his team will work towards  meeting those needs. He appreciated frontline agents, call centres, shops and every OSL staff saying they are the driving force behind the success and that “together they have one team and one Goal.”
To provide the highest share of service and make a positive impact in Sierra Leone and beyond, the OSL CEO went on, the customer’s service was not just another date but was a celebration of their core values.
It is also a reflection of their journey so far and the promise of what lies ahead. He also said that appreciation of the concrete  progress made this season was a pillar of the Sierra Leonean community.
Together, he said, they could work dynamically and never lost sight of the fact that their success could be achieved through customers, community and the country.
He appreciated customers for being part of the Orange company and for the commitment to their share goal of true service, adding that they should make this customer service week as a time of reflection, celebration and new resolve to make the day not just remarkable but full of memory.
Director Customer Experience at OSL, Alpha Bundu said the day was a significant one as it was a platform to recognise what they had done and where they wanted to be in the near future. The CEO’s message, he said, depended on what they had achieved and this was not just done by an individual but every OSL worker.
“The achievement has become magic and this magic is not just within them but to the heart of the customers,” he emphasised.
He believed that everyone that contributed to the growth had recognised the effort they had made in Sierra Leone. He said they were known as company not just to focus on customers but worked together for which they had been rewarded.
Representative of the Communications Ministry, Abdulai Sankoh appreciated Orange SL for the good work they had been doing in the country adding that they had been at the forefront of providing quality service to the people of Sierra Leone.
“Their commitment to customer service is commendable,” Sankoh applauds OSL. The world, he said, changing at an unprecedented scale and technology was at the heart of this commitment. “firstly we should look at improved connectivity,” he says adding that telecommunication construction is the backbone of any model economy.
Through sound technology, world Bank expansion and reliable mobile network, businesses and government services, he went on, Sierra Leone would be there.
He said OSL’s connectivity made it easy for individuals and businesses to access information and education opportunities without parallels.
An official of the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), Ahmed Tejan explained how Artificial Intelligence would contribute to Sierra Leone’s national innovation and digital strategy from a DSTI perspective.
He also informed the audience that they had been working on three projects  dealing with pregnancy and still birth, geospatial date analysis and the Education Hub that dealt with student placement. Head of Strategy and Marketing at Orange Money, Abibatu Baxter appreciated the customer service representatives, call center officials for their work on the field.
She also commended the customers for their loyalty and cooperation while appealing to the staff to be responsive to customers’ needs. “If a customer meets any of them with problem, they should work to solve it,” she appealed.
It is “One Team, One Goal,” she says adding that they should support their customers as they still have a long way to go. Putting customers at the core of the company’s operations, she said, was the good thing about OSL.
Abioshe Jarret, representative from the trade team said customer perception was important since it imparted the bottom line involving two folds. “Customers affect brand image as they love to share their positive impact to their relatives on what is good or bad,” he opined.
He strongly believes that that customer perception always influence purchasing. He sees support offered to customers whenever the need arises as one of the best thing to do. “They need to listen to them and responds to their enquiries,” he appealed to OSL workers.
Maseray Kallon from the call centre expressed her joy in joining the team in celebrating the occasion. She views customer service as one that goes  beyond rendering service to customers before and after purchasing either a product or service. “It creates a brand image which starts from the journey of the customer,” she opined adding that customers are ambassadors.