CX Spotlight – Mr. Gideon Ataraire
In the world of CX, there are countless unsung heroes making remarkable strides. In part 1 of this edition, we shine a spotlight on Mr. Gideon Ataraire. We had the pleasure of getting to know him better, and his story may just inspire you to continue making a difference in your own way.
Can you describe your journey to your current role?
My career is a mix bag of varied industry experiences spanning from telecommunications, teaching, human resources, customer service, telesales, tele-advisory, training, learning and development, to mention but a few but I am a farmer at heart.
I started off as an Agricultural Extension and Credit Officer, to a factory Supervisor, and then to a Customer Care Officer, Customer Service Training Specialist, Learning and Development Manager, Knowledge Management and Career Development Officer, HR Specialist, Chief People Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Chief Sales Officer, and then Chief Executive Officer.
What is your personal mantra or statement?
Be fair to everyone and in every situation and uphold your personal integrity.
Can you share your leadership style and its impact on success?
I will say that I am both a Servant Leader and a Transformational Leader. As a Servant Leader, I work hard to demystify my role, work alongside my employees as colleagues, and always work with a consensus.
I am also a transformational leader who believes in motivating and inspiring employees to reach their full potential and exceed their own expectations. My style has been particularly effective in dynamic and rapidly changing environments.
I believe that people make every organization. You experience high employee engagement, increased motivation, and morale, positive organizational culture with a ripple effect of enhanced performance with people when you use both leadership styles I have mentioned.
What are your thoughts on the state of customer experience (CX) in Ghana?
In Ghana, like in many other countries, the state of customer experience can vary widely depending on the industry, the specific company or organization, and the region.
A strong sense of community and hospitality is often reflected in customer interactions, which can positively contribute to the overall experience. In addition, the availability of relevant customer experience training and the adoption of technology in this area is increasing customer satisfaction. Moreover, the availability and effectiveness of feedback channels (e.g., surveys, social media, customer hotlines) are positively impacting companies’ ability to gather and act on customer input for CX improvement.
Nonetheless, customer expectations in Ghana, as in any other country, are influenced by global trends, industry standards, and local preferences. Therefore, companies should strongly consider localizing international standards to suit the ordinary Ghanaian’s needs.
How do you determine the success of your CX strategies?
There are different parameters to measure CX strategies. For example, Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction Score, Customer Lifetime Value, etc.
The true measure of the impact of a CX strategy lies in understanding their needs and mutually developing the solution or strategy. This cannot be a boardroom or office exercise. Go on the field, talk to your customers, and learn if the mutually developed strategy has really solved their problem. In the end, the rate of renewals and repeat business, uptake of new products, referrals and revenue growth are indicators of success when it comes to customer experience in our industry.
How do you keep up with the latest CX trends and technology?
It is always from the answer to the question. In other words, from the customer to the office. In continuously understanding your customers’ needs, you can match the CX solutions on the markets with them. The solutions as developed by both internal and external experts are abundantly available. The problem we face as organizations is not adequately understanding our customers’ frustrations. That is our job.
What is your approach to solving problems in your role and prioritizing tasks and projects?
Again, from the question to answer adopting the ‘Why Concept’. The “Why” concept of problem-solving is a framework that encourages a deep and systematic exploration of the root causes of a problem. It involves asking a series of “Why” questions to dig deeper and uncover the underlying factors contributing to the issue. This approach is often referred to as the “5 Whys” technique, but it can involve more or fewer iterations depending on the complexity of the problem.
Have you contributed to advancing CX in your current position?
Allianz Life, the company I serve, is one of the first in the life insurance industry to onboard customers electronically. It is the first to cover customers at the point of purchase of a life insurance policy. Most importantly, it is the first to give access to its customers to access partial withdrawal through USSD, with requested amounts paid via mobile money in real time. The joy for us is that we are solving real-life frustrations – convenience and freedom at our customers’ fingertips.
We have achieved all these using in-house programmers, which means people who understand our customers and terrain and are within our cost limits.
Can you highlight any notable achievements in the CX space?
End-to-end digitalization of the customer journey and transforming insurance into an instance service. Traditionally in insurance, for a customer to check their balance or withdraw funds on a savings product, one must visit a physical branch, complete physical forms and in some instances wait for a few days. Now, all these processes and more are at the click of a button in one’s comfort zone.
How do you collaborate with other departments to achieve CX goals?
Providing outstanding customer service is the communal responsibility of all departments. As I already stated, superior customer service begins and ends with the customer.
Collecting customer feedback is the role of all employees who meet the customer, such as sales, customer service, claims, research, strategy, and marketing. Different companies handle customer feedback differently. Some form committees and project teams as and when there are peculiar needs to be resolved. Others have a department in charge of such. Whichever path is chosen, each department in the company must be involved to ensure that their responsibility to the customer is being upheld.
What steps should one follow to pursue a career similar to yours?
Interesting question. First of all, not everyone will become a CEO, but everyone can be successful in whatever role they find themselves. Each person can start by painting a picture of the person they want to be in the future with specifics in terms of what career it would be, what industry, what role, what location, and when. They can then begin to work on each of these in terms of the qualification, experience, network, etc. needed to get there. After all these, one may still not be where one truly wants to be because there are several variables beyond one’s control. My advice is not to despair, but to make the best out of every situation or condition one finds himself or herself in.
Do you have any advise for aspiring CX professionals?
Let the customer be at the heart of your operations – ALWAYS START WITH THE CUSTOMER!
Think about the customer’s welfare, convenience and satisfaction and the other objectives you set for the business will automatically follow. Whenever there is an issue, try to put yourselves in their shoes, wear their eyeglasses, probably, you may be able to support them better.
