The activities of the Tenth Customer Experience Conference were concluded last week, which was held under the slogan “New Formulation of the Concepts of Excellence in Customer Experience” in the presence of the distinguished Minister of Industry and Trade, Mr. Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro, and he delegated Sheikh Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic and Foreign Trade Affairs, to open the conference.
The conference witnessed a wide participation that included more than 200 individuals from inside and outside the Kingdom of Bahrain, along with 20 speakers and experts in the fields of customer and auditor experience, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence, representing an elite group of major institutions and leading companies locally and regionally.
Representatives of a number of prominent Bahraini and regional companies participated in the conference, including: Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, National Bank of Kuwait, American Express, Silah Gulf Company, Ibrahim Khalil Kanoo Company, Credi Max, Batelco Pune Benet, Zain Bahrain, and from Kuwait Boubyan Bank, Gulf Insurance Company, Kuwait Finance Bank, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Al-Ayyam newspaper, in addition to an elite group of institutions and individuals from various sectors.
In a comment to Mrs. Nada Al-Qassab, President of the Conference, she said: As for the most important recommendations for institutions as the conference’s outcomes, they were investing in the human element as the maker of excellence and not relying on systems and technologies only. Rather, the Customer Experience Awards programs will continue, expand, and be managed by the Customer Experience Association. Reconsidering the mechanisms for measuring customer experience so that measurement indicators include impact measurement and not just operational transactions.
As for the individual level, the recommendations noted that every individual working in the field of customer service should be a self-motivator for change, spread the customer-first culture, and make learning a permanent and continuous practice.
During training and practical application, customers are involved in formulating solutions and not just evaluating them, which enhances the shift from customer service to customer partnership.
The conference highlighted new concepts in the customer experience, the most prominent of which are: shifting from merely satisfying the customer to making him happy and bringing joy to the experience, the importance of diagnosing service and enhancing the human character in interacting with customers, integrating artificial intelligence as virtual agents to support service employees and raising the level of excellence and dazzlement, discussing the concept of “Hyper Personalization,” which represents an advanced stage of Personalization of the customer experience, in addition to reviewing the latest developments in the employee experience as part of the comprehensive improvement strategy.
It is worth noting that 6 leading organizations in the field of customer experience were honored at the opening of the conference, based on international standards and various excellence categories, which included: Zain Bahrain, Batelco, American Express, Gulf Hotels Group, Silah Gulf Company, and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait. This honor comes in appreciation of the efforts of these institutions in achieving high levels of excellence in customer service and creating experiences that keep pace with global changes and customer expectations.
Mrs. Al-Qassab concluded by stressing that next year, this conference, in its eleventh edition, will witness greater diversity, while urging all institutions to participate in winning excellence awards by improving the customer experience and demonstrating the difference in developing and training their employees, while placing elements of innovation and creativity in the customer and reviewer experience.
