Professional training, a prudent investment

By Lalin FERNANDOPULLE

Around 10-25 percent of customers across the globe are unhappy due to poor customer care, said Director, Sipcom-1, Dhammika Kalapuge.

He said while 30-45 percent of customers are content with the customer care offered around 40-60 percent are neutral about the services.

Dhammika Kalapuge

"Customer care in Sri Lanka is similar to the position in the world.

There is ample scope for improvement in customer related services in Sri Lanka", Kalapuge said.

"Human resource development is a long term investment that helps organisations to recoup, improve brand image and enhance the bottom line", he said.

A global finding has revealed that at least 40 hours of training per annum is essential for any profession.

Continuous professional development has huge returns to an organisation.

Kalapuge said following the resurgence in businesses employers are keen to provide professional training to employees.

"No employee could be effective in his task unless he is passionate about the work he is entrusted with. Professional training helps build knowledge, skills and the right mind set", he said.

Happy employees create happy customers. The customer is the centre of attraction in an organisation.

The aim of Sipcom is to create a customer service culture that will help boost the image of the institution.

Kalapuge said large global corporates have faced crisis due to poor customer satisfaction. Under estimation of customer satisfaction is a drawback to an organisation.

Policies, processes and people with the right attitude are crucial to create a customer care culture in an entity.

Customers with pleasant memories will continue to patronise the organisation.

Kalapuge said advertisements help attract customers but it is only good customer care that will help retain them.

Kalapuge has conducted over 1700 programs in around 350 organisations locally and abroad during the past 10 years.