UAE’s Top Service Providers for 2017 Revealed

• Overall country winners for UAE: Apple – Nissan Arabian Automobiles – Emirates Airline

• Faten Abu-Ghazaleh: As both a service provider and a consumer our role is to set the standards for the quality of service we seek for companies to offer and receive in return

Service Hero, the Kuwait based and the region’s only consumer powered customer satisfaction index, honored top performing companies across the UAE and Kuwait, at its 2017 Customer Service Assessment Awards Ceremony, which was held at the Symphony Styles Hotel – Kuwait, on 19 February, 2018.

The overall country winners of the Service Hero 2017 Award for Best Customer Service among xx listed companies, for the UAE are: 1st place – Apple, 2nd place – Nissan Arabian Automobiles and 3rd place – Emirates airline.

Overall country Winners for Kuwait, as announced during the ceremony are: 1st place – Boubyan Bank, 2nd place – Qatar Airways and 3rd place – Mais Alghanim.

The winning UAE companies were identified after a rigorous data authentication protocol was conducted for the total 28,460 assessments that were collected online as well as via phone surveys, of which 24,074 were validated.

Commenting on the proceedings of the ceremony, Faten Abu-Ghazaleh, Service Hero President said: “Tonight we celebrate top performing companies that have succeeded in understanding their consumer’s needs, but more importantly, were able to reflect that understanding by delivering a customer focused, unique and differentiated service. I would like to congratulate each of the top three country winners and every nominee that made it to the list this year. It is because of your determination to be a leading service provider, and your perseverance to understand the needs of your customers, that consumers feel that their voices are heard, that they matter and can ultimately make a difference. I strongly believe that as both a service provider and as a consumer, our role is to set the standards for the quality of service we seek for companies to offer and receive in return”.

“We introduced the Customer Satisfaction Index in 2010 as a neutral and credible national benchmark for service excellence, which is based on an external assessment from your customers. And in order to help companies even more, we created our second benchmark, the Culture of Excellence Index, which is based on your internal teams’ assessment. Its aim is to help you understand how aligned and ready your internal culture is to deliver excellence. The two indices complement each other and when adopted correctly and together, they help create and maintain your focus to ensure the successful execution of your business strategy, and eventually achieving service excellence.” Abu-Ghazaleh added.

A major highlight of this year’s awards ceremony was the panel discussion, which tackled significant elements and areas that are key contributors to the success of an organization. Those are mainly Leadership, Company Resources, People, Reward, Processes and Procedures, and Measuring Performance. Led by Faten Abu-Ghazaleh, the panel participants were Raffealla Bianchi, du’s Head of Customer Experience – an entity of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC)and a second-time winner under the mobile operator category, Mona Dabbah, Alshaya Group Customer Service Director and Adel Al Majed, Vice Chairman and CEO Boubyan Bank. The session allowed the representatives of each company to share experiences and best practices within these given areas, demonstrating their importance and direct relation to delivering service excellence.

Sharing insights from the UAE market, Fahad AlHassawi, Deputy CEO, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du), said: “Service standards are increasingly becoming the key to attract and retain customers and these award wins underscore our commitment to this cause. This is the second consecutive year for us to win the Service Hero awards, and are a testament to our continuing efforts in maintaining service excellence – which includes maintaining a robust customer satisfaction measurement mechanism.”

The table below highlights the winner from each industry category, as announced at the awards ceremony:

Highlighting the importance of adopting a credible index that offers transparent and neutral market data, Dr. Raed Safadi, Independent Member of the Service Hero Advisory Council and Chief Economic Advisor at Dubai’s Department of Economic Development, said: “Market insight is one essential tool for proper and effective planning, be it at the company level or nationwide. It provides up-to-date market trends, public perception, direct consumer feedback and competitor insight. Importantly, such information and data are crucial for firms’ investment decisions. I congratulate Service Hero on its second year of successful operations in the UAE and 8th in Kuwait, and welcome its contribution to market intelligence and also the role such information it can play as a research tool to better achieve the level of service excellence we aspire to.”

The 15 industry categories that were rated in the 2017 Customer Service Assessment included cafés, casual dining, fast food, new car sale, car service, clothes, electronics, home furniture, retail banks, Islamic Banks, ISP, mobile operators, private hospitals, regional Arab airlines, and supermarkets.   Each industry category was measured across up to eight service dimensions on a ten-point scale, which are reliability, speed, product quality, staff quality, value for money, location, call center and website quality.

Service Hero adheres to ESOMAR principles (the European society of opinion and market research) and is overseen by an independent Advisory Council, including its official partner; the American Customer Satisfaction Index. It has an Advisory Council of academic and independent members from leading private universities as well as established companies, such as the Boston Consulting Group, and the Department of Economic Development, to assure results that are impartial, objective and accurately reflect people’s preference, making Service Hero’s findings a credible benchmark that offers transparent and relevant insight for companies.