Naicom soon to unveil Customer Service Charter

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) will soon unveil Customer Service Charter to help service delivery, protection of trust and confidence in the industry.

NAICOM Head, Corporate Strategy and Special Duties Department, Mr Usman Jimada Jankara, announced the plan to unveil the charter at concluded 2021annual seminar for insurance journalists in Lagos last Friday.

The theme of the 2021 seminar was ’NAICOM Corporate Strategic Plan 2021 to 2023: Goals, Objectives and Key Deliverables.’

A customer service charter is a document that outlines how an organization promises to work with its customers along with providing insights into how an organization operates.

Customer service charters help organizations manage customer expectations regarding the delivery of products and services, standards of quality and conflict resolution

Jankara explained that the charter are practiced in Malaysia and Indonesia from which the Commission took a cue from

Naicom strategic plan, he said, was hinged on five goals including entrenching effective and efficient service delivery, ensuring safe, sound and stable insurance sector.

Other goals are to adequately protect policyholders and public interest, improve trust and confidence in the insurance sector, encourage innovation and promote insurance market development.

According to him, “The goals will consolidate the 2016 -2020 strategic plan with new milestones required to enable the commission accomplish its mission.”

Jankara noted that some of the commission’s 2016 to 2020 strategic plans were not achieved due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors .

“Our strategic plan has simplified what we will focus on and we are now more convinced that we will do much better this year.

Successful customer service charters typically implement the following principles:

* Explicit identification of the organization’s business goals and target audience.
Identifying channels of communication and contact.
*  Proper handling of customer service standards, customer rights and responsibilities.
* Taking past customer feedback and complaints into consideration.
Making sure that formatting and style are uniform.
* Formulating a response plan to customer concerns.
* Consistently monitoring, reviewing and updating as necessary.
* Holding staff accountable.

“We want to have a stable insurance industry to compete globally and contribute to the country’s economy,’’ he said.

Jankara said the plan would also ensure that policyholders’ complaints were handled better and promptly.