Well-known SA brands ABSA, Sun International, Sanlam, MTN and Virgin Active (SA) will be speaking at the two-day event being held on the 27th - 28th March, which is being chaired by popular SA actress and MC Leeanda Reddy. Two of the leading proponents of Customer Experience, Robin Lawton and Mike Wittenstein, who between them have advised global brands Apple, IBM, GE, Ford, AmEx and McDonald's, will be running interactive sessions with delegates to give specific advice on how to implement Customer Experience into their organisations.
Maggie Wheeler, Director of the Focus Group Ltd who are running the event, explains what Customer Experience (CE) is and why she thinks South Africa is the new growth market for CE.
"Put simply, CE is about turning your customers into your biggest fans. It's a concept that was used by Starbucks to achieve their phenomenal growth worldwide. Zappos Inc (an internet retailer in the US) grew from nothing to a $1bn company in a decade purely by focussing on Customer Experience: which is why they are our keynote speakers at ICEW 2012. As the world changes due to Social Media, brands can be made - or broken - by the views of their customers. No company is too big - or too small - to ignore the effects of CE. It's also a concept that applies across sectors - we have not-for-profit and government attendees at our events, as well as a broad cross-section of industries represented."
"Customer Experience isn't one of those business philosophies that come and go. It's been around for 30 years, although it is growing year-on-year in impact on the way businesses operate. Every year, more companies are appointing Directors of Customer Experience because they can see their competitors have already done so."
"We're coming to South Africa with this event for several reasons. One was the fact that year-on-year, our event in London (ECEW) was getting more attendees from SA; so it made sense that if we ran an event here, more people would be able to attend. Secondly, South Africa is seen as one of the key countries in which CE is going to become a market differentiator. We've found real demand for this event, and want it to be the first of many that we run here."
International Customer Experience World is taking place on the 27th - 28th March at the Hyatt, Rosebank, Johannesburg. Tickets and further information available via www.tfgevents.co.uk/icew.
