By Tanita Olivier van der Merwe, Altron's CX Manager
Many companies rely on a star rating to gauge how customers feel about their experience. But even when people leave extra detail in a Google review, how often does anyone dig deeply enough to make meaningful changes?
Too often, the answer is "not enough." That's why, at Altron, we've implemented tools to truly understand what our customers are telling us, so we can put them first.
Building a customer-obsessed culture across seven business units
Customer satisfaction isn't the job of one person or department. It's a shared goal across every employee, every department and across all seven business units. Our customer-obsessed strategy isn't a slogan on a slide; it's something we live every day.
Improving customer experience starts with understanding what our customers want so we can not only meet but exceed expectations. To turn feedback into action, we need enough information to pick up the phone, resolve an issue, or even call to say thank you for a compliment. Feedback can never disappear into a black hole.
As Altron's CX Lead, my main responsibility is to measure and improve customer experience across all business units. The challenge was significant when I started – many of our businesses were only measuring customer experience once a year, and only from decision makers, not end users. This gave us an incomplete picture of the customer journey.
From 300 to over 10,000 responses: Scaling feedback collection with AI
As a technology company, we implemented a customer experience analytics application to capture and analyse feedback across the group. When we started a year ago, we received about 300 responses a month. Today, that number is over 10,000, giving us a much clearer view of the entire customer journey.
This dramatic increase required us to fundamentally change how we process and act on feedback. We couldn't rely on manual analysis when dealing with such volumes, so we turned to artificial intelligence. AI analyses large volumes of qualitative data quickly, enabling faster responses and addressing two of the most common complaints that every business experience: poor communication and slow response times.
The human touch: Why empathy can't be automated
But we can always improve how we stay in contact with customers. Once we know what a customer needs, we contact them with a detailed plan, explain the steps, and share realistic timeframes.
Often, customers simply want to know that someone is aware of their situation and actively working on it. Quick resolution isn't always possible. In technology, some fixes require development and testing, and we need to communicate that transparency upfront, and keep the customer updated on the progress made.
You can't replace human empathy with AI – that's how customers can immediately identify when something is written by AI instead of a real person. Our approach focuses on using AI to help our employees be more human, not to replace human interaction entirely.
Measuring what matters: Beyond satisfaction scores
We measure three key metrics that work together to provide the complete picture:
Each metric has limitations individually, but together they reveal the entire customer journey. Satisfaction might be high for one interaction, but if it was difficult to achieve, the effort score tells a different story.
This strategy is only a year old, but we've already improved our customer experience scores and made significant internal changes based on the Voice of the Customer data. Currently, we're maintaining an 86% satisfaction level average across all touchpoints – well above our 80% target and strong for industry standards.
Real results: Transforming customer experience across business units
The improvements have been particularly dramatic in business units that previously had no structured customer experience measurement. One unit increased from 66% satisfaction to 85%, an 189 percentage point improvement in a month.
The key breakthrough came when customers complained about long lead times. Based on this feedback, the business unit implemented a customer dashboard where clients can now track orders online instead of emailing sales representatives. This single change, supported directly by customer feedback, transformed their experience scores.
The art of knowing when not to use AI
Of course, AI in its raw form has its drawbacks. No one wants a cold, automated message that says: "We are aware of your issue and are working on it." That's as frustrating as hearing, "Your call is important to us, please stay on the line."
AI helps us tailor communication. By recognising different customer personas, it guides us to craft responses that resonate with each individual so we can step into their shoes and respond with empathy and understanding.
But AI isn't the answer in every situation. Some customers, especially older generations and those in rural areas, are still wary of AI and prefer direct human contact. For them, trust depends on a personal connection. Sometimes the smartest AI strategy is knowing when not to use it and instead arranging a call or face-to-face meeting.
We ensure customers always have choice. If someone is interacting with a bot, they should be able to immediately opt out and speak to a human being. Similarly, customers can visit physical locations where AI works behind the scenes to help employees access databases and provide faster, more knowledgeable service while maintaining human interaction.
Creating a positive feedback loop for employees
AI also plays a positive role in celebrating success. It identifies standout compliments so we can share them across the company, recognising employees who demonstrate excellence. As part of Customer Experience Month in October, at Altron we'll be turning some of these messages into social posts.
Our customers take the time to provide incredible feedback. In fact, 86% of them are happy with the service they receive, well above our 80% target. Sharing these wins sparks a virtuous cycle: when employees see the impact of their work, they're inspired to do even more for our customers, which turns customer obsession into a reality.
We've also implemented communication training for employees because good communication isn't intuitive for everyone. What seems like adequate communication frequency to one person might feel insufficient to a customer with different expectations. These training modules help standardise our approach to customer communication across all touch points.
From short-term fixes to long-term transformation
But we don't stop there. Each individual response from a customer becomes a learning opportunity to drive long-term improvements, ensuring the same problem doesn't happen again. Addressing immediate complaints matter, but our real focus is using today's feedback to create lasting change across the business and sustainable relationships with clients.
Our Close the Loop initiative exemplifies this approach. When we receive negative feedback, we contact the customer within two days to understand what happened and how we can improve. But we don't stop at fixing that individual issue – we analyse patterns to implement systemic changes that prevent similar problems for future customers.
The future of customer experience: Technology amplifying human connection
AI helps employees work smarter by handling administrative tasks and providing access to comprehensive databases, freeing up capacity for meaningful customer interactions. This allows our team to spend more time on the work they love, helping customers, rather than getting bogged down in routine tasks.
The goal isn't to work longer hours, but to work more efficiently while maintaining work-life balance. When employees can see they're making a genuine impact and have the tools to serve customers effectively, job satisfaction naturally increases.
At Altron, we believe passion for customer experience grows when technology and human care work together. AI gives us data and speed, but empathy and personal connection build trust. It's this balance that keeps us truly customer obsessed.
Ready to share your experience?
We want to hear from you. Your feedback doesn't end up in a black hole, it drives real change across our business. Whether you're praising exceptional service or highlighting areas for improvement, every response helps us serve you better.
Contact us today to share your experience or learn more about how we're transforming customer service across South Africa's technology sector.