Service should be yardstick for success

BOTH the public and private sectors should be innovative in identifying areas in which new technologies could be embraced to deliver services to the public more effectively.

Modern technology should be used to reach remote areas and enable the provision of services to citizens, including those in the rural areas who have been lagging behind. This was said by President Hifikepunye Pohamba when he officially launched the much-hyped Smart Switch Namibia (SSN) and its first product, the NamPost smart card, at a hotel in Windhoek on Tuesday.SSN is a new joint venture between Net1 Technologies and Namibia Post Limited, and it promises to offer all Namibians access to financial services and products.The NamPost smart card is a transaction card that can be used at all 120 post offices around the country.The technology aims at drawing in ‘unbanked’ and ‘underbanked’ people.Pohamba said technology should be able to embrace all classes in society, and should attract people to it, as opposed to serving only the ‘educated’ and introducing only complicated systems.He added that in this age of ICT and globalisation, technology should not be feared, but should strive to be simple enough for everyone and to be used to solve people’s everyday problems.”The availability of technology should be accompanied by a human touch of helpfulness and patience so that customers, particularly our pensioners, can learn to use their new smart cards at a reasonable pace.”In my view, customer service should become the yardstick for you to measure the success of this new venture,” he said.The President commended the joint venture between NamPost and Net 1, saying it demonstrated the shared Vision 2030 which aims at making Namibia an industrialised country.Said Pohamba: “Our efforts to promote and encourage public-private partnerships are based on the belief that private sector firms can create mutually beneficial synergies that promote efficiency, profitability and facilitate the application of new technologies.”This was said by President Hifikepunye Pohamba when he officially launched the much-hyped Smart Switch Namibia (SSN) and its first product, the NamPost smart card, at a hotel in Windhoek on Tuesday.SSN is a new joint venture between Net1 Technologies and Namibia Post Limited, and it promises to offer all Namibians access to financial services and products.The NamPost smart card is a transaction card that can be used at all 120 post offices around the country.The technology aims at drawing in ‘unbanked’ and ‘underbanked’ people.Pohamba said technology should be able to embrace all classes in society, and should attract people to it, as opposed to serving only the ‘educated’ and introducing only complicated systems.He added that in this age of ICT and globalisation, technology should not be feared, but should strive to be simple enough for everyone and to be used to solve people’s everyday problems.”The availability of technology should be accompanied by a human touch of helpfulness and patience so that customers, particularly our pensioners, can learn to use their new smart cards at a reasonable pace.”In my view, customer service should become the yardstick for you to measure the success of this new venture,” he said.The President commended the joint venture between NamPost and Net 1, saying it demonstrated the shared Vision 2030 which aims at making Namibia an industrialised country.Said Pohamba: “Our efforts to promote and encourage public-private partnerships are based on the belief that private sector firms can create mutually beneficial synergies that promote efficiency, profitability and facilitate the application of new technologies.”