26th September, 2012
After trials spanning over four weeks involving its Human Resources, Client Services and Business Development Departments, Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) is set to introduce Skype video-conferencing application as part of the agency’s commitment to excellent customer relations and service delivery.
The Skype video application will among other things ensure that response time to enquiries from LASAA stakeholders is quicker and faster thereby making service delivery more effective and efficient.
The deployment of the Skype application which will come into effect from Tuesday October 2, 2012, is perhaps the first time such interactive platform is deployed by any regulator in the industry, in African continent. The initiative, described as trail–blazing, has also received commendations from a wide spectrum of LASAA stakeholders.
Skype allows users to communicate with individuals by voice, video, and instant messaging over the Internet. The service has almost 700 million registered users across the world. In Nigeria, it is estimated that over one million persons use the service mainly for personal communication, but LASAA says it will adapt it as part of efforts to improve its relations with its stakeholders including outdoor practitioners, customers, prospects as well as institutions.
Commenting on this new initiative, the Managing Director of LASAA, Mr George Noah, said Skype video application demonstrates the agency’s commitment to the provision of value-addition services, and raise stakeholders’ satisfaction and positive experience of LASAA. ”We are most delighted at the launch of this service because it aligns with our commitment to continuously offer our stakeholders opportunity to connect with us freely. We are convinced that with Skype, engagement at both ends will be quicker and faster”, he said. ‘Our objective is to make every single customer contact a rewarding experience. In addition to Skype we are exploring other social media platforms to make sure we use technology to help us do our job better. We provide services for over 70,000 customers and with it comes expectations of excellent customer service, that is what Skype will also help us achieve’’ he said.
Noah testified that the Skype video application had been well received in a pre-test exercise conducted among randomly picked stakeholders. ”The trials of Skype video which we conducted among some customers were successful and we are happy to announce that we intend to commence the deployment of the service from Tuesday October 2, 2012. We shall commence this service from our head office in Ikeja and extend it to our 22 branch offices in different local councils in the state over a period of time.”
”As a forward-looking and innovative organisation, we will continue to employ new innovations that can improve service delivery for all our stakeholders”, he stressed.
Noah added that part of the sustainability plan for LASAA is a proposed outdoor masterplan which would be unveiled soon. ”Our next move is to commence work on the Lagos State Outdoor Masterplan”, he stated. LASAA has about 400 staff and 22 branch offices in different local councils in the state. The agency recently restructured along product management groups and completed a signage/billboard census where it uncovered over 300 per cent increase in signage not previously on its books and a further 70 per cent increase in billboards not captured on its books.