Johannesburg, 25 March 2018 – Doing business in a manner that focuses on creating a positive experience for the customer is one of the key ingredients required for succeeding in commerce, with businesses that ensure that customers are at the heart of their strategies, operations and innovation tending to do better than which who don’t do so, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba said today.
“We live in an age where customers dictate the products and services they want business to provide for them. Long gone are the days when companies used to dictate to the customer. This is why customer-centricity should always be at the heart of businesses if companies are to succeed and thrive in an environment where both arkets and customer preferences are changing,” Mr Nyatsumba.
He said it was for this reason, among others, that SEIFSA introduced the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence in 2015. To celebrate companies that have gone out of their ways to ensure that their customers are at the centre of their business, SEIFSA will present the Customer Service Award of the Year to a company rated the highest in customer service performance in 2017.
Other awards that form the seven categories of the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence are:
- The Environment Stewardship Award of the Year will be awarded to an organization that has successfully implemented greening initiatives in its day-to-day business operations in 2017.
- The Most Innovative Company of the Year, which will be awarded to a company that showed the best level of innovation in research and development or production in 2017.
- The Most Transformed Company of the Year Award will be received by a company that showed the highest transformation level in the composition of its Board of Directors, Executive Management and Managerial Team in 2017. This award category pits companies employing fewer than 100 people against those of similar size, and companies employing more than 100 companies against others of similar size.
- The Best CSI Award will be presented to a company whose corporate social investment programme/s in 2017 had a major impact on the lives of its beneficiaries.
- This is the Decade of the Artisan, and an award will be made to the company that trained the highest number of artisans in 2017;
- The Health and Safety Award of the Year will be awarded to a company with the best legal compliance record in Health and Safety or the lowest Lost-Time Injury Frequency rate in 2017.
Mr Nyatsumba encouraged manufacturers operating in the metals and engineering sector to submit their entries for the seven categories before the deadline on Friday, 20 April March 2018. SEIFSA awards entrants will be assessed on their performance in the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017. Participants can enter by visiting the SEIFSA Awards website (www.seifsaawards.co.za).
The Awards are open to all companies in the metals and engineering sector, and not only those that are members of Associations affiliated to SEIFSA.
Awards winners will be honoured at a ceremony that will take place at the IDC Conference Centre in Sandton on 24 May 2018.
Issued by:
Ollie Madlala
Communications Consultant
Tel: (011) 298 9411 / 082 602 1725
Email: ollie@seifsa.co.za
Web: www.seifsa.co.za