Your Word is Your Bond
Introduction
Today we live in
a world, and in a society, where corruption is rife. It seems that everyone is
trying to wrangle their share of the pie irrespective of the cost to their
fellow man or to society at large.
With corruption
comes the question of trust. Can the next person be trusted with what was being
said and promised? Is the next person of good character and worthy to be
trusted? In previous generations when the world was less connected and
communication was not technologically supported, a persons’ handshake was
sacred. The handshake sealed the deal and every participants’ word was his or
her bond. Stated in simple terms, a bond is an agreement with legal force.
But it is true
that we no longer live in a world where our words are our bonds. The world has
shrunk to a global village and everybody is connected in the digital world.
Handshakes have been replaced by large volume contracts with a multitude of
signatures. These contracts are in a sense the life-blood of the legal
fraternity.
Impact on Business
Business owners need to see the need for trustworthiness. Where ones’ word
is ones’ bond. Business owners need to
realize that they have customers and employees who analyses their
trustworthiness.
Verbal promises of salary increases, flexitime, additional leave create
expectations in the employee and when these verbal promises are not kept,
employees get frustrated and do not “go the extra mile”.
Thus, if a customer is promised that service will be delivered within
the next 30 minutes, that is exactly what the customer expects. If that
deadline is not being met, the customer gets agitated and the integrity and
trustworthiness of the business is being doubted.
In this corruption rife society of ours, not all employees are
dependable – to the frustration of the business owner. This means that with a
more complex organization the business owner needs help to overcome negative
service attitudes of employees. Help is also required to provide the customer
with the most accurate data and information as soon as possible. Great service
is annihilated by an incorrect invoice. Time is money and cash(flow) is king.
Solution
Help is available to the business owner to enable the concept of “my
word is my bond”. The solution is situated in a digital and connected software
solution. A solution that has the potential to adjust the behaviour and
enhances communication with the customer.
The solution is cloud-based which translates to have only an internet
connection and thus eliminating expensive computer hardware and equally
expensive support staff. The software is updated regularly without cost to the
business owner.
The solution is paperless and business procedures are mainly automated. This
eliminates the need for additional human resources.
GPS maps provide the most economic route to the customer site. And an
operator in the office can monitor progress in this regard.
Summary
With the aid of technology, the business owner is able to restore the
concept of “my word is my honour”. If service is promised for a specified time,
it is possible to dispatch accordingly. Information is on hand and any queries
from a customer can dealt with efficiently by a well-trained operator. The
field service staff obtain their work orders on their cell phones and the close
the work order strictly according to the laid-down business procedures.
Costs are cut and trustworthiness is restored. With restored or enhanced
trustworthiness the business is set on a path of increasing its’ customers base
because the word will spread.
Pieter Coetzer
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