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For the last two weeks, I have been sharing my recent encounter with the rebranded LIME and the new customer service model it appears to be unveiling in Barbados [some might argue there is nothing ‘new’ about it, but it honestly is new to me, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk about it].

That very distasteful experience reinforced two lessons from a personal perspective I shared with you last week.

At the time, I also promised to outline the lessons that encounter taught me about some of our market-based decision-making models, as well as give LIME some free advice.

Before I continue, I feel compelled to differentiate myself from the diehard Cable & Wireless bashers who have shifted their historical resentments to the new brand.

During telecommunications deregulation in Barbados, I did some work for Government on policy frameworks that would support a liberalised, competitive sector in a small island like Barbados.  The idea was to create an environment, backed by sound national policies and effective regulation, which would allow Barbadians to benefit from cheaper, more efficient digital technologies and services while allowing existing and new firms in the market to grow.

I attended several meetings with the Minister responsible for telecommunications at the time where the players worked tirelessly to ensure competition would benefit the consumer and new providers while not gutting Cable & Wireless, a company that has played a significant role in Barbados’ modern economic development.

Throughout that process, until this month, I remained one of what is now LIME’s paying customers.  Even during the ongoing dispute between the company and the union concerning the closure of LIME’s Barbados call centre and the transfer of those functions to St. Lucia, I have remained silent.  At my core, I believe while it is important for a company to have a social conscience, such an awareness is pointless if it is not earning a healthy profit it can invest in its own development and that of everything connected to it.

And so we come to the lessons I believe our Caribbean firms, including LIME, would do well to apply.

#1:  At the most basic level, service providers in this evolving economy must understand and operate by the mantra that new digital technologies and the social networks they are enabling are game changers in just about every sector, including telecommunications.  Old, rigid, unresponsive business models must change!

#2:  Detaching provision of a technological service from real-time, proximal customer service is not always a good idea.  People enjoy knowing their service provider is near, easily accessible, easily understood, and directly accountable to them.

#3:  Linked to Lesson #2, LIME needs to align messages from its customer service representatives in St. Lucia with the behaviour of personnel in Barbados, including technicians.  While it is at it, LIME should think about investing more in much-needed customer service training for its local technicians.

#4:  LIME should develop a smarter business model for small, independent service providers like me.  Why was it not possible for the LIME technician who called me to say, “Ma’am, I understand your frustration.  However, our current business model requires that we charge you [‘X’ amount of dollars] for a site visit.”  I could then have decided whether to pay for the privilege of saving my time or go in to have my problem solved.

I began this series of blogs with a quote from noted Barbadian author George Lamming, who said, “It is a bold perception that has allowed the market to kidnap the society, convert the society into a service station and evaluate every human activity as a commodity for sale.”

There are some human activities and behaviours we simply cannot put a price tag on … not everything can, or should, be monetized.  Some things are too critical to healthy human and business relationships for us to take that risk.

The notion that time is money is creating many uncouth service providers who have kidnapped traditional social values like respect and replaced them with intolerant attitudes that will eventually impact poorly on many companies’ profit-making potential.

And so ends my saga with the ‘new’, rebranded LIME.

Check out my next blog on Exporting Caribbean Innovation.

--acb