International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014) 312 The Impact of ICTs on Customer Service Excellence in Zimbabwe Prof. Gabriel Kabanda 1 1 Zimbabwe Open University, 7th Floor Stanley House, Corner First Street/ J. Moyo Avenue, P.O. Box MP 1119, Harare, ZIMBABWE3 Abstract—The diffusion and adoption of ICT innovations permeate through a social system that positively affects customer satisfaction and support customer service excellence. The three discourses with respect to information systems innovation are discussed in the context of Zimbabwe with particular reference to diffusion, social embeddedness, and the transformative nature of ICT interventions. The framework for service excellence links the customer to the service environment, service delivery and the processes. The Xerox Excellence Model represents one of the early excellence pioneering models, and the EFQM European Excellence Model is a representative of international quality award model that informs customer service excellence. The methodology used is a mixed method approach, where the quantitative approach was used in assessing the ICT usage patterns and indicators in Zimbabwe. The research used the quantitative approach on Infodensity covering 18 countries in East and Southern Africa for the period 2000 to 2012, and for Africa in comparison with the rest of the world from 2005 to 2014. The qualitative approach was used in the analysis of online query handling facilities at the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) website. Through a random sampling technique a total of 42,349 views were collected through the ZOU website on addressing frequently asked questions as a way to improve customer service excellence. The ICT development index in Zimbabwe has grown steadily from the year 2000 to 2012, where Zimbabwe experienced one of the highest mobile density increases from 2007 to 2012 due to the enabling environment created by the Government of Zimbabwe. The infrastructural facilities for ICTs are now sound in Zimbabwe. However, the gap is on the application and effective utilization of ICTs to improve on customer service excellence with some innovation. Keywords—ICT diffusion, innovation, customer service excellence, model, education, business I. INTRODUCTION The service industry in Zimbabwe has since 1980 embarked on various initiatives that have improved quality, productivity, customer experience, human capital development and competitiveness. Johnston (2004), cited in Otiso et al (2012), posits that the aim for service excellence does not imply that organizations should continually and always exceed expectations; service excellence is to provide the customers with what they value in order to induce feelings of delight. Problem handling after conflicts may result in delighted customers. Excellent service falls into four categories, according to Johnston (2004), namely delivering the promise; providing a personal touch; going the extra mile and dealing well with problems and queries. The emergence and convergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has remained at the centre of global socio-economic transformations. Otiso et al (2012) investigated the effects of the perceived ICT service quality and its effects on customer satisfaction at the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), Eldoret. The study was based on Kano satisfaction model, which focuses on customer satisfaction. The study, which adopted descriptive survey design involving quantitative research, established that awareness of service provided ability to communicate, manage customer attitude, and establish service seeking habit that is central to the quality of service provided. This implies that as the ICT service delivery increases, so does the customer satisfaction. Therefore, to enhance customer satisfaction, there is need to increase ICT service delivery. The ICT service delivery affects customer satisfaction. Information Technology (IT) produces value by enabling new Strategic initiatives. Business driven IT Management is defined as the application of a set of models, practices, techniques and tools to map and to quantitatively evaluate dependencies between IT solutions and business performance and using the quantified evaluation to improve the IT solutions‘ quality of service and related business results (Otiso et al, 2012). Diffusion is the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system (Kabanda G., 2012).