South Africa, July 21 -- The answer lies beyond the buzzwords to what people actually want. It's not flashy or full of hype. The reality is simple.

Customers want speed, convenience, knowledge, consistency, and (quite importantly) a human touch. That's it, and that's what they're willing to pay more for.

And yet, many businesses still get it wrong. They don't see customer experience as it actually is: the complete journey a customer takes when interacting with a company; from when they first discover the product or service all the way through to the support they receive after the purchase.

When done right, it's an approach that keeps happy customers coming back, and ends up paying for itself.

What better service looks like

Most of us...