Effect Of Technological Applications On Service Delivery Among Consumers Of Nairobi City Water And Sewerage Company

Abstract

In the highly competitive service industry, the use of technology has been advanced as a source of competitive advantage by its ability to increase productivity, reduce costs of operation through the use of alternative delivery systems like self-service options. The water service provision in Kenya has incorporated technological application and systems to its service delivery in an effort to satisfy the market and its consumers. This study explored some of the technological applications that NCWSC had adopted in an effort to offer excellent and quality service delivery to its customers. The main objective of this research was to determine the effect of technological applications on service delivery among consumers of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company. The specific objectives covered the technological applications of Maji Voice application, customer management system and Per Pay system and the effect they had on service delivery among the consumers of NCWSC. The study was anchored on the institutional theory, the actor network theory and the SERVQUAL model. The researcher specifically targeted senior management level staff from the following departments IT, Human Resources and Customer care and census was adopted since the 77 members could be access to respond to the research questions. Organized questionnaires were used by the researcher to gather primary data from the sources using a drop-and-pick later procedure. The reliability and validity were measured by examining the used devices for the reliability and effectiveness of the Alpha values. The data was summarized and coded to enhance easy classification, tabulation and interpretation. The data was entered into SPSS version 23.0 for further analysis, descriptive analysis were computed like the measures of central tendencies of mean, standard deviation, percentages and frequencies. Inferential statistics were also conducted through multiple regression to test the strength of the correlation between the variables. The analyzed data was illustrated in charts, figures, and tables so as to enhance easier translation, understanding and explanations. The study established that 47.2% variation in service delivery among consumers of NCWSC is explained by technological applications that are in place, MajiVoice applications had significant effect on the service delivery among consumers of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company while customer management system and Per Pay system had great but insignificant effect. The study concluded that MajiVoice applications had significant effect on the service delivery among consumers of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company while customer management system and Per Pay system had insignificant effect. The recommends that the management of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company should upgrade on the technological applications so as to improve on service delivery among consumers. The management team of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company should invest a lot of resources in MajiVoice applications so as to improve service delivery among consumers. The customer care managers of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company should work together with IT managers to improve on customer management system so as significantly contribute towards service delivery among the customers. The ICT managers of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company overhaul that Per Pay system to ensure that it significantly enhances service delivery among the customers. The study was limited by a small sample size.