Month: November 2022

Every interaction with the customer is an opportunity to create a positive impression. As businesses work hard to keep up with customer expectations, they are re-evaluating ways to elevate customer experiences with the most appropriate technology applications.

Customer behaviors have also evolved dramatically in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and have compelled industries to accelerate digital transformation initiatives. This digitization drive is compelling telecom operators to identify new revenue streams as plummeting revenues from voice and competition from OTT services have made the playfield more complex.

Telecom providers now have to provide value-added services in addition to their portfolio of offerings, enable mobile money, and integrate digital payments into the telecom ecosystem.

Challenges with Customer Onboarding

Today customer experience revolves around seamless integration and is driven by convenience. As such, the customer onboarding process is crucial, for it elevates the first step of the journey around any product lifecycle.

Customer onboarding is a very sensitive journey that customers embark on with businesses. A closer look at most customer onboarding journeys reveals the deficiencies of human touchpoints. Human touchpoints are the interfaces at which information is shared by the customer and the organization or business.

Customers don’t want to enter their information manually through these touchpoints and want seamless automation. The data is usually readily available and can be extracted from documents or found in-house and on external systems.

The latency between touchpoints, complex and demanding analogue interactions, and communications being delivered in formats which are not mobile-enabled impede customer experiences and increase frustration. Identifying ways to digitally transform the customer onboarding process emerges as a strategic priority to enhance the overall user experience.

Digital Transformation of the Onboarding Process is Imminent

As the competitive landscape becomes more challenging, telcos must look toward packing in as much value as possible into critical business operations such as the onboarding process. They need to mitigate the vulnerabilities of human touchpoints and ensure that customer journeys shift towards positive outcomes.

Digital onboarding is now an immediate priority for any business across any sector. Onboarding is described as the phase in which the customer gets started on using a product or service. All the processes that need to get the customer started to fall under the umbrella of onboarding.

Digitising onboarding demands the execution of these processes with the least manual intervention and ensures that customer onboarding and identity verification are simple, and intuitive, and don’t compromise on security.

Moving to digital onboarding is also becoming essential for telcos because of the increasing regulatory landscape and compliance demands. Staying compliant can add to overall costs but not staying compliant can cost a business more long-term.

With the compliance and regulatory landscape becoming strict and complex, there arises a demand for the increased accuracy of data processing. Maintaining data transparency has never been more critical than today. Elevating customer experiences need data, and expecting a customer to re-enter data or use a slow, manual process is what leads to customer frustration.

Digitization ensures that data is recorded, stored, and can be accessed at any time for designing personalised customer experiences.

Digital transformation of the customer experience also starts with onboarding because nothing causes more grievance to the customer than processing data that they know is already available somewhere. That apart, ensuring the integrity and security of the data is of critical importance not only to gain customer trust but also to remain on the right side of regulatory authorities.

How Digital Onboarding Drives Customer Experience

Digital onboarding uses an array of technologies to supercharge the entire customer acquisition process and ensure that they are engaged and happy with interactive experiences. Here’s how digital onboarding works:

• Instant document validation and verification using machine learning and automated verification and identification technologies.
• Simplified data entry and validation using OCR-based automated data extraction from documents. This also makes the process faster, more accurate and time-efficient.
• Greater data accuracy and security using mobile apps. Apps request mandatory permissions necessary for the KYC process and also enable OTP-based validation.
• Prevent impersonation fraud and make online onboarding more secure by leveraging machine learning-based face match validation and liveness detection.
• Deliver country-specific identity document integration.
• Deliver a higher degree of security and privacy protection using comprehensive security controls while facilitating fast authentication.
• Make digital identity verification and onboarding convenient and secure by employing technologies such as AI, image analytics, and powerful automation.
• Launch mobile money and financial services offerings with confidence while accounting for the regulatory demands of both the telecom and finance sectors.

Conclusion

Today’s customers are well versed with digital interactions and are clear in what they want from them. Seamless, simple, intuitive experiences contribute toward elevated customer experiences. The inability to do so causes customers to switch to competitors in no time.

Since first impressions are often last impressions, digitally driven onboarding processes help influence the customers positively and drive organisations on the path to profitability. Let us help you in your quest to boost customer engagement and loyalty by starting with customer onboarding.

Over the past few years, the telecom sector has come under increased pressure as traditional value pools fail to contribute to growth. While this sector has constantly been working towards building greater connections, it must now focus more on delivering digital-native (Uber and Netflix-like) experiences and redefining interaction models.

The rate at which telecom suppliers need to roll out products has increased dramatically as we step into the age of customer-backed disruption. The market for next-gen services is also growing, and business rules are changing – telecommunication has to do more than connect calls.

The pandemic further upended the world of telecom and brought about further disruption in this sector as customers wanted self-service, omnichannel interactions, and instant communication, with solutions offering them greater levels of personalisation and security.

Along those lines, realigning business strategies to accommodate market and customer demands has compelled telcos to operate like digital service providers. Some of the common challenges facing telcos today can be listed as:

• Delivering quick and personalised, omnichannel customer service.
• Navigating complex operational processes to accelerate the pace of service delivery.
• Ensuring network security with the right technical, network, and operational upgrades.
• Identifying revenue leaks through grey routes and improving the security posture
• Driving elevated customer experience that mimics digital platform experiences like those offered by messaging services like WhatsApp.
• Navigating the complex regulatory and compliance, and security landscape with ease.

Telecom products have to get a complete facelift now as broadband markets get more competitive and enterprise markets for private cellular networks and edge computing gain momentum.

The industry has embraced new networks, services, and applications such as 5G, distributed computing, and as artificial intelligence. These are driving enterprise interest in multi-access edge computing and private cellular networks.

Given the accelerating pace of change and disruption, telcos are identifying ways to fulfil the demand for ever-increasing communication speed, security concerns, and more interconnectedness.

Indeed, with constant and dynamic market shifts, telcos need dynamic and cutting-edge telecom products to help drive competitive differentiation and stay ahead of the curve. But what does it take to build these cutting-edge telecom products? Let’s explore.

Technical Depth

Building next-gen telecom products entail exploring the depth of technology and sustaining exhaustive technical knowledge. This involves being technology agnostic and using the best technology for the function rather than chasing the latest and shiniest new technology on the block.

Depth of technology also ensures the creative use of technology and the capacity to engage it to do more. AI and Machine Learning, for example, are technologies that are best suited to improve the security posture of telcos. Developing robust security products using these technologies helps telcos recognise and protect operators from all known types of voice fraud.

These technologies further provide complete 360-degree network protection for SMS traffic and give mobile operators and end-users a safe and secure messaging environment.

Innovation Focus

Having an unwavering focus on driving future-ready innovation is also essential to developing telecom products today. As the pace of technology change accelerates, telcos need to access products that can help them meet the needs of the present and also scale and meet the needs of the future.

Making the right technology considerations and using the right technologies and frameworks becomes a crucial contributor to these capabilities. Besides that, they have to know how the industry, market trends, customer demands, and technology competencies will evolve to ensure the longevity of these products.

A Comprehensive and Customisable Suite of Solutions

Technology products that can be leveraged as a comprehensive suite of solutions stand to gain an additional advantage. A stack telco operation and enterprise commercial communication services suite will consider all aspects that start from fraud management, regulatory compliance, and business intelligence and extend to customer engagement.

A full stack suite drives greater interconnectedness and elevates customer interactions. These products, however, should be completely configurable and meet the evolving needs of the business.

As such, these products need to be powerful, scalable, and flexible all-in-one business solutions and must blend quality with productivity. Well-designed, unified communication platforms also become crucial to this mix and drive meaningful customer interactions. They facilitate seamless and superior customer experiences across multiple channels.

Domain Knowledge

Profound domain knowledge of developing cutting-edge telecom products is non-negotiable to building products fit for today’s market. Understanding consumer needs and customer behaviours, the way customers want to engage with the product, comprehensiveness of solutions, security considerations and frameworks etc., are some factors that get organically covered with domain expertise.

While any software development company can build a telecom product, a development company that specialises in building telecom products will have greater experience.

They can identify all possible loopholes that impede product experience and find the best ways to secure the security perimeter. They can also discover ways to enhance customer experiences by driving omnichannel customer engagement to make conversations relevant and contextual while reaching them on their preferred channel for a richer experience.

Years of experience in telecom solution deliveries, market expertise, and implementation experience are factors to consider. Deep roots in voice, messaging, and data services with attention to regulatory compliance and security vulnerabilities are critical capabilities that further contribute to developing cutting-edge, robust, and secure telecom products.

The Bottom Line

International experience in developing trusted telecom products and solutions and efficient service delivery expertise skills to look for to ensure that products are comprehensive, capable, and well-suited to meet the evolving needs of modern telecom providers. Connect with us to know how we can help.

The Future of Work is Now.

With the rise of the hybrid workplace, UCaaS is becoming a must-have technology for every organization across any business. The business case for UCaaS isn’t new and buisnessess around the world are implementing this technology to encrypt communications, improve remote work, and streamline communications. Research shows that the global UCaaS market is growing and projected to reach USD 70 billion by 2028.

The new, hybrid workplace is all about flexibility. As VUCA continues to disrupt the world, organizations look toward building more operational resilience and ensuring nothing impacts business continuity.

UCaaS helps organizations to manage collaboration among employees, anywhere, anytime, over the cloud. It is a cost-effective solution for organizations across various industries and is well-suited to meet the latest demands of consumers.

UCaaS solutions are location-agnostic and help organizations deliver a consistent working experience, irrespective of whether employees are in the office, on the go, or the couch.

UCaaS is now a non-negotiable technology in the hybrid workplace and offers the following benefits:

Enable collaboration

Smooth collaboration is perhaps one of the clearest advantages delivered by UCaaS. UCaaS enables your workforce to receive the same seamless unified communication experience whether they are in the office or working remotely from a different location.

Unlike traditional premise-based communications, UCaaS allows employees to log in from anywhere on their preferred desktop or mobile device and get to work.

Since UCaaS is a centralized single platform, employees can access all communication and collaboration tools in one place. They do not need to switch through multiple applications to get work done. The solution saves time and improves productivity overall.

Enhance employee engagement

UCaaS is location-neutral and hosted on a cloud-based infrastructure, delivering greater uptime. UCaaS solutions provide employees access to real-time communications via iOS and Android devices, no matter where or how they work.

It simplifies the communication process and acts as a central hub for all interactions. It enables audio calls, video conferences, and file sharing.

Employees can easily navigate conversations with colleagues and customers irrespective of the location they are operating from. It enables real-time participation and allows those in remote locations to collaborate and contribute seamlessly with their colleagues.

UCaaS makes employee onboarding experiences more consistent, thus making it a valuable driver for employee engagement.

Employees get to participate in global projects, enjoy immersive work experiences, and feel included, despite working remotely.

Simplify IT management

Legacy communications create a massive load for IT departments. Keeping these systems up-to-date is effort-intensive, complex, and time-consuming. The complexity increases even more to accommodate the needs of the hybrid workforce. Executing upgrades in such systems become complicated and needs greater planning. There is also downtime to consider.

Legacy systems may also need a hardware upgrade to meet the rising demands of increased computing prowess. These upgrades can be expensive and managing disparate parts of multiple systems can become extremely complicated. IT teams also have to ensure that employees get access to new features and tools introduced in the ecosystem to grow fast.

UCaaS simplifies the systems updates for legacy infrastructures, making them seamless, automated, and fast. It frees up IT resources for high-value work and offers great scalability. Organizations can respond to market demands and add resources easily without pressuring IT teams.

Improve security

As the security perimeter of the enterprise blurs with the rise of hybrid work and the explosion of edge devices, organizations need to adopt new tools and strategies to maintain a robust security structure. UCaaS improves security posture, minimizes risks, and drives business continuity as solutions. It is hosted on off-site data centres and have built-in redundancies.

These solutions provide secure voice and data encryption and ensure that the data is secure when accessed from different locations. Improved access management and zero-trust security architecture are enabled with UCaaS to meet the security needs of the new hybrid workplaces.

However, not all UCaaS solutions are created equal. Reports show that between 50% and 75% of all help desk requests are related to a UC&C issue. Another survey revealed that 66% of respondents were moderately or extremely concerned that UC&C-related challenges could temporarily hinder productivity within their organization.

Organizations need to look for UCaaS vendors who furnish good quality-of-service (QoS) policies to drive real-time visibility to eliminate these challenges. Along with this, vendors need to deliver a comprehensive solution that allows organizations to reduce and consolidate the number of UCaaS platforms being used. UCaaS offers a unified view, greater visibility, and deep analytics to enhance decision-making capabilities and help drive better organizational outcomes. Additionally, they present quality communications services – from traditional UC&C and VoIP to video, business data applications, and more, on one platform.

We are happy to announce that we have recently bagged the Best Unified Communication Online Provider of the Year at the prestigious CC- Global Awards 2022. Let’s connect to see how we can be your partners for success by enabling your UCaaS journey. The carrier community believes in our solutions and you will know why when we connect!

In recent times, industry regulations like GDPR and CCPA have highlighted the importance of data privacy for individual customers. To this effect, even Google has moved its deadline for stopping third-party cookies to 2023. Since 2014, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has also emphasised the importance of consumer privacy.

As data privacy regulations transform the consumer market, digital advertisers are looking at innovative ways to engage with potential customers. Although it is not new, permission or consent-based marketing is becoming a more relevant tool today. Seth Godin, author of the book “Permission Marketing,” says this form of marketing “turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers.”

A consent-based marketing structure is a win-win arrangement for both consumers and marketers. For instance, marketers now have a clear understanding of what their consumers pay to buy (based on the data shared by them).

But what exactly is consent marketing, and why is it important? Let’s delve deeper into this.

What is Consent Marketing?

Consent-based marketing is defined as the practice of companies taking prior consent from the consumer before contacting them with business offers. The primary objective is that only “active” users who have expressed interest in the brand should be added to the sales funnel.

For consumers, this form of marketing means they are in control of their data. On the other end, marketers can shift from data quantity to data quality. Effectively, this drives their reliance on zero-party data and reduces dependence on third-party data.

Consent marketing works through a series of organized steps, namely:

1. Capturing the customer’s consent by asking for their contact information.
2. Documenting the consumer consent for legal compliance. For example, the “Telephone Consumer Protection Act” for Telecom companies.
3. Qualifying the collected consumer data for sales leads or prospects.
4. Filtering out the fraudulent and duplicate sales leads.
5. Contacting qualified consumers through telephone or email marketing.

With the right technology platform, consent marketing is a valuable marketing tool to win more consumers. Next, let’s discuss why consent marketing is important to business enterprises.

Why Does Consent Marketing Matter?

Why is consent-based marketing important in the age of digital privacy? Here are a few reasons:

1. GDPR Violations

Consent marketing is essential to avoid any GDPR-related violations. Over the last few years, GDPR fines have risen astronomically as consumers are more sensitive about sharing their personal information. Apart from technology companies, telecom companies are more prone to data privacy violations.

In the year 2020, there were 69 privacy-related fines applied to the telecom sector. In a recent case, Vodafone was fined around $9.7 million in Spain, mostly for violating GDPR norms.

2. Customer Consent in Email and Telephone Marketing

Even without the GDPR restrictions, consent marketing is essential when businesses approach consumers through email marketing or on the telephone. Companies can benefit by knowing the specific users who have signed up for their business.

Customer consent is regarded as the user “subscribing” to receiving communications from the brand. What’s more, consumers always have the option to “unsubscribe” or “sign out” from receiving business calls and emails.

3. Customer Experience (CX)

In the age of consumer protection, customers do feel overwhelmed by the volume of business emails and calls they receive daily. Personalised messages or calls are the way forward to enhance their CX. Through consent marketing, businesses can personalise their marketing message based on the user’s shared data.

Also Read: Why it’s Time for Telecom Companies to Modernise their Tech Strategy

How can Consent Management Platforms help telecom companies to achieve compliance? Let’s discuss that next.

How Consent Management Platforms Can Help Telecom Companies

As Telecom companies continue to face GDPR-related penalties, they need an efficient mode of obtaining customer consent. But how should telecom companies implement consent management to streamline the process? Here are a few of the best practices:

• Ensure that you include the consent-related details (exactly for what the user’s permission is being sought).
• Be transparent with customers about how their collected data will be used and why it is needed.
• Make it simpler for consenting customers to withdraw their consent anytime.
• Enable consumers to use business services even without providing their consent.

With a Consent Management Platform (or CMP), companies can easily implement these best practices. The CMP is an efficient solution that enables business enterprises to collect and manage customer information in line with compliance requirements. How does a CMP benefit telecom companies?

• Simplifies the process of obtaining customer consent with precise information.
• Enables customers to withdraw their consent whenever they want to.
• Helps the company keep track of their potential customers who have given consent (or not).
• Helps distribute and manage customer consent across different marketing channels, including telephone and emails.
• Provides transparency to the entire consent-related process, thus ensuring compliance with industry regulations.

Conclusion

To avoid penalties for GDPR-related violations, business enterprises (including telecom companies) must communicate with their customers and seek their consent or permission. A Consent Management Platform is the best automation tool available to enable consent-based marketing for customer-facing companies.

As the enterprise “arm” of Globe Teleservices, CERF provides enterprise-grade products that can enhance data privacy and customer experience. With our Consentica consent management platform, our customers can leverage a centralised platform to collect, manage and document the user’s consent following regulations like GDPR, TCCCPR, and CCPA.

With CERF solutions, telecom companies can deliver efficient telephone-based consent marketing to their frontline customers. If you need professional help with consent marketing, we can help. Get in touch with us.

Africa is on the cusp of a significant telecom-led transformation. International telecom and technology companies are leveraging increased investments in the continent to be a part of the coming growth.

To build improved technology and telecommunication services in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa-based Solis Investments Group recently announced its strategic partnership with Globe Teleservices.

Backed by a $500 million investment from a US-based development finance corporation, Kenya-based Safaricom is building a new mobile network in Ethiopia.

From 2021, he African Telecom sector is recording significant revenues. Major players like Vodacom, MTN, and Safaricom have reported revenues of up to $6 billion. To facilitate digital payments and transactions, the Central Bank of Nigeria has recently launched its digital currency, eNaira.

Coming back to the technology sector, Liquid Telecom, Africa’s largest Internet and cloud computing company, recently closed a $620 million bond sale. This deal will provide cost-effective broadband fibre connection to over 2.7 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Buoyed by the growth of telecom, let us look at the five most influential industry sectors in Africa.

5 Industry Sectors Influenced by Telecom-Led Transformation

Africa is economically the fastest-growing continent after Asia. The growth of the middle-class community has been a prime driver of economic growth in the region. Adding to that is the sheer dynamism of the emerging technology and startup ecosystem that is pushing the boundaries of innovation. The telecommunication sector stands at the centre of this blooming ecosystem by enabling better mobile phone connectivity across the region.

As compared to a global average of 3%, the mobile phone market in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to grow by 4.6% by 2025.

Along those lines, here are five industry sectors in Africa that are influenced the most by the Telecom revolution:

1. Banking & Finance

The telecom revolution in Africa is enabling the digitalization of cash and payments and banking across the region’s largely unbanked (or underbanked) population. Mobile Money solutions are exploding and adoption is surging. So much so, that these players are being seen at the forefront of worldwide innovation in the space. Traditional financial services and banking are also changing.

ChiedzaMadzima of Fitch Solutions emphasizes that international investments into resources like bonds and loans in Africa will have a “positive impact” in the long-term future. The invested capital is being utilized towards physical infrastructure, thus improving the bankability of such projects.

U.S-based Africell has secured a $105 million loan facility from Gemcorp. The company will invest a significant part of the acquired capital into building a mobile network in Angola, which is looking to boost its fintech industry sector.

2. Education

Education is another industry sector that communication technology can impact by reducing overall illiteracy rates in Africa. A recent UNESCO report highlighted Sub-Saharan Africa as the region with the highest rate of education exclusion. Over one-fifth of the children between the ages of 6-11 are out of the formal school system.

As more schools closed worldwide (including in Africa) during the pandemic, technology boosted online learning for students in their homes.

Education ministries are now working with telecom operators to avoid charging any data tariffs for online learning websites. For example, South Africa had already implemented a “Zero rating” to provide free access to online learning material.

For inclusive education, the UNESCO report highlighted the following 3-step process:

1. Identify technology innovations for educational systems with maximum potential.
2. Test the best innovations with a specific context.
3. Adapt and scale them for the best results.

3. Mobile Payments

Nearly 60% of online traffic in the African continent comes from mobile phones. Mobile phones are used more for data-based applications like online chats, video content, and online banking than for voice. As mobile usage continues to increase, Africa is witnessing a shift towards mobile-based payments.

A Citi Group research found that three African countries, namely Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, are among the ten countries to adopt mobile payments. Egypt and Nigeria, at that time, were two more countries developing their mobile money solutions.

The global pandemic has largely contributed to the emergence of mobile payments in this region. Leading mobile operators are also racing to launch their mobile payment platforms. For instance, Airtel Nigeria CEO Segun Ogunsanya talked about his company’s plans to venture into the mobile money market.

Read More: Why It’s Time for Telecom Companies to Modernize their Tech Strategy.

4. Technology Startups

Thanks to its young workforce, Africa is now the host to many startup companies in the technology space. Technology startup financing is expected to reach a value of $90 billion by 2030. The tech revolution is Africa’s response to mounting challenges like inequalities, climate change, food production, education, and healthcare.

However, tech entrepreneurs & investors continue to face structural reform barriers within Africa. This includes a fragmented market of over 54 countries, complex government regulations, and a lack of digital skills. But industry leaders need a simplified regulatory framework to ensure compliance, which can boost the startup environment. As a result, to boost its digital transformation, African governments must work together to connect their economies.

5. Cryptocurrencies

In addition to mobile payments and startups, Africa’s younger population is driving the growth of digital currencies or cryptocurrencies. As compared to other developing economies, cryptocurrency is still at a nascent stage in Africa. However, a Foresight Africa report states that Africa is the third-fastest growing market for cryptocurrencies.

Similarly, the  2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency report states that cryptocurrency asset volume grew by $105.6 billion in Africa between July 2020 to June 2021. That represents a percentage increase of 1200%.

Going ahead, cryptocurrencies can play a pivotal role in foreign remittances and banking services. Remittance inflows represent the “lifeline” for many poor African families. However, remittance fees are among the highest in Africa. Cryptocurrencies can potentially benefit Africans by eliminating any intermediaries.

Conclusion

According to a UN prediction, over 50% of the global population growth by 2050 will happen in Africa. As a result, the development of the telecom sector will assuredly boost foreign investments and enable the continent to achieve digital transformation.

With its global presence, Globe Teleservices provides hassle-free and cost-efficient solutions for its Telecom customers. We help in developing a range of mobility solutions and cloud services.

Moreover, we can help you pursue your digital transformation journey. Get in touch with us today.