CASE STUDY
In spite of penetration of over 140 % of mobile services in South Africa , growth for telco Cell C – particularly in the prepaid market – continues apace . The company has grown its mobile subscribers from nine million in 2012 , to over 20 million by July 2015 . The momentum and success of Cell C ’ s pricing strategy over the past two years with its core consumer values of honesty , simplicity and transparency , has resulted in a positive customer response . Manda Banda spoke with Schalk Visser , CTO , Cell C , who addressed several initiatives the company is implementing and finds out how it has continued to innovate in readiness for 5G rollout across South Africa , is building a robust digital ecosystem and driving service excellence to ensure that every customer touch point is delightful .
Talk us through your role as Chief Technology Officer ( CTO ) at Cell C South Africa ?
Cell C ’ s stated ambition is to evolve over time from a telecommunications providers to a technology business that is an enabler for digital lifestyle services through a digital ecosystem . To fulfil that vision , my role as CTO at Cell C is an exciting one that presents both challenge and great opportunity as we work towards our longterm objective as an organisation to pivot from a telco to a technology company (“ techco ”). The big focus currently is the evolution of our business model through a new operating model , a major responsibility for the team because the successful implementation of our network strategy is critical to our business strategy . This transition , along with , just as importantly , building our digital ecosystem , are major drivers in my role currently .
Since taking over in your role , how have you guided your IT team to put technology at the heart of delivering the business objectives for Cell C in South Africa ?
So often companies , not only technology organisations , develop products and services for the sake of having a product out in the market and hope people will buy or make use of it without having done any research into what consumers really need . The approach we are going in is the opposite of that – we investigate the business and customer needs and create technology and digital solutions that satisfy those identified needs . Being customer-centric with a
CELL C IS BECOMING THE BIGGEST AGGREGATOR OF
NETWORK CAPACITY .
value focus is important in delivering Cell C ’ s business objectives and therefore , our technology solutions must be in tune with that . This is an important part of our culture change that all teams , technology included , must be led by customer-centricity to inform the kind of solutions we deliver .
What are some of the IT initiatives , projects and implementations have you overseen since taking on your role as CTO at Cell C ?
The biggest focus at the moment is the implementation of the new network strategy and ensuring the process is as seamless as possible . Ultimately , we are putting our customers first in the revised strategy to afford them the best network and offering them benefits that will make life easier and better for them to change their world . Another focus area is Cell C ’ s Digital Transformation journey and to support this , the next important project is refreshing the business support system ( BSS ).
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