Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 58 | Page 39

CIO OPINION found an efficient way to bring its legacy systems to play . In other words , developing an app without a clear multichannel strategy will result in more challenges than successes . Certainly , working up from a multichannel environment puts a company in the driver ’ s seat because an app needs the good old legacy systems to work in sync – customer experience , service and retention depend on it .
We ’ ve all heard the saying : ‘ there ’ s an app for that ’. Sometimes there doesn ’ t have to be .
If we agree that any product , FinTech or otherwise , should exist to address a real customer need , then we must accept that the channel chosen for a solution does not have to be the most sophisticated just because the store of value is digital . If someone uses USSD or WhatsApp daily , why would you want to force them to download your financial service ’ s app that requires email login – and another level of digital sophistication – instead of allowing them to manage their finances on a channel they are already comfortable using ?
Additionally , understanding that for the most part , cash is still king is an important consideration when developing solutions for African , emerging market conditions . Large sections of the economy in this country , and the rest of the continent , are cashbased . This means a FinTech solution that aims to drive financial inclusion among the least-served sections of the population must appreciate the proliferation of cash or it will miss the mark . The solution must integrate cash distribution networks and appreciate that the journey towards digitisation is a series of inter-connected links in a value chain as a opposed to a single , binary “ switch .”
At Mukuru , this understanding has been developed by rolling up our sleeves and developing solutions specifically for Africa , in Africa . This is why , in our efforts to deliver services to customers , we serve customers across a comprehensive , vertically integrated cash and digital network . Communication , delivery , engagement and distribution spans WhatsApp , USSD , contact centre , App , website , agents and over 1,000 physical locations across Southern Africa and 60 partnerships worldwide to enable more than 320,000 pay in / out points . By developing this robust footprint of talking to people on the ground , we have seen first-hand the importance of the next key element in unleashing the power of FinTech : education .
It is all good and well to integrate with cash distribution networks , but why would someone agree to move from cash to digital ? Contextualise it in your own
It is all good and well to integrate with cash distribution networks , but why would someone agree to move from cash to digital ?
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