Today, at the official unveiling of the new MTN Business structure, MTN provided insight into the reorganised business; the vision for the company going forward and how the company aims to change the traditional business landscape. Opening the morning’s procession, MTN SA CEO Karel Pienaar said: “As with any leading organisation, there is a constant need for introspection and the flexibility to adapt within so as to remain at the forefront of the industry. We have done exactly this, and over the last few months have embarked on a transformation journey to strengthen the capability of the MTN Business brand.”
Talking through the vision, Zunaid Bulbulia, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Acting Chief Enterprise Business Officer of MTN South Africa said: “Today I am proud to share our vision and strategy with you – a vision that speaks to an evolution of MTN Business from one of processing requests to serving as a strategic business enabler.” “As a full 360 degree ICT player, we are at the forefront of providing integrated, reliable and specialised communication services to corporates, multinational companies and government clients alike. Our goal is to foster long term Trusted-Partner relationships with our customers and by working closely with relevant stakeholders we are determined to revolutionise the ICT landscape,” added Bulbulia.
MTN’s unwavering commitment to this vision can be further highlighted by the groundbreaking strategic partnership with Afrihost, announced in October this year, which is set to leapfrog customer service by providing seamless converged solutions. Through the partnership, MTN Business will become second in the market in terms of IPC capacity and third in terms of physical connections. In turn, Afrihost will become more flexible in the design of products and services, and will also have more freedom over pricing and tailor-made solutions.
Bulbulia commented on the partnership: “Partnering with Afrihost forms a critical part of broadening MTN Business’s DSL offering to vendors. It’s a game changer in terms of DSL offerings in the market – where we are entering a new world, which requires innovation. This partnership is one critical step in truly demonstrating our intention to evolve as a top tier ISP and revolutionise business in Africa.”
MTN Business is committed to bringing technology together that works seamlessly and continuously anticipates customer needs in every stage of solution development and fulfilment processes. Context is everything and MTN Business to ensure the value propositions and offerings to the market align to customers’ current and future needs.“Over the last few months, we have been hard at work listening to the market, understanding the needs and developing solutions that will allow us to expand on our current product offering to really drive convergence and real value to the market. Afrihost is one such example, but certainly not the first or last,” added Bulbulia.
In addition to showcasing the viability and flexibility of the Afrihost partnership, MTN Business also presented further solutions that are to be introduced to the market – big or small – with immediate effect.
· MTN Business Enterprise Closed User Group (ECUG) - This offering is a corporate shared voice bundle that delivers competitive voice call rates for employee-to-employee calls and employees-to-third party stakeholders in a closed user group. “Corporates are under pressure to reduce their operation expenses (Opex) and while many are under the perception that VoIP is a cheaper option, they are not witnessing the immediate benefits,” said Bulbulia. “A Closed User Group, on the other hand, offers business real cost efficiency and immediate control through the benefit of more cost effective call rates. All this while still receiving reliable and quality communication services, without having to incur any additional infrastructure and maintenance costs for your organisation.”
· MTN SME ProPack is everything a small business or entrepreneur needs to improve and empower their business now and into the future – from products and services, to networking options, support and loyalty points. In fact, with MTN SME ProPack, every SME now has the backing of MTN Business at a minimal to no charge. It’s a bundled value proposition that MTN has packed together with small business owners in mind.
· MTN’s Push –to-Talk (PTT) is a revolutionary way of communicating. It allows for instant communication between groups and individuals over an existing, secure and redundant MTN Business infrastructure - offering unlimited domestic connectivity at a monthly flat rate fee. While the complementary Push-to-Text functionality promotes a “chat-like” service where users can communicate with any member in their contact list via Instant Messenger (IM). This function is particularly helpful as a workforce management tool for quick turn-around enquiries, work-orders and security information.
“These solutions fall in line with our stated objectives of expanding our communications service offerings, particularly to small and corporate customers, outside of just mobile services, to encompass a full range of business solutions. I am exceptionally excited about the path that we are on, as with our distinctive industry position and exceptional leadership team I believe MTN Business is optimally positioned to become a full-service business communications provider of choice for the African continent,” concludes Bulbulia.