Carol Hall, managing executive of Vodacom for the Western Cape, is only four months into her new role but that doesn’t mean she’s wet behind the ears.
Hall has been with Vodacom since 1994 and left her position as managing executive of Vodacom's Eastern Cape region to move to the Mother City.
Telling ITWeb about her career and how the industry has changed in the last 25 years, Hall admits the market today is totally unrecognisable compared to what things looked like when she first started out.
“At that time, we didn’t have the network coverage we have today. We could only sell in places where there was a network in place. When we did switch on base stations in small, remote towns, we’d make a big thing of it and have a cocktail evening to celebrate the fact that these people were now connected.”
Today, we don’t just sell cellphones anymore, notes Hall, and offerings expand far beyond text messages and voice calls.
Along with this industry evolution, comes a change in customer expectations. Something that Hall really wants to focus on as she finds her footing in the Western Cape.
“The role I have here is exactly the same as the role I had in the Eastern Cape but the landscape and customers are very different.”
The Western Cape may be a more “concentrated” area than the Eastern Cape but that doesn’t mean all of these customers want the same things.
For example, some people have multiple devices connected to the network and Vodacom needs to make sure they have the speed and reliability they need across all of these different pieces of hardware, she says.
Others are looking for the smallest possible rand amount they can buy to top up their prepaid accounts.
Hall is quick to point out, however, that while the needs of the customers in this example may differ, their expectations when it comes to speed and reliability are the same, which is why Vodacom is making some sizeable investments in upgrading its network.
According to Hall, the brand is investing heavily – around R540 million – in modernising the Western Cape network.
“Think of it as a bit like giving the network a vitamin boost so that it can perform at its best.”
Diversity in action
With this huge variation in customer needs, Hall admits packages need to be just as diverse. For example, Just 4 You Town is an offering that is ring-fenced to a particular area. Users must consent that the brand can use their location and then they can access deals that have been designed specifically for customers in that region.
“Often, what we think will be a huge hit in a certain region, doesn’t work. So we need to constantly engage with our customers to find out what they are really looking for from their network provider.”
The operator can also ring-fence offerings to suit particular groups of users and customer demographics. Uber drivers are generally prepaid customers who use a large amount of data and need reliable, real-time connectivity to get their job done. Vodacom can offer this group of customers a tailor-made deal that suits their usage and behaviour.
In this business, it’s all about relationships, she asserts. Obviously, we will never get the chance to meet all of our customers but that doesn’t mean we aren’t trying to engage with as many customers and stakeholders as we possibly can, she says.
In some suburbs, people want the coverage but they resist attempts to put up base stations. To address this issue, Hall is keen to host customer engagement days and town hall meetings where different groups of people can come together and develop strategies to provide connectivity without stepping on anyone’s toes.
And no conversation around modernisation and innovation would be complete without mentioning 5G. But Hall admits this trend is still a long way off. It’s a very topical conversation, she notes, but local network providers are still trying to roll out 4G and will need additional spectrum before they even start thinking about 5G.
This interest in, and focus on, 5G is a great example of what the modern customer is all about, she says. They’ve always got their eyes on the next big thing. This isn’t a good or a bad thing, concludes Hall, but it does keep network providers on their toes and demands they constantly work to keep up.
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