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Vox succeeds in SME sector

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 10 Jul 2014

When Vox Telecom acquired @lantic and started the process of integrating the two entities, the consumer and small business units were not growing and needed focused attention in order to return them to high growth paths.

This is according to Dederick Venter, executive head of consumer and small and medium enterprise division at Vox Telecom.

However, in less than 18 months, the net revenue of the consumer and small business division has grown by more than 200%, with further growth in the small business sector expected.

According to Venter, the turnaround process undergone by Vox Telecom in the division contains a number of lessons and can be applied to any business unit or small business looking to meet growing market or organisational demands.

@lantic and Vox Telecom service centres were combined into a single centre, sending a message to market that it was serious about consumer and small business customer experience.

A critical part of the transformation was to understand that the disparate systems in place when the two entities merged, would not meet the needs of the division, says Venter.

It was important, in an effort to drive a unified customer experience, that a single ERP and CRM system be deployed. He adds that the decision was made to custom build these solutions to more closely align with the business drivers and imperatives as well as flexibility and scalability for the organisation.

The result was a platform that seamlessly integrates all aspects of the business and effective workflow system functions with tasks requiring human intervention.

Also, it was imperative for Vox Telecom to retain its national footprint of experienced and expert partners and resellers.

The company embarked on a partner and reseller restructure that emphasised maintaining and, where required, establishing quality driven partner networks.

Due to this, it now boasts a more agile network, delivering a deep understanding of, and appreciation for, the unique challenges facing, in particular, small businesses.

Outside of structural and systems requirements, Vox Telecom wanted to become a small business enabler rather than just a connectivity provider.

Therefore, it established a collaborative, working relationship and partnership with the National Small Business Chamber to help it understand the needs of small businesses.

The collaboration resulted in the Small Business Power Pack developed to overcome the requirement for small businesses to make do with generalised enterprise or mass adopted consumer ICT solutions, notes Venter.

What we have now, is a more streamlined organisation with a clear picture of where it is going and the tools and distribution and service channels required to achieve it, concludes Venter.

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