Clickatell, leading global mobile messaging provider, has been shortlisted for two outstanding implementations in the Best Customer Services Provider category. First National Bank (FNB) and Santam are both using Clickatell's world-leading Enterprise Messaging Gateway to communicate, inform and transact with customers via SMS. The Inaugural AfricaCom Awards were judged by a panel of leading industry representatives from countries throughout Africa and winners will be presented in Cape Town, South Africa on 18 November 2008. AfricaCom recognises unique technological contributions and applauds outstanding achievements in the African telecommunications market over the past 12 months.
Commenting on the award, Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell, says: “Thank you to the organisers of AfricaCom for this great honour, for recognising our customers FNB and Santam, and for highlighting the innovative mobile technology landscape in Africa.”
Santam and First National Bank experience customer eervice advantage with Clickatell SMS
Santam, South Africa's largest short-term insurer, was challenged to align its agents, customers and organisations when dealing with insurance claims; and in the process wanted to reduce costs associated with its call centre operations. “Since implementing Clickatell's messaging gateway, we have experienced a 500% growth in the number of proactive messages sent from Santam to our customers. That's over 25 000 messages per month,” comments Fanus Coetzee, head of Santam Insurance Services Support. “We've experienced significant cost reductions associated with call centre agent handling and the feedback from customers is so positive that we've embarked on phase two of the mobile strategy by adding two-way messaging to allow clients to request, send and reply to information.”
First National Bank was a pioneer in the mobile banking sector when it introduced inContact, a mobile alert service based on SMS, to its customers in 2002. “Clients want complete control of their banking; they don't want to spend time and money on lengthy phone calls to their bank to resolve queries, not to mention having to visit a physical branch,” comments Len Pienaar, chief executive of Mobile and Transact Solutions for First National Bank. “We rely on Clickatell to ensure critical information is communicated to our international customers accurately and on time. Customers receive SMS notifications directly to their cellphone at any time showing activity on their account.”
The proliferation of text or SMS banking services has been the result of FNB's strong marketing of the popular inContact service combined with the ease of use and instant notification advantages inherent with SMS. With the expansion of inContact to reach international customers, Clickatell has played a key role in ensuring an 80% adoption rate for this service by FNB's retail customers. In addition, FNB has seen a significant drop in fraud losses since the launch of inContact service as the convenient SMS-based service keeps its retail customers instantly informed of transactions on their accounts. FNB customers are able to immediately identify suspicious activity happening in their accounts as it occurs, then report this to the bank right away.
These are just two examples of how customers are using Clickatell's SMS services to radically change and improve their customer experience. Text messaging can easily integrate with any existing CRM, customer care or call centre solution. Clickatell's easy-to-use APIs and developer tools provide one central point to quickly integrate new SMS capabilities into existing or new offerings. The company's extensive work with mobile carriers over the past eight years means that Clickatell can reach over 700 networks in more than 200 countries around the world, as it services over 8 300 customers. “There are a myriad of mobile applications for companies, banks, governments, and social communities around the world. Our customers are innovating and engaging more directly with their customers, offering them valuable information and at the same time delivering a quite significant bottom line cost-savings,” concludes de Villiers.
To learn more about how SMS or text messaging can benefit the call centre in any organisation, Clickatell has available a white paper titled: “SMS in the Call Centre: How Mobile Messaging Can Increase Profits and Reduce Costs Immediately”. To download, please visit http://www.clickatell.com/central/campaigns/redir.php?cid=58702
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Clickatell
Clickatell enables businesses, governments and communities to leverage the ubiquity of mobile messaging to inform, alert, notify, transact, interact and share information. Delivering mobile messaging solutions since 2000, Clickatell is a global leader in mobile communications specializing in SaaS messaging services and Bulk SMS gateway connectivity to small, medium and large enterprises in a variety of vertical markets. Clickatell's multi-modal capability and worldwide coverage gives organizations the power to deliver any message to any device anywhere in the world. Reaching more than 700 networks in more than 200 countries, Clickatell serves 8,300 customers including Visa, Nokia, Oracle, RSA, AVAYA, BBC, Continental Airlines, CNN, First National Bank, Metropolitan Life, Oracle, Shell, and other industry leaders. Clickatell products and services increase customer acquisition, improve loyalty and build trusted brands through direct, personal, easy, and immediate communications. A Sequoia-backed company, Clickatell is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, and has offices in South Africa. For more information, please visit: http://www.clickatell.com/central/campaigns/redir.php?cid=58709
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