BUSINESSMANAGEMENTREVIEW.COMMARCH 20249Customers are the heartbeat of any business and customer centricity is a concept that is embedded in everything that we do at MultiChoice. In the last few years, we have been on a continuous journey to improve our customer support capabilities especially since the COVID-19 pandemic that forced businesses to rethink their existing strategies. We had to ask ourselves: "What can we do better to make life easier for our valued customers?" The answer to this question was to adopt an omnichannel strategy that maintains the company's brand across multiple online and offline channels to ensure an integrated and cohesive customer experience. MultiChoice has been a true visionary in leading the charge for omnichannel customer support. In fact, we were one of the earliest adopters of the omnichannel approach on the African continent. This approach has helped us to: consolidate each of the multi-channel touch points into a fully integrated channel helpdesk; track the entire customer journey so that agents can gain a 360-degree view of the customer and, easily integrate with all other platforms and tools already in use so that our call agents did not have to navigate between multiple tools to resolve customer queries. Since switching to omnichannel support, our first contact resolution increased from 69% to 95%, while our average CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) now stands at 78% due to faster resolution times and accurate responses. All these improvements in customer experience are not possible without our active investment in the development of products internally. Beyond ensuring that our customers enjoy a seamless support process we have also invested in market specific products and services such as an on-demand medical and armed security response product, insurance services, and financial services ­ all underpinned by cost effective and convenient connectivity in the form of DStv Internet.According to Statista, as of 2022, there are 56.3% of South Africans that have access to and use the Internet. However, there still exists a significant amount of people in South Africa that don't have access to a stable Internet connection due to the exorbitant prices of data packages and internet infrastructure in South Africa.As a company that is responsive and cognisant of the social and economic issues of the communities it operates in, MultiChoice launched uncapped fibre as part of the DStv Internet offering, a cost-effective service that gives users faster, smoother, and more stable Internet access that offers access to a digital ecosystem that is driven by innovative expansion, diversification, empowerment, and transformation. In addition, we have made significant strides in providing our customers with digital options to find content and manage their services with a key focus on enriching and expanding our digital enablement footprint. Digital adoption continues to grow across our sub-Saharan Africa footprint, with our revamped websites across our 50 markets, our apps available in 48 markets, and WhatsApp self-service launched in 13 markets. In South Africa, we are supplementing our call centre and service centre capacity with DStv Express Containers to support customers in rural areas, and with our interactive kiosks in shopping malls to promote our full customer experience to consumers. In the rest of Africa, our 20 in-bound call centres, 92 MultiChoice branches and 2 351 customer service representatives offer many avenues to reach and help our customers, along with our self-service MyDStv and MyGOtv apps, social media channels, and other digital assisted and self-service options.As the world adapts to changing social and technology trends, MultiChoice continues to drive customer centred, digital, data-driven ways of work, leaning on diverse, talented teams partnering across our multinational operations. While the group's core video entertainment business continues to grow, MultiChoice continues to look for ways to develop future revenue streams by investing in African opportunities that are consumer-focused, which leverage our scale, and are underpinned by innovative technology. Given our scale and distribution capabilities, proven track record across the continent, investment in relationships with customers and suppliers, and ability to manage in-country nuances, MultiChoice remains well positioned to develop compelling consumer services platforms in sub-Saharan Africa. Our strategy is to continue looking for more opportunities that fit our investment/capital allocation criteria to further expand our ecosystem and add value to our customers' lives. EXCEPTIONAL AND EMPOWERING CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ESSENTIAL FOR ANY BUSINESS TO PROSPER AND GROW
< Page 8 | Page 10 >