Businesses around the world have started to be more customer experience oriented in recent years and this shift is giving renewed drive to the search for fresh and improved tools to make that a reality.
Being a multi-layered and complex arena, the telecom sector requires highly integrated tools for technological and societal advancement, especially in the past decade where we’ve seen a rapid growth in digitalization which was further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The smartphone has, over the years, established itself as the main platform for purchasing and consuming various kinds of content, being a handy tool for much of the lifestyles of today’s digital consumers.
Whether it’s media, purchases from your favorite online store, communicating with friends, or on-demand entertainment, everything takes place in the palm of your hand.
Self-service platforms have been known to create higher levels of convenience for consumers, since the 1970s, when the first ATM was introduced. Over time, it became the standard source for cash transactions between banks and consumers.
Today, ICT has already become a fundamental part of people’s lives. In Pakistan, from the sandy shores of Gwadar to the Himalayan roof of the world, even ordinary farmers can use wireless connectivity to get real-time information that helps and guides them on their agricultural journeys towards prosperity-all enabled with the power of digital.
Another industry undergoing a profound transformation is the retail financial services sector. Mobile operators enjoy being in the unique position to build upon existing person-to-merchant and person-to-person payment networks and technologies.
Recognizing the significance and relevance of digitalization and financial inclusion in today’s world has set new rules for competition and Telenor Pakistan has been adapting to digital platforms to facilitate the customer experience.
For this, Telenor Pakistan engages a team of industry experts to lead its Alternate Distribution Channel (ADC) in exploring and acquiring partnerships with potential digital platforms in banking, e-commerce, and top-up retail apps.
These digital platforms have three different categories: banking, top-up sale through retail app and e-commerce. E-banking in particular, has made the customer experience the most convenient as using banking apps saves the consumers that hassle and time to purchase Telenor top-up.
This has the ultimate objective to generate convenience for Telenor Pakistan’s customers along with setting up a sustainable financial stream for new startups.
The network was able to create a unique proposition that helped Telenor Pakistan to increase its on-ground presence and also help these platforms to increase their business-to-business and business-to-consumer engagement which is core for all digital platforms, along with established revenue streams for them and their channels.
These business partners include Retailo, Jugnu, Digikhata, Pak retailers, Red retail, M-Khata, Opay, and Credit book.
In the arena of e-commerce, which has tremendously improved the overall customer experience by streamlining the process of buying and selling and making it cost-effective and efficient, Telenor Pakistan has managed to create partnerships with seven companies, namely, Grocer, Saveyour, Winstore, Youwe, Carlcare, Angle and Tapmad.
Wireless services around the world are being used to disintermediate credit card associations with mobile payments that are widely accepted by businesses around the world.
Today’s mobile devices, with their ever-improving capabilities in real-time, have the potential to eliminate the use of static plastic credit card. However, in Pakistan, there are still many psychological, economic, and cultural barriers to achieving that.
We are not far from the day when while driving your car, you can check your bank balance while the friendly AI-generated voice reminds you of your sister’s birthday in two weeks.
A day when you’ll be able to scan items from a catalog to purchase them from a distance, or to be able to talk to your car to plan a trip while your online travel agent shares possible travel itineraries with you.
Even the possibilities of using your mobile phone as an electronic ticket at the airline gate, and as the hotel room key doesn’t seem too far-fetched anymore.
Whether or not the future promises to allow us to work while our vehicles self-drive, there is complete certainty that digital solutions hold the potential to change the world, and Telenor Pakistan’s Alternate Distribution Channel (ADC) is already giving form to today’s equivalent of the world’s first ATM.
