MTN Liberia: improving customer experience with technology
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MTN Liberia: improving customer experience with technology WRITTEN BY
GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY
JAMES BERRY
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w w w.l o ne st a rcell. com
MTN LIBERIA
Titilope Fakuade, CIO at MTN Liberia, discusses the company’s IT strategy and its use of new technologies to improve customer experience and connectivity
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hroughout Titilope Fakuade’s 14-year career at MTN, she has worked her way through the ranks, starting as an
engineer. Today, she is the Chief Information 04
Officer at MTN Liberia. “I have always been a solution orientated and customer focused individual. I strive to implement positive development and lead people. It has been a wonderful experience to work with IT solutions, developing new technologies to deliver solutions for multiple customers,” says Fakuade. “MTN Liberia is very different. Our brand is powerful and connected with its customers because we truly value them. I believe this is evident within the products we offer, how we engage with our customers and how we relate to them. Our vision is to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers. We believe everyone deserves the benefits of a connected modern life and we are committed to achieving this.”
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MTN LIBERIA
“ As new trends and technology emerge each day, there is a need to protect our data and ensure that the business is secure” — Titilope Fakuade, CIO, MTN Liberia
Since joining MTN, Fakuade has seen the company develop and adopt new technologies as trends evolve, “in the past we have evolved with 2G, 3G and 4G, and now as a business we are moving beyond just voice and SMS to digital and financial services,” comments Fakuade. Current telecommunication trends that Fakuade is seeing shape the industry include: 5G, the internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, cyber security, artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots and data
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analytics. “In addition to these new
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07 technologies there is also an increased
its key goals is to become a fintech
need for agility and quality of service
and digital player. Therefore, we are
for a great customer experience,
evolving our technology and IT land-
which is driving the sense of urgency
scape to enable true innovations that
around automation in every aspect of
provide business value. In order to do
the business,” she says. “With automa-
this effectively we need to understand
tion, the industry will see improved
the business landscape and direc-
time-to-market, improved customer
tion.” As part of its IT strategy, Fakuade
experience and increased efficiency of
explains MTN Liberia makes use of
back office operations. Ultimately, as
innovative technology and the benefits
a result of all of these technologies we
it provides in order to achieve the
will be able to create truly personalised
company’s overall goal of improving
experiences for our customers.”
connectivity within the African region.
When it comes to MTN Liberia’s IT strategy, Fakuade notes that “one of
MTN launched a digital transformation strategy tagged OXYGEN aimed w w w.l o ne st a rcell. com
MTN LIBERIA
“ It has been a wonderful experience to work within the IT and Telecoms industry, leveraging new technologies to deliver solutions for multiple customers while transforming business” — Titilope Fakuade, CIO, MTN Liberia
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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Titilope Fakuade Titilope is the first female CIO in the history of Lonestar Cell MTN and a true trailblazer. She is a seasoned CIO with a wealth of experience, spanning over 18 years in highly competitive markets, with 14 of those years spent as a member of the MTN family. She has a proven track record in IT leadership and has delivered numerous new and exciting value propositions to maintain market leadership. Titilope holds a Master’s in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. She’s a true hotshot technology leader, a proud wife and mother of two children. w w w.l o ne st a rcell. com
MTN LIBERIA
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at transforming our technology stack on the journey to becoming a digital operator. “Automating mundane or time-consuming processes can reduce costs, improve time-to-market and can provide real time data analytics and insights, something which we have experienced at MTN Libera. We have also been using virtualisation technology to further help to reduce costs from a customer support perspective, as well as providing us with the ability to predict and preempt customer issues, which is where our use of data analytics comes in. The digital transformation journey has seen us adopting digital workplace to leverage unified communication and collaboration, workplace mobility and a paperless environment. MTN Liberia is striving to become a digital operator and provider of individual personalised experiences. To do this we need to be able to understand our customers and their behaviors to offer more innovative services that are tailored and specific to each customer’s needs.� However, alongside innovation comes challenges. Fakuade highlights some of the key challenges w w w.l o ne st a rcell. com
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MTN LIBERIA
MTN has faced and resolved during the implementation of its IT strategy. “Some of the challenges related to implementing new technologies include ensuring it is beneficial to business success with positive returns on investment , and that the innovation will be widely adopted. With every new technology there is a change management process to ensure new technologies are adopted properly across the business and that they provide the most 12
value.” Fakuade also explains that cyber-security is something no one should overlook. “As new trends and
“ Some of the challenges related to implementing new technologies include ensuring it is beneficial to business success with positive returns on investment, and that the innovation will be widely adopted” — Titilope Fakuade, CIO, MTN Liberia
technology emerge each day, there is a need to protect our data and ensure that the business is secure. These technologies enable us to transform the business, but it requires constant engagement to stay ahead and ensure the business and our customers’ data is secure.” Reflecting on the company’s transformation so far, Fakuade acknowledges the important role partnerships play when it comes to evolution. “There’s a need for
2000
Year founded
$40.mn+ Revenue in US dollars
100
Number of employees
collaborative efforts when implement-
learning and Big Data within the busi-
ing an IT transformation strategy. In
ness, as well as the evolution of 5G.
engaging with partners from an early
Looking at the company as a whole,
stage we can open up new oppor-
Fakuade believes that MTN Liberia’s
tunities. Over the years we have
biggest strengths and successes to
partnered with Ericsson, Microsoft,
date are its customer’s affinity to the
Oracle, Huawei and Afrissance Digital
brand as well as its promotion and sup-
to define our innovation roadmaps and
port of African culture to drive growth
drive collaborative evolution of digital
within the region.
experiences for customers.” As the company continues to implement its IT strategy, Fakuade would love to see further adoption of AI, machine w w w.l o ne st a rcell. com
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MTN Liberia LBDI Compound, Congo Town Monrovia, Liberia T +231 886 500 000 www.lonestarcell.com