7 minute read
FLOW INNOVATIONS PROVE CRITICAL IN SUSTAINING ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND BEYOND
Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Joe Mathieson, Country Manager at Flow Antigua and Barbuda, about the launch of their virtual and mobile stores, supporting local students during the COVID-19 pandemic, and committing to new ways of working.
Flow has a rich history in Antigua and Barbuda. The company is deeply embedded into the fabric of communications across the region, providing digital enablement, internet, data on the move, pure mobile, and international calls services. Last year, the COVID-19 global pandemic highlighted just how critical these services are to enabling our daily routines. As lockdowns ensued around the world, and international travel ground to a halt, Flow’s infrastructure emerged in Antigua and Barbuda as an essential tool in the fight against the pandemic, facilitating communication, the exchange of data and information, and allowing the economy and local people to flourish despite adversity.
VIRTUAL SERVICE
More than twelve months since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Antigua and Barbuda, Flow can now reflect on their response to the rapidly evolving global pandemic. “From Q1 2020, the world as we knew it, our ways of serving customers, and the ways our nations functioned, were transformed overnight,” says Joe Mathieson, Country Manager at Flow Antigua and Barbuda. “No one had a playbook for this, no one knew how we should adapt. What we did know was that our customers depended on us for our service. We’re considered an essential service because it’s recognised that our connectivity underpins the major economic drivers of the country. People still needed to stay connected to their families and friends on island and overseas. This meant enabling them to find easy ways to continue to recharge their mobile accounts and maintain their internet and television services. When schools closed, children were added to the mix as parents also needed to find ways to keep them occupied, entertained, and later connected to their schools via remote learning. These are all responsibilities that we took extremely seriously.”
To meet these challenges, Flow took steps to transform large segments of its business and adapted its service culture. “Almost immediately we launched a virtual store,” says Mr. Mathieson. “Even if you could not leave your house, that meant you could still communicate with us in real time. There would be agents on the end of the phone who would be able to support you, answer your queries, and fulfill your needs. Soon after, we deployed our mobile store. Rather than customers coming to us, having to use public transport, and having to travel into the capital city from different parts of the island, we went out to them. We were able to cover the whole island, traveling to our communities, and answering their questions. They could also buy services, or if they had ordered a handset, we could physically fulfil that order. While these were services we had been discussing internally for some time, the onset of COVID accelerated those plans and we had to find a way to make them a reality as quickly as possible. It was the first initiative of its kind in Antigua and Barbuda, and for the most part in the region.
FLOW STUDY
The pandemic impacted everyone and everything. “There are many households in which both parents work,” says Mr. Mathieson. “The added pressures of then having to either find at home care for small children and managing the constantly changing timetables of remote learning was a huge challenge many families faced. One of the ways we as a company were able to help was through our educational platform Flow Study. We helped parents and students by making the educational platform free to all students in Antigua and Barbuda. This was a welcome saving to parents as these kinds of tools are often tied to having a subscription, and usually we offer it as one of the many benefits of being a Flow customer. But this was so important socially and to our communities, we knew it couldn’t be offered only to our customers. It needed to be totally inclusive, and I was really proud that our company was able to offer free access to Flow Study for all students and families in our country. We then enhanced it even further, by providing free access to some additional educational websites, so that students and parents could access them without worrying about using up their data allowances.”
GARDEN GUARDIANS
The success of Flow Study is just one of the initiatives that Flow has used to support communities over its long history in Antigua and Barbuda. “Every year we have a program of community initiatives, but this year we asked ourselves what could we do that would be sustainable and fit into the environmental concerns about global warming in the Caribbean?” says Mr. Mathieson. “When COVID-19 hit our shores initially, there was a concern about food security, because as an island nation, we import a lot of food. Having sustainability in terms of food was therefore at the forefront of our minds, so we decided to create a garden. Earlier in the year, we’d worked with a soup kitchen in the heart of Saint John’s that was supporting those in need, so we knew there were people who didn’t have access to proper nutritional diets. We recognized that we had a great Head Office site, with suitable land around it for growing food. I am happy to say it’s not just a one-off: we built the garden from scratch and have been maintaining it. We now have something that we are really proud of, and that our own employees have put time and effort into voluntarily and it allows us to continue to give to those who need it most. We’re already onto our third harvest, and it’s producing some great vegetables. We started with salad leaves and herbs, but we’ve also got root vegetables that are due to be harvested. We then distribute these to charities across the country. We hope that this project will be one that we continue to upkeep for many years to come.”
The garden project has proved particularly popular amongst Flow’s employees. “We thought that if we get staff involved, and we’re outside working on it, it gives us healthy, fresh air and the chance to do something active,” says Mr. Mathieson. “There was a core group of staff who have been able to divert their attention to this, and there’s real pride and sense of community. Even during the height of lockdown, our team was concerned about how the plants were going to be watered all while I am sure they also were dealing with their own personal challenges. The transformation is incredible, from a patch of unused grass to a very, very healthy-looking garden and something we at Flow are all very proud of.”
CHAMPIONING INVESTMENT
Flow has committed to continuing to invest in its core network and services in Antigua and Barbuda in order to retain its place at the forefront of technology products and services. “We’re the number one operator in the mobile space in Antigua and Barbuda, and we’re not letting go of that,” says Mr. Mathieson. “We will continue to upgrade our network and bring the most innovative and best value plans to our customers. We’re also investing in our TV and broadband network, and will continue to deliver great value, reliability, and service to our customers.”
To facilitate this, the company intends to implement new ways of serving their customers. “One of the lessons we’ve all learnt in the pandemic is how we can make our services accessible in a contact-less way,” says Mr. Mathieson. “Today, many of our customers still come to our stores for customer service, to make bill payments, and for all service activations; but we’ve put many structures in place to ensure that these services can all be accessed quickly and conveniently online, via phone or from our mobile location. We definitely feel our customers are happy to do other things with their time rather than queuing and waiting. We have created a seamless process, where customers can contact us using several available options and manage their experiences in the way that suits them best. If they need to speak with one of our customer service agents then we will gladly assist but if not, they can quickly get their business done with us and move on with their day.”
“Telecoms is now digital,” says Mr. Mathieson. “It supports all remote working and interaction. We provide the technology that enables other companies to become more effective and efficient, and we sell these solutions to other customers, so we feel that we also have an obligation and a duty to champion these ourselves. We want to encourage customers and other businesses to say: ‘We see Flow is doing this; how can we do that?’ We want to continue supporting and helping to enable this transformation by leading by example.” c
