Prioritising customer experience in winning the digital transformation race

According to Francis Adunga, the Chief Executive Officer of Director Technologies, the best place to start is with your customers.

“Companies are no longer driving the digital transformation change, but the customer. Today, customers expect relevant content in relation to what they’re doing anytime, anywhere. It is their journey that dictates your strategy.”

From his experience working in the internet service market, Adunga says that by understanding customer needs and delivering a satisfactory and distinctive experience, companies can achieve a competitive advantage and increase the percentage of repeat and sustainable customers.

Additionally, he reveals that customer satisfaction and positive experiences serve as powerful sources of promotion and marketing for any brand.

“As an internet brand, we have had our own share of challenges when we rolled out the product to the mass market. We probably underestimated the market demand, but we are presently doing a lot behind the scenes to improve on our services, and that has seen us go an extra mile by recruiting new talents both in Customer service,” says Adunga.

Kenya’s internet industry, like the rest of the world, is vertically integrated with Internet Backbone Providers (IBPs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs.) And although there are many ISPs and IBPs in each stream, both markets are considered independent oligopolies, in that there are a few dominant competitors in each market. 

But companies that will deliver an outstanding customer experience (CX), will stand out from competition.

“Indeed, cost reduction and intermittent discounts should not be the finish line for digital transformation. The catch is in customer satisfaction,” he advises.

“At the basic level, there are companies doing this (offering internet services), but presently from our research there isn’t any local player offering a premium internet service to the consumer, the mass market. So, this is the reason we are coming in to fill that gap,” offers Adunga.

Noting that, the firm will initially target home and small business users, before rolling out its services to big corporations. To him, a focus on ‘hustler users’ will be critical if the digital transformation – an agenda being fronted by the Kenya Kwanza administration, is to be realized.

“There is a big segment of users that has been forgotten, the hustler businesses, who still need connectivity but have to depend on expensive internet bundles or have to depend on expensive fibre connectivity. So, these are the kings we are focusing on, since we are basically doing fixed wireless,” he says.

“We noticed an existing gap in the internet space. And so, we wanted to translate our experience with global enterprises to the local users by offering affordable premium internet service.

We want to treat them like corporations by giving them quality, premium service at an affordable rate,” narrates Adunga during an interview at the firm’s office in Westlands.

The firm has worked closely with the likes of the European Union in Kenya, Spanish embassies, Alcatel, APM Terminals and Standard Bank headquarters among other customers. 

It now targets to capitalise on where the ‘big boys’ have somewhat shown weaknesses. That will include quality premium internet at an affordable rate as well as high internet speed. 

Setbacks

Indeed, cases of some internet providers saving money by limiting your internet speeds, a process known as ‘throttling’, have been common among users, who continue to pay more for less in return for poor services like slow but costly internet offered by the said internet companies.

It is a problem which Adunga says has been compounded by unlicensed or illegal internet connections locally known as Sambaza or Internet Mwitu with such actors denying genuine businesses the much-needed revenues, considering the high cost of infrastructural equipment internet firms endure while setting up.

Further noting that, network congestion exceeding a data cap, and paid prioritization are some of the main reasons such companies taking shortcuts opt for throttling.

Another challenge being faced by ISPs is the theft of infrastructure equipment, an area Mr. Adunga says the government needs to address. 

Directcore Technologies is a Kenyan-based IT Company founded in 2012 and is predominantly known through its flagship product, Nexcom Internet.

The firm is exclusively involved in software development in fintech and IT solutions, telecom infrastructure and related services.  

The brand Nexcom, formally kicked off operations in 2021 following its deferred launch in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 muddle.

NexCom mainly focuses on fixed wireless internet, which is a system of connecting to the Internet that does not need wires or cables.

Many homes today use wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) through their laptops, TVs, cell phones to access the internet. Wi-Fi requires physical devices, like routers and modems to operate.

There were 22.71 million internet users in Kenya in January 2024. Kenya's internet penetration rate stood at40.8 percent of the total population at the start of 2024. Kepios analysis indicates that internet users in Kenya increased by 445 thousand (+2.0 percent) between January 2023 and January 2024.

For the first time in Kenya, the number of smartphones in users' hands is higher than that of feature phones. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) says that there were 32,631,924 smartphones in Kenya between July and September 2023, while feature phones were 32,040,928.

There has been much impetus on digitizing government services with several thousand public sector services already digitized and accessible online to date.

According to ICT CS Eliud Owalo, the move has provided the much-needed convenience and cost reduction to citizens, in terms of time saved from an otherwise lengthy bureaucratic process.

In February 2023, the Ministry of Information Communication and The Digital Economy launched the Kenya National Digital Master Plan 2022-2032, which leverages ICT’s contribution to accelerate economic growth and drive four pillars of the digital transformation agenda namely; Digital infrastructure, Digital government service, product, and data management Digital skills and the Digital innovation, enterprise, and digital business.

The Master Plan also enables the government to deliver more efficient public service and information by digitizing, automating, and securing government services. This plan is the Kenyan government’s response to the growing demand for the use of ICT in different sectors—also aiming to streamline ICT initiatives along the way.

“With such agile approaches, government bodies—not only in Kenya but globally—can transform their strategies and achieve higher productivity and profitability. Agility can make an organization adaptive, responsive, and dynamic, enabling stronger citizen engagement and service delivery,” says CS Owalo.