Sign up with GoogleI am working this evening although there are occasional server resets and international pages sometimes need to be refreshed.
I hear the frustration from data users in this forum and having had responsibility for a corporate network, know how difficult it must be for Vodacom, who are locked into Telkom with all their shortcomings. However there are many issues impacting on the service that cannot be ascribed to Telkom no matter which way you look at it.
There seems to have been a complete disconnect between the marketing and technical functions within Vodacom with marketing going tally-ho all out to expand the data user base when the technical function has been clearly unable to provide the infrastructure (or were caught with their pants down).
The back office and accounting software is not able to support the complexity of the new data service, packages and rates. Once again the marketing mavens would seem to have run off unchecked and promoted services that the infrastructure is unable to support.
The user web interface (Vodacom4me) is badly designed, unstable and in some cases provides really misleading information.
The helpdesk seems to be staffed with enough people to respond to calls within an acceptable time frame but the technical skill level of the call agents is well below what is expected by the data user base, many of whom have some technical skills themselves. In other words there are sufficient call agents but insufficient quality of technical knowledge.
The above issues alone suggest a lack of cohesion at Vodacom management level, perhaps a practical lack of understanding of the complexity and size of the issues that they face and a degree of hubris.
I suspect that if it has not already begun, Vodacom will shortly start to haemorrhage data users, the very class of user that they require as they move forward.
In the short term I see no option for Vodacom other than to be exceedingly humble and to budget a large sum for the unilateral refund/rollover of data bundles in some form or other, to placate a restive user base.
I hear the frustration from data users in this forum and having had responsibility for a corporate network, know how difficult it must be for Vodacom, who are locked into Telkom with all their shortcomings. However there are many issues impacting on the service that cannot be ascribed to Telkom no matter which way you look at it.
There seems to have been a complete disconnect between the marketing and technical functions within Vodacom with marketing going tally-ho all out to expand the data user base when the technical function has been clearly unable to provide the infrastructure (or were caught with their pants down).
The back office and accounting software is not able to support the complexity of the new data service, packages and rates. Once again the marketing mavens would seem to have run off unchecked and promoted services that the infrastructure is unable to support.
The user web interface (Vodacom4me) is badly designed, unstable and in some cases provides really misleading information.
The helpdesk seems to be staffed with enough people to respond to calls within an acceptable time frame but the technical skill level of the call agents is well below what is expected by the data user base, many of whom have some technical skills themselves. In other words there are sufficient call agents but insufficient quality of technical knowledge.
The above issues alone suggest a lack of cohesion at Vodacom management level, perhaps a practical lack of understanding of the complexity and size of the issues that they face and a degree of hubris.
I suspect that if it has not already begun, Vodacom will shortly start to haemorrhage data users, the very class of user that they require as they move forward.
In the short term I see no option for Vodacom other than to be exceedingly humble and to budget a large sum for the unilateral refund/rollover of data bundles in some form or other, to placate a restive user base.
