{"id":549117,"date":"2006-06-08T08:32:11","date_gmt":"2006-06-08T08:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/549117-telkom-the-beast-with-two-faces.html"},"modified":"2006-06-08T08:32:11","modified_gmt":"2006-06-08T08:32:11","slug":"telkom-the-beast-with-two-faces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/549117-telkom-the-beast-with-two-faces.html","title":{"rendered":"Telkom, the beast with two faces"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you did not call Telkom to do business,\u201d the canned voice says, \u201ctake the time out to speak to a family member or a friend. You are denying someone else the opportunity to do so [deal with Telkom]. Please remember that these calls are recorded and can be traced.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/em>No problem resolution. No apology. <\/p>\n

Fear not we are told, <\/font>Telkom CEO Papi Molotsane<\/font> is on a mission: to delight customers. Speaking on <\/font>Moneyweb Radio<\/font> after the release of the company\u2019s results on Monday, Molotsane drove home the point. <\/p>\n

He used the phrase \u201cdelight our customers\u201d twice in the same answer. Later he even said that he was \u201cdelighted to be at the helm\u201d of the company.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time, however, that Molotsane has tried to explain his desire to delight customers.<\/p>\n

In numerous interviews published by various media outlets in November last year, the use of the word delight was persistent. From: \u201cWe\u2019ll have to delight our customers through impeccable service levels\u201d, to: \u201cWe\u2019ll have to come with innovative products that will delight our customers\u201d.<\/p>\n

His intentions are good, admirable even. Molotsane and his executive management team talk at length about their \u201cfive-pronged strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n

But, Molotsane also says \u201cour customers can only be delighted if our employees are delighted \u2026 Focusing on employees is also in line with the company\u2019s vision.\u201d Herein lies the problem. The message from the man in charge is not filtering through.<\/p>\n

Does Molotsane know that some line manager has instituted the outrageous insult to customers described above?<\/p>\n

The insult could go to people trying their damnedest to find out why their phone was cut off for a debt of less that 10c \u2013 you\u2019re \u201cpolitely\u201d disconnected and transferred to the recording.<\/p>\n

In addition, some Telkom workers have told <\/font>Moneyweb<\/font> confidentially that employees were recently made to feel special with a bizarre internal marketing exercise. We have heard that certain \u201cexperts\u201d found that employees seem to associate \u201cTelkom blue\u201d with unhappiness. <\/p>\n

It seems that lobbies and office blocks are now filled with banners proclaiming boldly that Telkom cares about its employees, that it is employee-centric. The banners, you guessed it, are in Telkom blue \u2013 a move that seems to suggest that the experts want to sub-consciously associate the company\u2019s corporate colours with warm and fuzzy feelings. Do you think this would make you feel better?<\/p>\n

At the recent public Icasa hearings into ADSL pricing, Team Telkom used ten representatives to argue its case. Customers were there, watching as Telkom defiantly tried to stall the process using an advocate with, by his own admission, very little telecoms knowledge. Those that weren\u2019t there read about these shenanigans and one can only imagine what they thought about our incumbent operator.<\/p>\n

Among the arguments we heard for the high prices was that \u201ccopper is expensive\u201d. I kid you not. IP resets for \u201cbilling reasons\u201d every 24 hours was also absolutely \u201cnecessary\u201d Telkom argued \u2013 the technology doesn\u2019t exist \u201cto allow us to bill without the reset\u201d. No real explanation was given, in spite of evidence that overseas operators don\u2019t reset users\u2019 connections.<\/p>\n

Why did Telkom pursue these seemingly stubborn arguments? It knew it was reducing prices barely two weeks later. <\/p>\n

In order to share the company\u2019s profits, employees participate in a scheme called gain sharing. Trade union Solidarity says that workers received between \u201c3,39% and 9,89% of their salaries in the form of gain sharing in 2005\u201d. There are reported rumblings among staff that the current system is unfair. Would fixing this bonus system help improve staff morale?<\/p>\n

Admittedly, it is a tall order to preach the gospel of customer service to over 25 000 employees, but surely lower-level managers should realise that every time a consumer is burnt by someone in a call centre, they\u2019ll be less likely to remain a Telkom customer.<\/p>\n

But, for all the faults within Telkom, its leader Molotsane is commended for going on record last year admitting these difficulties. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the problem that we have as an organisation is perhaps we\u2019re not reaching out. We\u2019re not talking to our clients. We\u2019re not explaining to them what problems we have in our business \u2026 we need to just go and talk to our clients,\u201d he\u2019s said. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s hit the nail squarely on the head hasn\u2019t he? <\/p>\n

Now with talk of expansion into other African markets (Kenya, Nigeria and the like), we hope that the monopoly with two-faces continues its \u201cdrive\u201d to delight us all.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Discuss this article<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0 Moneyweb<\/font> <\/p>\n

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IRATE complainants about Telkom\u2019s service receive a diabolical recorded message if they annoy call centre staff…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-549117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}