Simplifying and enhancing security on MTN's information systems key to improving customer experience

In the first 100 days in his new role, MTN South Africa's new Chief Information Officer, Benjamin Marais says his focus was to simplify information technology processes internally and externally, and beef up security of the systems in order to enhance customer experience.

Marais was addressing the media at MTN's media forum, which was held in Johannesburg this week.

"It is critical that the IT systems we have in place serve as enablers that help us to provide quality service, and are not cumbersome stumbling blocks that put a damper on customer experience," says Marais.

"It's not only about simplicity, but also about giving our customers assurance about the integrity of our systems - this is not only part of good corporate governance, which requires us to continuously tighten our internal controls, but also part of an ongoing quest to provide a superior customer experience," adds Marais.

Marais assured the media delegation of the robustness of MTN's systems, and provided figures to demonstrate the veracity of MTN's IT infrastructure.

"As a testament to the robustness of the IT processes, MTN processes approximately 3 billion calls and documents the same volume of data records per day, connects 80 million minutes of calls per day, connects up to 2 million new devices to the network each month, hosts 66 000 unique Web sites every five minutes and dispensed 890 million voucher orders to logical channel partners orders in the past six months," says Marais.

He added that: "A lot has been done to capacitate the system and the network to carry increasing traffic, and we are the first to admit that more needs to be done to take customer-centricity to the next level in line with our mission of making our customer's lives a whole lot brighter."

Marais used the opportunity to also announce that MTN is the prime sponsor of TADHack, the only global meeting place for developers who want to learn, share, code and create using the tools and technologies available in telecommunications.

The South African leg of the event is taking place on 14 to 16 October 2016.