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Op-ed: Intelligent Customer Engagement

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Murray Gardiner, MD of Bluecode Africa
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By: Murray Gardiner, MD of Bluecode Africa

The customer is always mobile. This is the adage that defines customer engagement today thanks to ubiquitous smartphone penetration and ownership, particularly on the African continent. In Nigeria, one of Africa’s most populated countries, Statista predicts that smartphone users are expected to exceed 140 million in under five years.

In South Africa, the volume of smartphone users is expected to grow another five million by 2023 with more than 90 million connections and 22 million smartphone users in the country today.

The challenge that lies ahead for merchants and mobile operators is to adapt strategies and approaches to ensure that they maintain and manage customer engagement within these markets, leveraging accessible and relevant solutions that deliver value.

The Merchant Mobile Apps: Much More Than Payments report released in early 2020, found that consumers are using their mobile devices to enhance their management of financial transactions and online shopping. The customer wants to work with applications that go beyond the basics. They want apps that have integrated features, that create experiences, that have loyalty systems embedded, and that support their long-term purchasing activity. The report highlights one particularly relevant point – that the mobile app has gone beyond the device and the functionality and become the hub of customer engagement with the merchant, network operator and retail sector.

Considering that customer usage of mobile devices to pay for goods and services has increased dramatically over the past year, intelligent apps designed to leverage customer engagement are key to fully realising the potential of the market. It has become imperative that merchants strengthen customer relationships by giving customers solutions that meet their needs in a dramatically changing landscape. The global pandemic has played no small part in changing how customers and companies manage their digital transactions and payments. According to Bain, the increased demand for digital payments has made the market far more competitive and has introduced fresh challenges for merchants to overcome.

Digital payment solutions have to be capable of adapting to changing customer needs and behaviours. The Bain report found that merchants will need to increase their acceptance for digital payments and adopt a more flexible omnichannel approach in order to take advantage of the rising tide of digital payments. While this report focuses on the global market, it is as relevant in Africa as more and more people turn to digital and cashless to avoid personal risk and queues. So, what is best practice? What should the merchant be looking for?

The answer lies in the digital payment ecosystem. An ecosystem that assures the customer of exceptional service and delivers on one of the most important premises of 2020 – trust. Security, transparency and transaction visibility are key to ensuring that customers trust in the merchant and the solution. Equally, it is important for any digital payment platform to put the merchant at the heart of engagement – to provide them with value-added extras that help them to manage their business more effectively, and to increase customer loyalty.

Digital payments are more than just the transaction. They are the loyalty points gathered and the loyalty engendered. They are the confidence in the security that ensure that customers trust, and they are the convenience that afford customers from all parts of society to engage in digital payments and better quality financial services. They are also the extremely useful solutions that can be used to engage with customers in new markets, minimise fraud, open up gateways to better quality services, and empower formal and informal businesses with services that streamline operations and financial accountability.

Merchants need a multi-faceted payment solution that can be used to link payments from any funding source, linked to customer loyalty tools and lifestyle; that can be used to increase payment touchpoints across multiple surfaces such as vending machines or self-service checkouts; and that allows for the development of digital value-added services that change how customers engage with the business. This level of app-based engagement and utility allows for far richer customer journeys and interactions that can be customised and managed to suit business and market. This is the future of the digital transaction, one that can evolve and adapt to the changing world while offering both customers and merchants the trust, visibility and capability that they have come to expect from the digital revolution.


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

E-Business

UK Orders Apple to Create Backdoor for Encrypted iCloud Data

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United Kingdom has issued a “technical capability notice” to Apple, mandating that the company create a backdoor to access users’ encrypted iCloud data.

UK Orders Apple to Create Backdoor for Encrypted iCloud Data

This directive, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, requires Apple to provide British security officials with the means to retrieve all content uploaded to iCloud by any user worldwide.

Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature, introduced in 2022, offers end-to-end encryption for iCloud data, ensuring that only users can access their information.

The UK’s demand challenges this security measure, potentially compelling Apple to either comply by creating the backdoor or withdraw the ADP feature from the UK market.

Compliance could set a precedent, leading other governments to request similar access, thereby raising global privacy concerns.

The UK Home Office has declined to confirm or deny the existence of such notices, stating, “We do not comment on operational matters, including, for example, confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”

This development underscores the ongoing tension between governmental surveillance efforts and technology companies’ commitments to user privacy.

 


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E-Business

Oracle Adds AI Pricing Features to Financial Software

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Oracle on Thursday added another set of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to NetSuite, one of its corporate finance software offerings, including some that might make it faster for consumers to get a price quote on purchases like custom bicycles.

Oracle has taken a different tack with AI than rivals such as Microsoft. Rather than racing toward general purpose virtual assistants, Oracle has decided to add targeted features that speed common-but-tedious tasks like entering a brief write-up of how a sales meeting went into a corporate records system.

Another such task that is common in the business world is giving a customer a price quote on a complicated purchase that might have a lot of options, when a sales professional would need to sift through materials to come up with a price.

NetSuite on Thursday announced a feature to compile such a quote via conversation with a chatbot asking what the customer wants, which can either be used by sales professionals behind the scenes to speed up their work, or directly by consumers in the case of e-commerce businesses.

“When you buy something like a bicycle, you have to configure it – figure out what parts you want and which parts work together. We all do it when we buy our cars on the web these days,” Evan Goldberg, executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, said.

“If you can configure (products) for customers more easily, you can do more deals in a day, or each deal costs less.”

To power those features, Oracle has decided to skip the costly race to develop huge AI models and instead works with partners such as Canadian startup Cohere.

Goldberg said that Oracle’s recent agreement to build massive data centers with ChatGPT creator OpenAI could lead to working with it as well, though the two firms have made no formal announcements.

“I think you could safely say that there’s a possibility that OpenAI will be part of this,” Goldberg told Reuters. “We are eager to work with OpenAI.”

 


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IBM Exits Nigeria and Ghana, Transfers Operations to MIBB

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IBM, the American multinational technology giant, has reportedly announced plans to exit Nigeria, Ghana, and other key African markets, transferring its regional operations to MIBB, a subsidiary of the Midis Group.

IBM Exits Nigeria and Ghana, Transfers Operations to MIBB

The move, which according to TechCabal was revealed in a statement by the company, effective April 1 2025, is part of a new operating model IBM is adopting across select African countries.

Under this arrangement, MIBB will take over IBM’s local operations, customer support, and relationships while marketing and selling IBM products and services across 36 African nations.

“MIBB will market and sell IBM products and services in 36 African countries, thereby giving MIBB’s sales network direct access to IBM products, services, and support, further boosting innovation and growth in the region,” IBM stated.

IBM has been a key player in Africa’s tech industry for decades, providing critical infrastructure for banking, telecom, oil and gas, and government services.

However, its planned exit follows a trend of multinational corporations leaving Nigeria.

In December 2024, Swiss cement giant Holcim announced its departure from Nigeria, selling its 83% stake in Lafarge to a Chinese firm.

Similarly, South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay disclosed plans in October 2024 to exit Nigeria by selling its 51% stake in a joint venture.

IBM has yet to respond to media inquiries regarding the specifics of its transition strategy and reasons for the exit.


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