Windhoek, 29 August 2024 - In a joint effort to look at collaborative ways to address delays in providing services to customers, management teams from both Telecom Namibia (TN) and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor on Research, Innovation and Partnerships; the Faculty of Computing and Informatics; and the Department of Software Engineering at the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) met for the second time at the TN headquarters on Wednesday, the 28th of August 2024.
The meeting discussion revolved around project updates, challenges & solutions, resource allocation and ensuring quicker turnaround times. The participants were then taken on a tour of the various work spaces in Telecom, such as the back office where they met with staff doing customer applications and debt collections, as well as central stores, to familiarise themselves on the operations of TN. TN is looking to craft AI-based projects that will address inefficiencies in these areas of the business, to ensure improved processes and improved customer experience.
The two organizations held a high-level follow-up meeting to further discuss the practical implementation of the MOU signed on the 12th of October 2022, during the TN Innovation Week that took place at NUST. The signed MOU cemented TN & NUST’s strategic collaboration to promote research, digitisation, innovation, technological and entrepreneurial excellence towards the country’s 4IR development. The latest meeting created a platform for fact finding and sharing of information on planned initiatives between the two organizations as well as updates since the last project briefing session between TN & NUST.
TN representatives, Ms. Natascha Kandombo and Mr. Veikko Muronga gave an overview on Project Phoenix and key projects within the Technical Department, focusing on areas that could benefit from the collaboration between the two entities. Ms. Kandombo, in her capacity as Project Leader: Project Phoenix gave an overview of the Business Processes as well as indicated the expectations they have which NUST could assist Project Phoenix with, in the long run. Customer centricity being the objective for TN, she highlighted that approved customer facing processes will help reduce lead time in service delivery. “Customer Experience is one of the key strategies that will create a customer centric environment enhanced with automated services in the near future,” Ms. Kandombo explained. From a technical perspective, Mr. Muronga shared in his presentation some focus areas that include customer experience, service management, safety & security (control measures), Training & Development, Data service, Innovation and Agricultural services (Ecosystems & IoT).
Prof Hamunyela reaffirmed the university’s commitment to avail the required expertise to drive TN's digital transformation journey. TN CEO, Dr. Stanley Shanapinda indicated that TN is committed to knowledge creation, utilizing interns from NUST to assist with innovation during projects. The follow-up meeting reaffirmed strong partnership between TN & NUST with both parties committed to drive progress with renewed focus and collaboration. Both parties looked forward to joint initiatives and the positive impact the standing MOU could deliver.