“Allowing our customers to use data is key for future growth and customer satisfaction” interview of Asif Aziz, Expresso Telecom Group

Asif Aziz is Group Marketing Director at Expresso Telecom Group, where he is responsible for development and delivery of group products and propositions roadmap as well as delivering innovation to allow each operating company to achieve growth targets. He will be joining a keynote panel discussion on monetising data services at Connecting West Africa in Dakar in June. We ask him his views on the market ahead of his participation.

What is Expresso Telecom’s position in West Africa’s market?

Expresso is a very proud African brand for African people.  We see West Africa with all its potential as the central pivot of our strategy and efforts.  We are currently within Guinea Conakry, Senegal and Mauritania with a blend of GSM and CDMA operations.

What services will enable telecom operators to generate revenue from data?

Allowing our customers to use data is key for future growth and customer satisfaction.  Today many of the applications our customers are using are more functional (to provide entertainment, news or communication).  However future services will be integrated and part of our lives, such as mHealth in the consumer environment and Machine to Machine services.

Are we at a key time for digital development?

Whilst this is a growth period a number of key factors need to be in place to start us on the digital development.  Firstly the abundance of smart devices, followed by availability of the networks and finally development in the digital area that enhances customers’ lives, such as mCommerce, mhealth, mEntertainment, mEducation and so on.  I believe all players in this ecosystem need to collaborate to deliver customer value.

What will be the impact of the digital transition on the telecoms and media sector?
The impact will be one liberalisation and democratisation of services.  Customers will be able to freely enjoy and enhance their lives – there are considerable learnings from other advanced markets.

What are the communications needs of enterprise and how to meet them effectively to sustain economic growth in the region?
The enterprise sector is key to future development – allowing business customers to start making their work force more efficient is key to driving global GDP through their increased productivity.  Businesses need to be in touch, a missed call or message is the difference between their profitability and loss.  They are dependent on mobile operators and we need to be their trusted partner.  Increasing m2m and data services will become more prevalent.

How can telecom operators encourage services innovation?

A new model of collaboration and working with the whole value chain and ecosytem is emerging.  Mobile Operators are good at certain elements and should work with external partners to harness their talents and deliver innovation.

In your opinion what are the most interesting debates to expect at Connecting West Africa this year?

1)      Serving and growing the Business community
2)      Improving customer experience and satisfaction through quality.

Asif Aziz’s contribution to the debate on monetising data will take place on the second day of Connecting West Africa, Wednesday 10^th June, in a panel discussion with Mamadou Goundiam (Sales and Business Development Director, Africa, Millicom), Pape Alassane Niang (Director of Broadband Marketing, Sonatel) and Evans Yeboah (CEO, DiscoverytelGhana). . For more information on the programme and how to attend click here.

Pour lire l'interview complète en Français, cliquez ici