MTN Business assists government to meet its service delivery requirements of driving down costs, improving lives, and multi-department interoperability, through the development of innovative solutions.

MTN Business is a wholly-owned entity by MTN SA. The organisation’s strategic intent is to expand on the ability of the operator to deliver mobile and Internet-based data services to multi-nationals, large corporates, SME, and public sector operations across SA and the rest of the continent.

It is this product and services development that is enabling MTN to drive business to the public sector, believes Nomalanga Nkosi, GM for Business Marketing at MTN Business.

“Mobility is more practical and available than ever before resulting in technology innovation bringing more effective communication to marketplaces through improving efficiencies and opportunities in business and government,” she says.

And with government continuously investigating technologies that provide greater efficiency and productivity within its various departments, improved service delivery to citizens is the end result.

“More recently, the rise of smartphones and the introduction of tablet devices have pushed mobile solution implementation in the public sector. Government is continuously coming to us for assistance to help develop solutions that address things such as service delivery and performance management,” says Ntai Khojane, National Sales Manager for the public sector at MTN Business.

Khojane says that there are many requirements and requests from different spheres in government to come up with innovative ways of working. And while the demand is high and stretches MTN Business at times, he feels that this is a good challenge to have and ultimately one which drives sales.

About MTN Business MTN Business is a one-stop service provider that is able to offer customers a range of mobile and Internet-based communications services. Its expertise lies in designing a 360° communication solution for business, with solutions that may include the following: • Fixed and mobile Internet access • Networking of company branches (MPLS Network) • Secure firewall, anti-spam, and anti-virus system security • Data centres for Web hosting and applications • Calling and messaging that includes VoIP, Managed IP PBX, and mobile voice options • Software as a service applications

DEVELOPING CUSTOMISED SOLUTIONS

“MTN Business has become an important partner to government by helping it meets its priorities. This is important in the competitive South African environment where solutions to the public sector can be designed with slightly different nuances to those developed for the private sector,” says Nkosi.

Khojane echoes this sentiment.

“The solutions we develop and drive are going to be very broad in terms of the industries they touch such as transport, finance and social services. Typically, these solutions can be targeted at either the public or the private sector, without too many difficulties,” he says.

He feels that the specialisation in developing solutions that address the target market is probably the only significant difference. In terms of technologies, the public and private sectors are on par.


APPROACH WITH INTENT

Nkosi says that the focus for the MTN Business public sector team over the next few years will be targeted due to the size of government and the level of customisation for the different departments.

“We want to maintain this because compounding the size of government is the fact that there is a finite amount of solutions and requirements from the different spheres within government. The solutions, therefore, need to speak to the priorities of government for both the immediate and long-term future,” she says.

And it is in these priorities that Khojane is pinpointing several challenges.

“Globally, all governments are faced with the task to cut costs and keep service delivery high, and remain relevant to the citizens who elected them. And while the biggest issue is cost-savings, I think the reality is that we need to learn to do more for government at cost minus variables,” he says.

He says MTN has identified opportunities in the security and social clusters where government has the most pressing concerns.


THE ROAD AHEAD

“MTN needs to remain relevant and add value. The silver bullet for me is how MTN stays consistent in offering solutions that are not hardware-driven as in the past. We do not want to become a service provider that just pushes the latest iPhone or BlackBerry,” says Khojane.

Instead, he feels that MTN wants to be involved in discussions such as examining recent service delivery protests and assisting government in the process of managing those concerns.

“We want to drastically improve our market share in the public sector. There are certain departments we are targeting strongly. Ultimately, we want to be the service provider of choice for all spheres of government. This is a monumental task, but the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.” he concludes.

C O N T A C T

Ntai Khojane
National Sales Manager: Public Sector
Tel: 011 207 2619
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it