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Speaker 1: And at this time seven oh two is in conversation

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Speaker 1: with MTN Business discussing how MTN Connectivity Solution Tower is

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Speaker 1: helping SMEs stay connected and competitive. Now, running a small

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Speaker 1: business is not just about having a great idea, it's

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Speaker 1: about having the right tools to grow it. That's exactly

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Speaker 1: where MTN Business comes in. Beyond these seven oh two

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Speaker 1: MTN Small Business Awards, they're doing a lot more to

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Speaker 1: support SMEs. And today we're in conversation with Calvin Governda,

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Speaker 1: who's GM for Enterprise Connectivity and Digital Services at MTN.

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Speaker 1: We're looking at how the MTN Connectivity Solution Tower is

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Speaker 1: helping small businesses stay connected and competitive. Mister govern Doo, welcome.

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Speaker 1: Good to have you with us on the show.

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Speaker 2: Good often than John, and good often listeners.

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Speaker 1: So it's a lot of words there, MTN Business Connectivity

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Speaker 1: Solution Tower. I'm probably picturing completely the wrong thing because

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Speaker 1: this is the virtual and digital world. You're not a

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Speaker 1: construction company. But tell us what it is and how

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Speaker 1: it works and and what makes a difference.

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Speaker 2: Thanks John. I think, just with regards to what is

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Speaker 2: a connectivity tower, it's not a physical tower, but the

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Speaker 2: vertical component of what you know the industry right comes

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Speaker 2: to I C T services. But let me start by

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Speaker 2: saying that you know, connectivity or netro connectivity UH is

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Speaker 2: the is the foundation right for UH for digital services.

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Speaker 2: So in other words, businesses or even consumers like yourself

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Speaker 2: and and myself, we would need to be connected to

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Speaker 2: UH the public cloud or private cloud to be able

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Speaker 2: to access the digital services. So connectivity is the is

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Speaker 2: the basic let's say requirements to be able to access

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Speaker 2: the digital services. So what we find today with SMEs right,

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Speaker 2: they start off with with with basic connectivity, but in

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Speaker 2: order to have a true digital experience, you would need

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Speaker 2: to have what is called foot for purpose reliable connectivity,

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Speaker 2: so connectivity that's available when you need it. Connectivity has

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Speaker 2: the right bandwidth for you to to be able to

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Speaker 2: stream your your services example. And also connectivity as low

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Speaker 2: latency so you don't what your your experience would be

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Speaker 2: superior when you when you consuming the services. So today

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Speaker 2: we as empty and we start off with connectivity, you know,

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Speaker 2: allowing the customer to feel these digital services. And as

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Speaker 2: you move up the value stack for the other towers

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Speaker 2: John which is actually more the I c T services towers,

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Speaker 2: which is like the IoT services, your streaming services, your

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Speaker 2: bank online banking applications, you know, your ERP applications. So

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Speaker 2: the list actually goes on when it comes to accessing

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Speaker 2: the digital services via your reliable connectivity.

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Speaker 1: So obviously recognizing this isn't a physical tower, but I'm

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Speaker 1: getting a sense of building blocks and that your relationship

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Speaker 1: with your clients unfolds a as they develop an understanding

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Speaker 1: of what they might need, as you present to them

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Speaker 1: possibilities of what could serve them better, and as they

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Speaker 1: grow as enterprises. So you start with, as you said

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Speaker 1: it fairly basic stuff and then you start adding layer

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Speaker 1: upon layer of things that that make a big, big

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Speaker 1: difference to them. How do you figure that out? Though?

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Speaker 1: I mean, because technologies are changing all the time. You

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Speaker 1: suggest something to somebody, but maybe fairly soon you've actually

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Speaker 1: got a better version of the same thing.

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent, John, I think for me, this is

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Speaker 2: a journey. You know, customers, we take the customer on

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Speaker 2: the journey to be able to unlock the digital services

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Speaker 2: you know that we spoke about. But I think, as

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Speaker 2: you rightfully say, you know, we would start off with

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Speaker 2: the connectivity and all the other verticals then become a

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Speaker 2: natural progression for customers. So as any customer, as you

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Speaker 2: consume services and you feel the appreciation for that service,

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Speaker 2: you would want you would naturally want to consume more

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Speaker 2: of that service. But it's all about customer experience user experience.

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Speaker 2: I mean a simple example, your streaming service. Right, if

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Speaker 2: you don't have a good experience your streaming service, you know,

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Speaker 2: chances are you would not actually want to use it again.

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Speaker 2: But if you had a superior experience, you would actually

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Speaker 2: want to use it. Also coupled to that is the

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Speaker 2: security element. You know, John, I think for me being

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Speaker 2: in this in this industry for twenty seven plus years,

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Speaker 2: what I've actually seen is, you know, the adoption of

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Speaker 2: cloud services is also met with the high degree of

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Speaker 2: you know, skepticism when it comes to security. You know,

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Speaker 2: you don't want to put your data in the cloud,

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Speaker 2: you don't want to consume stuffs. So what we've done

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Speaker 2: is build the entire ecosystem that takes this customer on

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Speaker 2: the journey, and the connectivity being the baseline, wrapped with

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Speaker 2: the security elements, we're being able to access the cloud

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Speaker 2: services and deliver this in the manner that's also responsible,

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Speaker 2: said responsible when it comes to things like billing, etc.

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Speaker 2: We also look at, you know, how do we actually

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Speaker 2: close that gap so we don't end up with a

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Speaker 2: bull shock at the end of the month. So it's

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Speaker 2: an entire ecosystem built around the foundation of connectivity and

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Speaker 2: customers have actually enjoyed that experience.

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Speaker 1: Can you give examples either specifical generic of how a

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Speaker 1: company engages with MTN gets to understand the services you offer.

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Speaker 1: But then I would imagine most of them don't want

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Speaker 1: to think about it again. They want to get on

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Speaker 1: with their business, which is a chain of dry cleaners

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Speaker 1: or a set of new ideas for young people who

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Speaker 1: are trying to take it learns to statty. I mean

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Speaker 1: we in partnership with you guys, have come across some

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Speaker 1: really fabulous business ideas. But give us an example of

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Speaker 1: how you enable people to actually get on with what

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Speaker 1: it is they want to do and what they're good as.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. Look, I think for me, if

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Speaker 2: I look at SMEs right in particular, you know SME

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Speaker 2: doesn't have a CIO or CTO to be able to

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Speaker 2: do the telecommunications part of the business. I mean they

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Speaker 2: want to get on with selling whatever they actually take

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Speaker 2: to market. So we as we as mt and what

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Speaker 2: we've done is we've created a concept almost like an

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Speaker 2: SME in a box, so you know, having a virtual

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Speaker 2: CTO or CIO, they can unpack those requirements for the customer,

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Speaker 2: so simple example. For example, we now offer a product

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Speaker 2: called Business uncapt Wireless or BUW. It's a it's a

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Speaker 2: very foot for purpose product for SME market where a customer,

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Speaker 2: a startup as an SME could actually you know, buy

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Speaker 2: the service from MTN. We enable them to be connected

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Speaker 2: to the to the to the cloud environment to be

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Speaker 2: able to have access to the services. And what we

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Speaker 2: do is in conjunction with the customer, we start to

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Speaker 2: actually provide a bit of education around what can you

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Speaker 2: unlock you know, and also I think John for me,

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Speaker 2: you know, it's all about trying to actually you know,

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Speaker 2: give customers everything at one go. The question in BEGS

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Speaker 2: is that you know, customers also want to scale. It's

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Speaker 2: a cost of actually adopted of buying the services. So

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Speaker 2: what we also introduce the concept of bundling the services.

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Speaker 2: So it's okay, this service, as you buy, you bundle

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Speaker 2: it with the connectivity. So when you look at the

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Speaker 2: end user experience, you're paying for the for the service

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Speaker 2: that you consume versus buying a whole lot of components

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Speaker 2: to build that. So Emptian's actually looked at the sum

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Speaker 2: and the box concept, looking at bundling these services and

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Speaker 2: also being able to provide as a pay as you

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Speaker 2: grow option as well.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much. There's a lot more to talk

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Speaker 1: about it, and we will continue these conversations as the

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Speaker 1: seven zero two MPT and Small Businesswards unfold and we

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Speaker 1: introduce you to some people who are actually taking up

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Speaker 1: these ideas and doing some exciting stuff with them. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Calvin Governor GM for Enterprise Connectivity and Digital Services at

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Speaker 1: mten joining us on seven oh two drive. So you

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Speaker 1: know those meetings where you keep asking can you hear

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Speaker 1: me now? Is this better? Have I lost you again?

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Speaker 1: Your business doesn't buffer, so why should your tech. That's

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Speaker 1: why having fast, reliable connectivity actually matters, so your calls

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Speaker 1: stay clear, your team stays connected, and the work keeps moving.

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Speaker 1: Visit mten, dot co, dot zdE, Forward, slash Business and

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Speaker 1: Let's Talk Shop so they can get you connected to

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Speaker 1: the right tools so your business can keep winning. M

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Speaker 1: ten Business Africa's leading enabler of connectivity and converged solutions,

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Speaker 1: it's five to four