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Infobip, a global cloud communications company for businesses and leader in omnichannel engagement is enhancing its presence in Kenya by partnering with banks and businesses.
Housing Finance Group, an integrated property and financial solutions provider in Kenya believes tailored dialogue is key in building long term relationships with their customers.
”It is imperative to listen to your customers and interact with them on digital channels. Our recently launched mobile app, for example, increased our customer base by 150 percent in only seven weeks, but USSD service is still very much in demand in Kenya. With the support of Infobip, we implemented our USSD solution in less than two months, and we can already attest to great results customer-wise,” said George Njuguna, Chief Information Officer, H.F. Group.
Infobip has partnered with several financial and telecommunications companies across the region, bringing financial solutions to the unbanked and helping banks and fintech enterprises meet the growing competition from the expanding FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) communications sector.
A major shift in mobile money and financial services trends are evolving across Africa. Other companies using Infobip’s A2P communication technology in Africa include the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), the largest privately-owned bank in East Africa.
“We are constantly trying to find new, innovative ways to optimize our processes and interactions with our customers to increase satisfaction with our bank. CBA is utilizing Infobip’s platform for A2P SMS communication, but our goal is also to expand our cooperation with additional channels such as email, chat apps and push notifications for example,” Dennis Volemi, Head of IT at CBA.
Kenya tops the list of African countries with ease of access to financial services thanks in part to its high uptake of mobile money, placing the country ahead of economic giants such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana. Other key drivers of this development include mobile adoption and internet connectivity. 84 percent of Kenya’s population has access to the Internet. 91 percent of Kenya’s total population has a mobile phone, compared to the average of 80 percent mobile penetration in all of Africa.[1]
”Infobip is expanding its operations in Africa. It is a region that is changing and improving rapidly when it comes to mobile money and financial services. Kenya, being one of the more progressive and developed nations in Africa, presents great potential and sets an example in truly diminishing the unbanked. With Infobip’s messaging solutions, banks can effectively build customer engagement, trust, and loyalty that is so important in Africa’s evolving banking industry,” said Rachel Njiru, Infobip’s MD Kenya & Director OP Africa.
By using Infobip’s omnichannel solution, Kenyan businesses can choose the optimal communication channels for specific types of messages, all available on a single communication platform.
Businesses can design targeted promotional campaigns and provide transactional traffic by including, for example, notification codes, account balance changes, bonus calculations on member cards, and payment reminders. The channels include SMS, and a number of chat app channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook Messenger, RCS, Push and more.
“Banks have to meet the customer needs of its competition. Maintaining customers long-term will require impactful engagement through omnichannel communications over the channels they use and prefer. Infobip is a provider that can truly address these pain points, helping banks throughout Africa improve their financial service offerings and ultimately enable every Kenyan with a bank account to be powered by mobile technology,” said Ali Hussein Kassim, co-founder, and CEO of FinteXX.
Infobip’s enablement of WhatsApp Business API allows enterprises in over 180 countries to communicate branded and rich content, such as high-res images, video, and files to its customers over WhatsApp, the chat app trusted and used by 1.6 billion people worldwide.
A financial institution can for example offer banking services such as personal account verification information, account statements, banking transaction alerts or help customers find the closest branch.
