ONE NUMBER DIAL ANNOUNCES PLAN TO INTRODUCE A FREE ELEVEN MONTH PERIOD FOR SUBSCRIBERS

ONE NUMBER DIAL ANNOUNCES PLAN TO INTRODUCE A FREE ELEVEN MONTH PERIOD FOR SUBSCRIBERS

One Number Dial, an indigenous information technology (IT) solution created to ease the way organizations communicate and reach out to staff, public and prospective clients in a cost effectively method has announced a free eleven-month period for subscriptions. Developed solely to bridge gaps experienced by organisations in reaching out, One Number Dial Solution is bringing an efficient way that firms disseminate critical information in a secure platform designed for smartphones and feature phones users in the country.

The coronavirus pandemic has irrevocably changed the way businesses globally operate and the need for investment in IT tools becomes more imperative today. Also coming at a time that the Government has encouraged Nigerians to work from home and limit their social interactions. Many users have described One Number Dial solution as timely and important for many organisations to function and work properly in a post Covid 19 workplace. The solution has also been described as being critical for bulk messaging needs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Churches, Mosques and Individuals. The regular Bulk SMS suffers limited delivery because of DND this “One Number Dial” is bridging this gap.

Speaking about the solution and the importance of One Number Dial, Shola Kusimo, the Product Manager said “We listened to the market for a local solution, when customers complained of being left behind from online meetings in Organizations and Churches, SMS wasn’t bi-directional and a lot of people still have feature phone. The solution is as an incredible tool with years of research and it has raised the bar in the way firms can reach out to the public and staffs working remotely”

“As an innovative and local solution that meets their need to stay in touch with customers, members and prospects. Highly simple, the solution allows one to record a voice message on phone, save it on the website and broadcast it just like bulk short messaging service (SMS) websites. The recipient gets a call with your One Number and listens to the message. If they choose to call back, the call comes to your line or any other provisioned line. You can provision up to ten lines”, Mr.Kusimo added.

 “The particular solution also empowers users advertise one number and gets calls on ten other numbers at the same time making it very useful for individuals with a “side hustle.” One Number Dial calls are professionally answered like a Call Centre with different departments in an IVR e.g. for inquiry press 1, for sales press 2, to speak with a customer representative stay on the line, and all these features are simple to configure on their portal. The One Number Dial is a simple solution for all Nigerians that are looking for an easier communications bridge to their customers, members and their prospects”, Mr. Kusimo concluded.

A Cloud based solution, One Number Dial is in tune with the current realities of our time by providing a robust platform that any organization can use to instantly call and send customized messages to hundreds of people at the same time which is great for clients and customers, this is coming with support team to ensure that organizations have smooth experience while using the platform.  They announced in a media parley that there is a promotion which is currently running because of Covid-19. Customers can get up to eleven months free when they pay in the months of June/July.

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

NETCOM AFRICA ANNOUNCES ITS PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE TOP GLOBAL PROVIDERS IN IT SECURITY

NETCOM AFRICA ANNOUNCES ITS PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE TOP GLOBAL PROVIDERS IN IT SECURITY

In today’s changing business environment, the need to have a robust virtual security architecture has become imperative. Having this in mind, Netcom Africa, Nigeria’s foremost managed IT service provider and outsourcing firm has brought to the fore a bouquet of information technology ( IT ) security solutions for businesses in Nigeria. 

With the high rising incidents of breaches in various organizations today, investing in IT security becomes more imperative in order to secure critical assets and information. According to reports, over N127 Billion losses annually as a result of security breaches in the country, and $2.1 Trillion USD worldwide. Over 60% of small and medium sized busineses that suffer a cyber security breach will go out of business within 6 months of the breach due to reputation damage, customer and financial loss, and legal actions. Netcom Africa has introduced top-notch security solutions that would address the issue of breaches. Over the years, Netcom has solidified its footprint in Nigeria’s tech market with the deployment of robust cyber security services targeting Nigerian corporate where high-end tech services are steadily on the rise.

“Security is best when it’s silent, our solutions feature both cloud and on-premise SSO, multi-factor authentication, user provisioning with self-service and access governance, password synchronization, self-service password reset and even AD & NTFS auditing tools”, Harrington Charles, Vice President, Corporate Development & Marketing, Netcom Africa.

Organizations are to enjoy the latest deployments in the cyber security system. According to Netcom Africa, the company opined that their security information and event management (SIEM) service collects and analyses security information in real time from across your organization. A combination of powerful proprietary technologies and human intelligence helps to prevent attacks on your network, and protect your commercially sensitive information.

One of the best preventative measures that any organization can undertake is education of its people. Providing cybersecurity training for your employees is by far the best value for cost and too many users don’t know the basic practices such as updating software, recognizing a phishing email, and use of strong passwords.

Netcom Africa have designed these types of trainings as well as partnered with global reputable brands to bring Nigerians the best cyber security solutions available in any part of the world.

“We’ve partnered with Shelt, the European Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), to offer the first cloud-based cybersecurity platform in Nigeria, FirstWave Cloud Content Security Platform (CCSP). The Email Security, Web Security, and Firewall Security suite is based on the most robust enterprise solutions of Cisco, Palo Alto and Fortinet and does away with the need to have an on premise appliance. The suite is available on per user model and can be easily scaled for any size business and gives small and medium sized companies access to high end solutions that would normally be suited for Fortune 500 companies with 1000+ users. In addition, we also have partnerships with Microsoft, Kaspersky, Tata Communications, and Sophos, the global leaders in Cynbersecurity including Endpoint protection, Firewall, DDoS Detection and Mitigation, UTM (Unified Threat Management), and Penetration testing, to complete our suite of security solutions allowing us to give your company the right balance between value and cost to meet your objectives,” Charles Concluded.

NCC Explains Reasons for Revising Complaints Categories, Service Level Agreements

NCC Explains Reasons for Revising Complaints Categories, Service Level Agreements

… Says revision to strengthen consumer protection

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it undertook a revision of the framework stipulating the processes for resolving consumer complaints arising from service delivery by telecoms operator in order to achieve greater effectiveness in the sector and to strengthen the protection of telecoms consumers and other stakeholders.

Tagged: Complaints Categories and Service Level Agreements (CC/SLA), the framework was revised by the Commission in November 2019 at a programme attended by representatives of telecoms operators, consumers and other consumer rights advocacy groups in the country.

“The 2019 review of the CC/SLA, in collaboration with operators and other stakeholders, was essentially to strengthen effective and prompt resolutions of consumers complaints by reviewing the timelines, broaden and streamline complaint categories and establishing applicable sanctions on operators that fail to meet the timelines stated for resolving issues related to services delivery to their consumers,” the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said.

In the reviewed CC/SLA, with respect to the broad category of Quality of Service and Quality of Experience (QoS and QoE) in the data segment, when a telecom subscriber experiences fluctuation in service, such as instability in the Internet services, the subscriber shall be contacted by the service provider within four hours of reporting the incident and the disruption shall be restored within 72 hours.

If the matter is escalated to the Commission, the consumer is expected to receive feedback within two hours, while the Commission ensures the issue is resolved within 48 hours. Additionally, the subscriber shall be offered an apology and the expiry date of his data bundle shall be extended by the number of days the disruption lasted.

Under the broad category, ‘Billing’, complaints connected to any unexplained change in account balance resulting in a drop in balance, due to overcharging subscriber’s account for calls, Short Messaging Services (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), shall be resolved by the operator within 24 hours. Should there be a need by the subscriber to escalate the complaint to NCC, the Commission shall ensure the matter is resolved within 12 hours. The subscriber shall be notified of resolution and where applicable, compensated with five percent of overcharged amount which is payable daily to the consumer for every 24hrs of default.

Similarly, within the framework of QoS/QoE in the voice segment, the revised agreement stipulates that, when there is call interference or challenge with voice clarity, resulting in the inability of a subscriber to carry out uninterrupted conversation, the subscriber shall receive response from the service provider within four hours of reporting the incident and the service provider shall ensure the challenge is resolved within 72 hours. Should there be a basis for the subscriber to escalate the matter to NCC, the Commission shall revert to the subscriber within two hours of receiving the report and ensure that the matter is resolved within 48 hours in line with the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations and the subscriber shall be communicated.

Also, under the new CC/SLAs that have now come into force, in the case of Sales Promotion and Advertisement, when a subscriber does not receive (within stipulated time) bonus or incentives won during promotions, the service provider shall resolve the matter within 12 hours of receiving the complaints, instead of 24 hours as stipulated in the hitherto existing categorisation and agreement. Should the matter be escalated to NCC, Commission shall ensure it is resolved within six hours in line with the Guidelines on Advertisement and Promotions. As in all cases, the subscriber shall be communicated on steps taken towards resolution of complaints.

Similarly, in the expansive category of Call Centre/Customer Care, the NCC agreed with stakeholders that when a subscriber is unable to connect to Call Center or Service Provider Help Line, the matter shall be treated by the Service Provider within four hours of receiving the report. Where the matter is escalated to the Commission, NCC shall ensure that the issue is resolved within two hours of receiving the complaints, and steps taken towards resolution shall be communicated to the subscriber in all circumstances.

On matters connected to faulty terminals, such as defective devices that stifle a subscriber’s ability to use phones, modems, routers and related devices appropriately, the Commission said such incidents shall be resolved based on Terms and Conditions for all devices.

Meanwhile, Danbatta equally stated that matters relating to Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), such as problems arising from installation and location of base stations, masts or towers, shall be resolved by the concerned operator(s) within the 48 hours, as stated in the revised CC/SLA. In case the Commission is notified by the affected consumer, the matter shall be referred, immediately to Commission’s Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department, which shall ensure resolution of the matter within 48 hours and inform the complainant accordingly.

The EVC added that the CC/SLA document, which is available on the Commission’s website, contains 17 broad categories and about 90 subcategories. He enjoined all stakeholders, particularly the telecom consumers, to create the time to study the document in order to understand their rights and privileges.

Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde
Director, Public Affairs