The service will see KCB Bank Kenya become one of the leading African financial services companies approved for the WhatsApp Business solution. The bank is among leading global companies on the early access WhatsApp Business pilot program. The Bank deployed the Digital Customer Service platform designed by Sparkcentral, the customer experience solutions provider with Headquarters in San Francisco, US. “The platform combines enterprise scalability with ease of use, making the software a smart investment in terms of our long-term growth. We want to see our customers getting the answers and information they need from KCB as quickly and conveniently as possible and on the platforms, they want,” he added. It is worth noting that similar programs have been implemented in other markets. In South Africa, Africa’s largest telco MTN launched a WhatsApp channel in March that allows its customers to buy airtime and data bundles through the messaging application. Closer home, Standard Chartered Bank Uganda has a similar program that extends across other platforms like WhatsApp, messenger, Twitter and Instagram. The investment is in line with the focus on seamless customer onboarding, self-service enablement and excellent customer management by tapping into emerging technologies and popular platforms like WhatsApp. The solution creates a centralized communication hub for KCB digital customer care interactions, as well as integrating other messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, bi-directional SMS and modern live chat. According to Njiru, the solution is a “smart investment in terms of our long-term growth,” that will provide instant answers and information about banking. “We want to see our customers getting the answers and information they need from KCB as quickly and conveniently as possible and on the platforms they want,” he added. Currently, WhatsApp has over 1.5 billion monthly active users, making it a dominant platform in markets such as Africa, Europe, and South America. “We designed our Digital Customer Service platform to make it easier for companies to keep up with the consumers who define customer care as personalized service that includes their digital channels of choice,” said Mr Christoph Neut, Sparkcentral’s Vice President for EMEA.
