In a world where technology is rapidly progressing and the fourth industrial revolution is the defining catchphrase of our time, it’s hard to believe that dinosaurs still walk among us.
But they do, and one need look no further than the ArcelorMittal’s Vanderbijl Park steelmaking operations which this week again saw its gates swamped with community members protesting outside the polluting operations as the annual general meeting (AGM) kicked off.
Given the Covid-19 outbreak, the company did take the inevitable technological leap to offer participants to join virtually. But in true, archaic style, the company restricted the media from observing its AGM.
Being blocked from attending an AGM is a distant memory for senior journalists and indeed, something the new generation of reporters has never even experienced as companies have long ago woken up to the importance of stakeholder engagement — even those that are not shareholders.
Putting ArcelorMittal’s outdated attitude towards media observation of its AGM aside, the business continues to face accusations related to its adverse environmental impact, as well as its lack of transparency. The company is making some attempts to window-dress as a responsible, sustainable, corporate citizen, but it’s clearly falling short.
All the while, downstream industry too is suffering from the adverse effects of ArcelorMittal’s very existence, as import duties pile up in aid of restricting cheaper product entering SA so that the company can maintain its dominant, but wholly unnatural, position in SA steel.
All this in an aim to eke out hard-won profits from time to time.
Undoubtedly, it hurts to let go of the past. But sometimes it hurts more to hold on.
Vodacom’s chatbot TOBi allows self-RICA
Covid-19 and the social distancing it has forced on the world may have accelerated technology adoption in ways that some have feared for years, especially the replacement of humans in certain work.
Vodacom’s customer services chatbot TOBi is one such example. Chatbots have been around for years, making it easier for increasingly tech-savvy consumers to have issues and queries resolved.
TOBi is no different, offering Vodacom customers an opportunity to register their SIM cards electronically.
Traditionally, customers have had to visit Vodacom stores and present some form of identification, proof of residence and the SIM card. Now, the mobile operator has added new self-service functions to their chatbot, allowing customers to RICA their SIM cards through digital channels.
The operator says TOBi is transforming the way our customers engage with them by solving between 10,000 and 20,000 customer queries a day via SMS, WhatsApp, the My Vodacom app and on the Vodacom website.
An increased demand for telecommunications services during the lockdown and reduced traffic to physical retail locations is likely to drive the growth of TOBi.
As a “new normal” emerges in workplaces and businesses, perhaps the role of traditional customer service could be to attend to more complex issues, while being part of the process to make chatbots smarter over time.
Additionally, this could be a chance for companies to take existing staff, train them to analyse the data collected by TOBi and other such systems to develop and create better products that would ultimately increase profitability in the long run.
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