Core Talk CRM-SMS

Money saver...

The owner of Skin & Body Matters, Meghann Carlisle, right, with beauty therapist Samukelisiwe Mthembu, is one of the first entrepreneurs to use MTN's small business technology solution, which resulted in her salon cutting its phone bill by more than half.

Tools to boost small business

Now even foreign markets can be at your fingertips

MPHO SIBANYONI

A NEW technological solution offered by one of the country's mobile network operators has helped a small business slash its telephone bill by more than 50%.

The Skin & Body Matters salon in Johannesburg says it is saving hundreds of rands a month because of MTN's BizText service.

"My business communications were 100% telephonic, but now 75% of our communication relies on SMSes," says salon owner Meghann Carlisle.

She says communicating with her clients now costs her R800 a month, down from the Rl 500 - R1 600 a month that she used to pay.

MTN's BizText allows small, medium and micro enterprises to participate in two-way SMS communication with their clients. The scheme works like SMS bundles that are paid for at the end of the month, with each message costing R0.17.

The BizText service allows clients to book appointments or order products. Businesses can use it to disseminate promotional material to specific clients. This is because it tracks customer buying trends, allowing a business to more accurately target clients for specific promotions and sales.

BizText is one of the many telecommunications tools that can lower the cost of doing business for small and medium sized enterprises.

Rehema Isa, managing director of Fuse Project Management & Consulting, says the company uses Telkom for fixed voice and data services and Vodacom for mobile communication solutions.

Isa says Telkom allows one bundle service to be used by many employees, while this is not the case with Vodacom.

City Press Business explored a few of these tools which allow small businesses to run more efficiently. Here are some of the solutions:

MTN

• Mobile fleet management service. The system is designed for small businesses specialising in distribution. It has a 24 hour realtime system that reports deliveries and transactions that have taken place.
• Businesses specialising in face to face marketing could use the sales force management service.
• The software tool allows members of the sale steam to be supplied with complete mobile access to office systems, including stock levels.
• Companies can also track their activities, movements, service levels and competitor activities.
• MTN's F@stlink wireless network can be used in offices to support up to 10users at a time. The users could be linked to printers, laptops,computers, gaming consoles and fixed line phones.
• Outside the office, F@stlink could be used to keep in touch with clients, the office or emails, diary, and business applications.
• BizAssist is a virtual personal assistant which helps businesses to find products and services within South Africa. The product could, for instance, find new suppliers, vet them for reliability and bargain for the best prices.
• BizAssist also helps to search and book flights, cars and accommodation for business travellers.

Vodacom

• Basic email with anti-spam and anti-virus protection software for office or mobile devices. Anti-spam software prevents unauthorised emails from accessing the inbox of an email account.
• Virtual private networks allow businesses to connect to the branches locally and internationally, without the need for leased lines.
• Business Private Branch exchange is a system used to handle multiple telephone lines but it only charges for one telephone line.

Telkom

• Mail Manager Plus helps to manage voice and fax messages from the existing telephone. The system is, for instance, capable of sending and receiving fax and telephone messages to and from an email inbox. This allows an existing telephone number to be used for fax and voice to email services.
• Cyber communication is a marketing tool that allows SMMEs to expose their products and services to international markets. It gives businesses cyber environments where their good sand services can be displayed and viewed by markets inforeign countries.

Burst

• A tool called What's Right For You allows SMMEs to pick and mix various services.

Neotel

• Neoflex Data is a high-speed wireless internet service that allows up to 10 users to connect to a Wi-fi device.
• Neoflex Voice is a single and multi line wireless service that can be used for conference calling and to make cheap calls to other  .

This article was taken from City press newspaper.