connected

Happy Contact Centres, Increased Agent Retention

Posted on 26 May 202526 May 2025 by Natalie van der Merwe

How to build workplaces that your employees want to work in

Contact centre agents are the immediate face of the company whenever they engage with its customers. When contact centre agents display a positive attitude – as well as excellent skills – this has a correspondingly positive impact on customers’ experiences, and helps with client retention.

In fact, Forbes Magazine has previously published the results from a study which revealed that happy employees are as much as 20 percent more productive in the workplace than unhappy employees – so it’s logical to assume that contact centres are no different.

When agents feel valued, equipped and engaged, they’re more likely to provide excellent service, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. In short, happy employees create happy customers. However, at the same time, high employee turnover can be a significant challenge for contact centres.

In this article, we unpack the benefits of providing a positive experience for your contact centre agents – and how to create it.

Benefits of a Happy Workplace Environment

High staff turnover rates are costly in several ways, including in the consistency and quality of customer service, as well as in the more easily measured costs of recruitment and training expenses. Research has shown that replacing a single contact centre agent can cost up to 30 percent of their annual salary, making retention not just a people issue but also a financial one.

Happy and engaged contact centre agents are important to your business for the following reasons:

Increased productivity and retention: Happy agents are more likely to stay with the company longer, which improves their overall knowledge and efficiency and, in turn, the customers’ experience. Turnover costs can ultimately be reduced.
Reduced stress and burnout: When employees are happy, they’re less likely to experience stress and burnout, which can negatively affect their well-being and performance at work.
Improved customer experience: Engaged agents are more likely to be empathetic listeners and effective communicators, leading to better customer interactions and satisfaction.
Enhanced customer loyalty: When customers have positive experiences with call centre agents, they are more likely to recommend the company to others.

Having outlined why happy employees make a positive impact on your business, let’s look at some of the particular hurdles that contact centre agents deal with.

Addressing the Challenges Faced by Agents

The specific challenges of contact centre agents include the following:

High stress levels: Handling escalated customer issues without adequate support can contribute to burnout.
Monotonous work: Repetitive tasks can make agents feel unfulfilled and undervalued.
Mismatched expectations: Agents often face pressure to meet metrics like call handling time, which can conflict with delivering quality customer service.

Addressing the particular challenges of contact centre agents requires a proactive approach that includes engagement, empowerment and growth. Measures to keep contact centre agents happy include the following:

Provide adequate training and resources and ensure that your agents have the necessary tools, technology and training to effectively handle customer inquiries.
Recognise and reward performance and gather regular feedback from your agents, providing them with opportunities for professional development.
Consider offering flexible work schedules or remote work options to improve work-life balance.
Implement programmes that promote physical and mental health, such as stress management training or access to employee assistance programmes.
Promote a positive work environment and foster a culture of respect, teamwork, and open communication.
Consider using gamification to make your agents’ work more engaging and rewarding. The idea is to integrate entertaining and immersive gaming elements into a working context to enhance employee engagement. Gamification strategies use game design and features, such as badges, leaderboards, points and rewards, to encourage active participation and make tasks fun and enjoyable.

Smartz Solutions Key Features that Empower Agents

The company understands that agent experience is the foundation of customer experience. Its platform is designed to address the challenges agents face, creating a workplace where they feel empowered, valued and motivated. The Smartz Solutions platform’s key features include:

Unified dashboards: A single interface is used to manage all channels, reducing complexity and allowing agents to focus on customers, thereby boosting efficiency.
Omni-channel engagements: Through a unified platform, agents are able to interact across multiple channels. This enhances their efficiency and improves customer service, while also allowing them to maximise their specific skills by matching them with the most suitable communication channels, enhancing their performance and job satisfaction.
Gamification tools: Engaging features drive performance and keep agents motivated.
Quality assurance integration: Feedback loops help agents continuously improve their skills.
Built-in training modules: Easy access to resources helps agents to be always prepared. Even when new agents are appointed, the built-in training modules ensure that each agent receives a consistent training experience and the correct knowledge to perform their duties effectively.
Integration: By integrating customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software into the contact centre, agents have seamless access to customer data, which enables them to be more efficient and productive, and provide a better customer experience.

Gamification: The Fun Side of Work

Modern technology and data visualisation techniques enable agents to better understand their performance strengths and weaknesses. By incorporating game mechanics, organisations use an element of fun into the workplace while reinforcing performance norms.

Leaderboards, badges and tokens provide examples of real-world colleague achievements. In addition, this data becomes invaluable in facilitating productive and meaningful discussions about career progression, empowering your agents to set achievable goals and strive for continuous improvement.

Culture and Support builds Resilient Agents

Smartz Solutions understands that contact centre agent experience is the foundation of customer experience. By addressing workplace challenges, empowering agents with the right tools, and fostering a culture of support and recognition, organisations can ensure that their contact centres are places where employees thrive.

In turn, businesses can reduce turnover, enhance customer experiences and set themselves apart in a competitive market.

Vox, in partnership with Smartz Solutions, is committed to helping businesses achieve this transformation. With tools and strategies that focus on agent and customer experiences alike, the company is redefining the experiences of both customers and employees in the contact centre industry.

Is Your Business Wi-Fi Due for an Upgrade?

Posted on 21 May 202521 May 2025 by Craig Blignaut

A better Wi-Fi environment brings increased productivity to your employees and your organisation

Business Wi-Fi provides your employees with their gateway to the Internet, including operations in the Cloud. This requires stability and reliability – and as your business grows, your Wi-Fi needs may change. What worked for your organisation yesterday may not be sufficient in the future as your company’s Wi-Fi requirements increase.

Perhaps your organisation’s infrastructure was installed a few years ago, but as cost-effectively as possible – it may have been that the Wi-Fi requirement then wasn’t as much of a focus point as it has since become. Now, your organisation is growing and the need for improved Wi-Fi services is apparent.

Let’s have a look at why your business Wi-Fi may be due for an upgrade – and the steps you can take to implement this.

A Better Wi-Fi Environment Brings Increased Productivity

Wi-Fi has been around for the past 25 to 30 years and has evolved significantly during that time. With vastly more applications and computer programs available today, a much higher throughput is required to maximise the experience of the users in your organisations.

The days of having a single room with Wi-Fi access in it within the entire premises, or a dedicated area across the particular floor in the building, are long gone. People today expect Wi-Fi access in every environment that they move into. Your corporate solution therefore needs to work properly and enable productivity – you don’t want your employees being forced to spend five to 10 minutes trying to connect. Conversely, a better Wi-Fi environment brings increased productivity.

With a clear requirement for functionally excellent Wi-Fi access throughout the organisation, it may be time to invest in better, enterprise-level equipment, and an organisation that can assist you in managing and planning the Wi-Fi design as efficiently as possible.

Advantages of Upgrading Your Business Wi-Fi Network

Vox provides managed Wi-Fi services for businesses. This enables remote software and firmware updates, and reduced technician call-outs, through remote troubleshooting and fault remediation.

One of our services is offering audits on existing Wi-Fi, because with legacy old equipment, security becomes a risk. We also know that not every business is looking for brand-new Wi-Fi in a new building from scratch. Very often, we find that we’re taking over the legacy Wi-Fi previously used by the company, and we may be able to upgrade the existing assets or infrastructure.

The advantages of upgrading your business Wi-Fi network include the following:

Increased speed and bandwidth;
Improved connection reliability;
Improved security and privacy; and
Easier setup and management.

Security alone is a particularly serious issue, as network threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated. At Vox, we are keenly aware of the need to carry out regular software updates on our network equipment, such as access points and switches, as is necessary with all technology.

An access point can become a security risk if no one is managing it: for example, the manufacturer could find security vulnerabilities with certain equipment, and if it doesn’t get a security patch or update, the access point becomes vulnerable.

Overcoming Wi-Fi Challenges Presented by Infrastructure

The construction materials used in buildings, such as concrete, glass, brick and metal, can interfere with Wi-Fi signals and obstruct them in different ways, especially in larger or older buildings with thick walls. To counteract this challenge, Vox uses specialised software to create virtual models of your office space.

This software considers the different structural properties of the various building materials, allowing you to predict how Wi-Fi signals will travel and where obstacles might cause issues.

This virtual planning considers such factors as signal strength as well as how to determine the best access point and placement for access points and switches, to optimise network performance and capacity in areas where it’s needed most.

Vox Managed Wi-Fi Solutions

Our business Wi-Fi offerings are designed to optimise your Wi-Fi coverage, extend range and expand networking possibilities, enhancing the user experience and providing seamless, reliable connectivity for all devices, as follows:

Solve network issues and limit service centre interaction, reducing technical call outs. Network analytics provides information such as alarms, incidents and client experience information, including time to connect to the access points.
Radio Frequency (RF) design and planning: Our RF heatmap design software enables correct planning, scoping and implementation to improve overall Wi-Fi experience for both users and organisations.
Enterprise Equipment: Vox partners with enterprise grade equipment vendors, such as Ruckus Networks, to provide robust equipment from access points to managed switches and management cloud platforms, offering enhanced Wi-Fi connections and capacity for concurrent user devices.

Bespoke Managed Wi-Fi Solutions with Vox

The benefits of managed Wi-Fi solutions ensure, for example, that your organisation carries out regular, planned security updates in the same way as for our phones and computers. Vox offers any organisation a bespoke Wi-Fi solution according to their particular requirements.

We also understand the requirements of speed versus capacity. For example, your organisation might have a boardroom that is required to facilitate a meeting with 100 people in it once a week, and otherwise is seldom used. At Vox, we understand how to cater to the capacity that may be only required from time to time.

A managed Wi-Fi solution also offers convenience, as our Service Centre is able to remotely troubleshoot and improve network performance using cloud-based administrative tools. This ensures that more connected devices can enjoy uninterrupted Wi-Fi in your business.

It all speaks to ongoing connectivity, which in turn speaks to improved productivity.

Is your business Wi-Fi due for an upgrade? Feel free to reach out to us on 087 805 5050 or via email on corporatesales@voxtelecom.co.za and begin a discussion.

Wireless Connectivity Struts its Stuff

Posted on 22 April 202522 April 2025 by Suhail Dinat

In the age of reels, DMs, and “guys, it’s giving…”

…Wireless Connectivity is basically the socialite of the tech world—glamorous, fast-talking, always on the move, and somehow everywhere.

Unlike Satellite (our dependable but dusty Oupa), Wireless is that hyper teen who can’t sit still, wears AirPods at the dinner table, and somehow has three bars of signal even in a concrete bunker. It’s chaotic, it’s brilliant, it’s a bit emotionally unstable—but it gets the job done.

Let’s rewind a bit though. Wireless wasn’t always this confident. There was a time when it was the shy kid in the corner, struggling to send a song via Bluetooth for 17 hours while your phones practically had to kiss. Remember that? The Nokias doing infrared transfers like some awkward phone-to-phone CPR? Simpler times (although we’re showing our age here. Sorry not sorry).

Wireless is the friend who went to gym once, got a six-pack, and suddenly discovered their worth. Now it’s strutting down digital runways, offering high-speed, low-latency connections and acting like it didn’t spend its formative years buffering LimeWire downloads.

So, in honour of Wireless’ glow-up, here’s a Throwback List of things that were still cool when your Wi-Fi password was “admin123”:

YouTube intros with exploding text
Spinning BlackBerry loading wheels
Being “WAP enabled” (and not in the Cardi B sense)
The sweet, sweet pain of EDGE connection
MXIT statuses like: “$$$Mo$$$ is… bored 😐”
Twitter eggs
When Instagram was just sepia-tone lunch photos

Wireless has come a long way. From stealing your neighbour’s unsecured signal (shout out to “NETGEAR”) to Mesh Wi-Fi systems that cover your house like clingwrap over a plate of leftovers—seamless, unnecessary, but somehow very comforting.

And look, we get it. Wireless isn’t perfect. Sometimes it flakes out during that very important Teams call, or decides to ghost you the second you sit down to stream something. It’s got commitment issues. It gets moody in rain. And like any dramatic lead in a telenovela, it loves dropping out right when the plot thickens.

But despite all its high-maintenance behaviour, it’s hard not to love it. Wireless connectivity has turned our homes into offices, our parks into cinemas, and our toilets into social hubs (don’t lie—we all do it).

The truth? Wireless isn’t a luxury anymore. It’s a lifeline. From that weird new coffee shop trying to seem quirky with “No Wi-Fi, Talk to Each Other” signs (okay, Karen), to schools in remote areas running full classes on a dongle and a prayer—Wireless keeps things going.

It’s the overachiever. The do-it-all. The one carrying half the tech world on its slightly overworked, overheating shoulders.

So, while it might not have the old-school loyalty of Satellite, or the brute strength of Fibre, Wireless is the one you call when you need to get things done fast, flashy, and without strings. Literally.

Wireless: flakey but fabulous.

We stan.

The Fibre Connectivity Alternative That’s Perfect For YOU

Posted on 15 April 202515 April 2025 by Vivienne Fouche

Being connected to the digital world means living in the 21st century

Internet access opens up the race to the future, providing access to tools, skills and opportunities. Connectivity has changed people’s lives across South Africa, allowing anyone to access information and communicate with others all over the country, and in real time.

Email, instant messaging and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have made it possible to share news and opinions and join in conversations. In addition, closing the digital divide brings millions of people into a competitive world of opportunities – in other words, able to ‘join the race’.

Compared to DSL lines (the original Internet connectivity through Telkom’s copper phone lines), Fibre Optic cables offer incredibly high Internet speeds in large metropolitan areas and many towns around the country. Because it’s so fast, Fibre is often called the ‘gold in the ground’ – it represents the pinnacle of blazing fast Internet. But what do you do if Fibre cables haven’t yet been laid in your area? You don’t want to be left behind, like a racing driver stalling on the starting grid.

Fortunately, alternative Connectivity solutions are available for every location, requirement and budget, and Vox offers them all.

Fixed Wireless

Welcome to the wonders of Microwave technology that’s not just for reheating meals. Users of this service can enjoy almost Fibre-like speeds, while its ease of setup also makes it popular. A device is pointed at a tower which services the area in which you live, providing a high-speed internet connection whose access towers are served and connected to Fibre lines as the ‘backhaul’.

Because the stations are clustered in line of sight of each other, a Fixed Wireless connection can deliver a very fast Internet experience with low latency. It’s a good option for an area not directly served by terrestrial Fibre, or if someone stays in a higher density development where no cables, just a device and a sim card, is a more convenient option.

LTE and 5G

First it was LTE and now it’s 5G, the latest iteration of technology that runs on a network of base stations using Radio waves (in a similar manner to mobile phones). Together, these options can be found in more remote regions, as well as in towns around the country, and they’re able to provide high-speed Internet access.

It’s important to remember that with a wireless solution, location is key, and so how far away you are from the nearest broadcast tower has an impact on the Internet speed you get. On the upside, from a mobility point of view, you can take your router to a secondary location and use it there, for example for work or on holiday (as long as it has the required LTE or 5G signal) once you’ve made the arrangement with your ISP.

Satellite Connectivity for Remote Areas

Satellite Internet has become a game-changer for those living in rural or outlying areas where Fibre, Fixed Wireless and LTE/5G Internet options aren’t available. Check out our Vox Satellite options across the country. We’re here to assist those on farms and at game lodges as well as remote schools, businesses and clinics.

Compared to the other options, Satellite is the slowest Internet connection available, but it’s also the one with the broadest reach, as satellites fly thousands of kilometres above us and beam their Internet signal down to the earth. If your Internet connection was a race, Satellite is the tortoise – but it’ll still get you there in the end, and allow you to stay connected!

A quick note: ADSL, the original Internet infrastructure using copper Telkom lines, doesn’t fit into the future picture because it’s at the end of its life, and as service providers stop maintaining the copper network it will become a feature of the past, quite soon.

Check out the Coverage Map

Go to vox.co.za, where you’ll see our connectivity coverage map. Type in your full physical address to check which Connectivity options are covered in your area. You can then start exploring the current packages and promos, depending on your requirements and your budget.

A quick note: Those waiting for Fibre installations can also look at Fixed Wireless or LTE / 5G as a preliminary measure until they can switch to Fibre, and then keep the original option for failover protection for those times when the Fibre line goes down.

It’s a race to the future for you and your family – and even South Africa as a whole – because *Internet Access = Moving Forward*.

Fixed Wireless, LTE and 5G, and Satellite all have an important role to play in South Africa as well as Fibre. Whatever your needs, and wherever you are, Vox has the solution.

Satellite is Old… But is it Over?

Posted on 11 April 202518 September 2025 by Suhail Dinat

In a world dominated by super-fast connectivity (you know the sales pitch) – Satellite seems about as relevant as a coupon for Blockbuster at a Netflix convention (editor’s note: we are officially too old to think of more relevant pop-culture jokes. Skibidi Rizz).

In fact, we’ve compiled a Throwback list of things which were still trending when Satellite was last relevant (which, incidentally, includes the concept of Throwbacks):

Mxit and BBM Pins
Jay Jays
Scratch and enter airtime vouchers
The first debut of Anaconda on ETV
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Man United being good
Elon Musk being proudly South African

Fact is (and we can’t pretend otherwise), Satellite is old. And not cool old, or even old enough to pass as cute – we’re talking ‘oupa saying “back in my day” while waving fist’ old.

If Satellite were a person, its ID number would be 1 – and it would still have the green ID book. There’s no two ways about it – it’s been here for a long time and a good time. It’s outlasted copper cables and 3G. Stayed the course when everyone was discovering what Wi-Fi means. It was there, solid and dependable when people blamed 5G for Covid. And, the way its going, chances are it’ll be there long after its current group of peers have moved on – like that kid in matric that was already there when you started, but nobody ever saw him graduate or recalls him being in any other year.

So, what’s the point of all of this? Are we going somewhere, or did we just wake up with a directive to write a blog about Satellite and decide to bash it for 1,000 words or less (gotta love malicious compliance).

Admittedly, this author wasn’t too enthused about the concept – how do we sell Betty White in a world full of Kim K’s? (again – the most recent pop-culturally diva we could think of).

If you’re talking connotations, Satellite evokes feelings of excitement rivalled only by the new VAT price – that is, until you dig beneath the surface (ironic, since it’s basically a fossil anyway).

Let’s state the obvious: Satellite isn’t for the person who just moved into the extremely unique and definitely different looking new Balwin property. It’s not for the tender-preneur, the guy next to the country club, your neighbourhood Karen or anyone in the city. However, neither is a tractor – but there’s a time, and a place, and a reason for everything. And we can guarantee you a tractor is a site more useful on its own turf than a dropped suspension GTI.

That’s not to say there’s not a place for the tech. Aside from people in outlying areas where Fibre lines are as rare as a working cell signal, the recent prancing of Elon has seen a big resurgence in Satellite being a buzzword globally – and no, not just because he’s flinging them into orbit like Oprah giving out cars—“you get a satellite, you get a satellite!”

The truth is, Satellite has quietly reinvented itself. It’s no longer just the chunky metal dish bolted to your oupa’s roof, picking up reruns of Knight Rider. It’s become leaner, smarter, and in some instances, surprisingly cool (in a very niche, sci-fi-adjacent kind of way).

Modern satellite tech is the silent hero of rural connectivity, remote operations, emergency services, and that weird stretch of road where even your playlists refuse to load. It’s what keeps oil rigs online, helps farmers track crop health from space, and connects ships in the middle of nowhere so they can still order pizza (ok, maybe not quite—but close).

In fact, with the rise of LEO (low-earth orbit) constellations and private companies entering the game, Satellite’s gone from dusty relic to… well, still old—but old with a gym membership and a side hustle.

Is it glamorous? No.
Is it trending on TikTok? Definitely not.
But is it essential? More than ever.

So before you write it off completely, remember: just because something isn’t flashy doesn’t mean it’s not powerful. Satellite’s like that one uncle who shows up to the braai with tools, biltong, and obscure knowledge about boreholes—you don’t get it, but you’re glad he’s there when things go wrong.

Satellite’s not trying to win Prom King any more. It’s not chasing trends or hashtags. It’s just out here, doing its thing, keeping the forgotten corners of the world connected—and that, in this fast-paced digital mess, might just be the coolest thing of all.

Long live the dish.

WhatsApp and Your Customers

Posted on 10 April 202510 April 2025 by Natalie van der Merwe

A Powerful Channel for Contact Centres

We all know that mobile phones were originally invented to enable Voice calls that could be made and received on the go, and not just through a fixed land line. And so it’s ironic that we’re seeing an increasing trend in recent years for consumers to use their smart phones for text-based communication more than for Voice calls. This pattern brings ramifications for businesses as well as individuals.

The ‘texting versus calling’ trend is highly visible in private conversations as well as in the communication preferences that people have with businesses, including contact centres.

WhatsApp has become one of the world’s most popular and widely used text-based apps, and its features and popularity bring significant benefits to contact centres also – so much so that WhatsApp has, in fact, become one of the most powerful channels for contact centre usage today. Let’s unpack this further, starting with insights on why texting itself can be so useful.

Don’t Call Me (Send Me a Text)

Texting provides a quick and efficient way to communicate. There’s no need for pleasantries or small talk (especially if you’re not in the mood!) – you can simply get straight to the point. In a world where time is a precious commodity, many people see this as an advantage, especially when they’re busy or under stress.

Some of the advantages of texting include the following:

Great for multi-tasking: Texting allows people to communicate during brief free moments, including in the ‘asynchronous’ timing of messages (where both the sender and the recipient of the message don’t have to be in ‘chat mode’ at exactly the same time). For example, you can send a text message just before setting off on a trip to work and then read the response when you’ve arrived at the office, or you could send a text while waiting for your computer to finish a series of planned updates. The important thing is that you can text at a time that works for you.
Texting is easy: Even members of an older generation understand how to text on their smartphones, and it’s easier than a Voice call for anyone who is hearing impaired. For those who are introverts, or living in a country where the primary business language isn’t their first language, texting can be easier than trying to speak on the phone.
Efficiency of use: Texting allows us to get straight to the point – we ask a direct question, get a straightforward answer, and carry on with our schedule.
Written record: In addition, text messages remain with you and can be referred back to for further information or confirmation, if required.
Unintrusive communications: You don’t need to interrupt whatever you’re doing to immediately read or answer a message – you can do it at your convenience (at least most of the time). A phone call, on the other hand, requires real-time (‘synchronous’) communication at a time when it may not suit both parties to make or receive a call.
Synched to your computer: As an additional advantage, WhatsApp’s useful functionality also allows you to synch your smartphone to your laptop or desktop computer, so you can have the additional convenience of sending text messages via a device with a bigger keyboard, which for some people is more convenient.

So much for the advantages of being able to text your messages. Among the many communication channels available, WhatsApp has emerged as a gamechanger.

WhatsApp: Powering Ahead in Popularity and Availability

With over 2 billion active users globally, WhatsApp has become an incredibly popular and important platform within the digital communications landscape. Originally designed as a simple messaging app, it’s now a critical tool for contact centres, providing superb accessibility and efficiency, and enhancing customer engagement.

WhatsApp’s usage in contact centres has been a logical business extension because it’s versatile, widely available as well as extensively used, and able to deliver seamless, personalised experiences at scale.

Here are some thought-provoking statistics:

96% of South Africans use WhatsApp.
Globally, 68% of users check WhatsApp daily, indicating high engagement.
Over 175 million people message a WhatsApp Business account every day.

For contact centres, this means a ready-made audience that prefers the platform for its convenience and immediacy.

Benefits for Contact Centres

Using WhatsApp can benefit contact centres in several different ways, including accessibility, real-time conversations, a variety of media formats and cost-efficiency.

Accessibility: WhatsApp’s widespread usage ensures that businesses can reach customers almost anywhere. Unlike voice or email, which require specific setups, WhatsApp operates on a platform most customers already use on a daily basis.
Real-time conversations: The platform supports fast and efficient interactions for resolving customer queries, sending notifications and collecting feedback.
Rich media capabilities: WhatsApp supports a variety of media formats, including text, images, videos, documents and voice notes. This versatility allows businesses to share detailed information, demonstrate solutions visually, and provide instructions.
Cost efficiency: Compared to Voice or SMS channels, WhatsApp offers a more affordable solution for high-volume interactions. Businesses can save costs while maintaining high levels of service.
Track chat history: WhatsApp keeps track of all customer interactions, providing a complete view of the user journey. This ensures continuity and context, allowing for multiple agents to seamlessly assist customers.
Single place of interaction: Integrating WhatsApp into the contact centre software allows agents to manage all customer communications from one platform, streamlining workflows and improving response times.
Automation: WhatsApp can be integrated with chatbots to handle common queries, freeing up human agents to handle more complex issues.

Smartz Solutions: Integrating WhatsApp into Your Customer Journey

The Ultimate Guide to understanding WhatsApp Business | Vox | WhatsApp and Your Customers — Image courtesy of Smarz Solutions

Vox has proudly partnered with Smartz Solutions, which has been at the forefront of enabling businesses to embrace WhatsApp as part of its omnichannel communication strategy.

By seamlessly integrating WhatsApp with other channels like Voice, email and web chat, SmartzSolutions empowers contact centres to offer customers increased flexibility, helping businesses in the following ways:

Rapid Deployment: The company has a proven track record of being able to deploy a WhatsApp bot in under 24 hours, handling unprecedented interaction volumes effortlessly.
Seamless Integration: SmartzSolutions ensures that WhatsApp is part of a cohesive omnichannel strategy so that every interaction, regardless of channel, contributes to a unified customer experience.
Sentiment Analysis and Personalisation: By integrating sentiment analysis, the company helps businesses to tailor their WhatsApp interactions, ensuring they resonate with a customer’s unique needs and emotions.

Voice and WhatsApp: Coexisting for the Ultimate Solution

It’s important to remember that, while WhatsApp is revolutionising customer communication, Voice will always have a critical place in the contact centre. In particular, we find that urgent, complex or emotionally charged issues often require a human touch, and Voice channels remain the most effective way to provide that – there’s nothing like speaking voice to voice to a sympathetic person over the phone when someone has an issue or challenge.

The future for contact centres lies in balancing these channels, allowing customers to choose the method that best suits their needs at a particular time. WhatsApp can handle routine queries and initial touchpoints, while Voice agents step in for more complex interactions. Together, they form a complementary strategy that maximises efficiency and satisfaction.

Looking After Your Contact Centre’s Rands and Sense

Posted on 26 March 202531 March 2025 by Natalie van der Merwe

The Economic Benefits of a Locally Based Solution

Operational efficiency and customer satisfaction are critically important for contact centres. However, looking to global providers for the required cutting-edge technology generally comes with a globally sourced price tag, which can be costly in Rand terms. Add in the infamous volatility of the Rand and you’re looking at a financial headache, at best, and cost-cutting exercises at worst, just to stay with internationally based technology. The solution lies closer to home.

The primary purpose of a contact centre is to offer customers efficient and effective technical support, customer service and sales assistance. But at what cost does this happen – and can your business survive currency upheaval, which has a very real impact on the local economy across the spectrum?

The volatility of the Rand is a significant hazard for South African companies, because it’s seen as a proxy for emerging market investment. This makes the local currency highly exposed to external shocks and global events, and thus very unpredictable.

In turn, this has negative effects on potential investment and local business operations. It therefore makes sense to go with a locally sourced provider that operates cost-effectively yet still according to global standards of expertise.

This is where the partnership between Vox and Smartz Solutions is a game changer for the South African contact centre market. Both companies, with deep and proudly South African roots, bring together local expertise, innovation and a profound understanding of the market, to deliver exceptional products and services.

World-class Technology, Stable Costing

Many global providers price their solutions in US dollars or euros, exposing businesses to exchange rate fluctuations. A sudden depreciation of local currency can double or triple the cost of maintaining these platforms, wreaking havoc on budgets. As a case in point: the Rand has once again been volatile over the last year,[1] ranging from R19.23 against the US Dollar in April 2024 to R17.10 in September 2024.

For contact centres operating in dollar- or Euro-based terms, costs can quickly become very onerous – and yet the issue of a quality service offering is not negotiable.

In answer, Vox has partnered with Smartz Solutions to offer advanced, cloud-based contact centre solutions that are geared to deliver exceptional customer experiences and thereby support businesses.

In addition, Smartz Solutions provides a local offering that is innovative, cost-effective and tailored to meet regional needs while solving global problems. This means that Smartz Solutions is levelling the playing field by offering world-class technology at a fraction of the cost.

‘Smart’ Benefits for Local Contact Centres

Smartz Solutions offers world-class platforms that are priced and designed for local realities. It’s able to deliver the following economic and strategic advantages:

Cost efficiency without compromise: By pricing its solutions, professional services and support in Rands, Smartz Solutions ensures cost predictability by eliminating exchange rate risks. This assists organisations with their planning and allows them to allocate resources effectively, without sacrificing functionality or quality.
Faster support and customisation: Being locally based means quicker response times and lower costs for support and customisation. Smartz Solutions is quick and responsive, ensuring seamless operations.
Agility and Innovation: Free from the bureaucratic constraints of larger organisations, local companies can move quickly and innovate at a pace that global competitors often struggle to match.
Deep Understanding of Local Needs: Local companies often have an intimate understanding of the specific challenges and opportunities within their markets, enabling them to design bespoke solutions. They also understand cultural and contextual nuances, which allows them to foster stronger connections with their customers.

By choosing local providers like Vox in partnership with Smartz Solutions, businesses can navigate global challenges with confidence, ensuring they remain customer focused as well as competitive and agile. As an additional value-add, choosing to support local companies contributes to the growth of South Africa’s tech ecosystem – another win.

Smartz Solutions understands the importance of localised, cost-effective solutions and pricing. So why pay Dollars, Euros or Pounds for your contact centre technology, when your Rands will go further for the same quality and functionality? Local solutions are economically viable and also strategically advantageous for businesses that need to stay in contact with their customers.

With Vox and Smartz Solutions, you get continued customer service excellence that simultaneously helps you to look after your Rands and cents.

Which is only common sense, right?

[1] https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/816948/how-much-the-rand-should-be-worth/

5-Star Experience vs 1-Star Google Review: Your Guests Want Great Wi-Fi

Posted on 17 March 202518 March 2025 by Craig Blignaut

How the Travel Industry Needs to Get Connected

From the moment that plane commuters reach their destination, travellers around the world can immediately hear the surround-sound beeping noises as passengers, now safely arrived, turn on their phones to once again become fully connected. We find a similar story when travellers arrive at their guesthouse or hotel: according to a travel industry survey, one-third of guests ask for the Wi-Fi password as they register at the front desk, and two-thirds are online within seven minutes of checking in.

It just proves once again that in today’s connected world, being able to access information and communication services is increasingly important. Just because someone is away from home doesn’t mean they don’t need to stay connected, even when on holiday (unless they’re making the deliberate choice to go off-line).

As for business travellers, a seamless Internet experience is necessary to communicate with clients and colleagues, access work documents and take part in meetings. Providing quick and efficient Wi-Fi services allows both leisure and business guests to enjoy their stay without undue stress.

Let’s look at how the Wi-Fi experience in a guesthouse or hotel can shape either a five-star guest experience or earn your establishment an unwanted one-star Google review.

Wi-Fi For Guests: A Fundamental Hospitality Amenity

People who travel want to update others on their safe whereabouts, and being unable to receive communication, or send outbound messages, can cause anxiety. By providing reliable, fast Wi-Fi services from the moment of registration, hotel guests can start to relax and enjoy their stay sooner.

Access to excellent Wi-Fi increasingly ranks as a necessity for today’s traveller when choosing a hotel – right up there with comfort, cleanliness, and excellent food and beverage offerings. With mobile devices, laptops and remote work now prevalent, complimentary access to Wi-Fi has become a key requirement for both business travellers and holiday makers.

A speed of 10 to 20Mbps per guest is recommended as being a decent Wi-Fi offering that should comfortably allow your guests to stream in full HD – you wouldn’t receive complaints if your customers had access to these speeds.

Excellent Wi-Fi adds to the guest experience, while the opposite also holds true: unhappiness with the Wi-Fi can make people more easily inclined to find fault in other, unrelated areas. From a purely commonsense perspective, this seems counter-intuitive, and a negation of the cost and effort that’s been spent on the marketing initiatives to entice the traveller to your establishment in the first place.

Factors to Consider for your Guests’ Wi-Fi

While most hotels and guesthouses today offer complimentary Wi-Fi service to guests, it might not be equivalent to what people are used to having in their own homes, which can cause frustration.

Considerations when choosing a guest Wi-Fi solution include the following:

Cost: The pricing structure will be based on the coverage area, usage and the number of users.
Technical support: Reliable customer support is critical.
Compliance requirements: The network must meet relevant data privacy and security regulations.

Elevating the Wi-Fi Experience

Vox provides managed Wi-Fi services for businesses. This enables remote software and firmware updates, as well as remote troubleshooting and fault remediation using cloud-based administrative tools. This all works to enhance ongoing connectivity.

Vox offers audits on existing Wi-Fi, because we know that not every business is looking for a new-build Wi-Fi, and we may be able to upgrade existing assets or infrastructure. To provide a superior internet experience for guests, hotels and guesthouses should ensure that they:

Invest in high-speed Internet infrastructure (the foundation of your Wi-Fi experience) to support faster bandwidth and improve overall performance.

Implement a reliable Wi-Fi network that covers all areas of the premises, including common areas and guest rooms.
Optimise the Wi-Fi signal strength with strategic placement of Wi-Fi access points or meshdevices, to ensure a strong and consistent connection throughout the premises.
Implement robust security measures such as strong encryption and password protocols.

With Vox, our aim is to enhance your guests’ Wi-Fi experience. We can provide a neatly pre-packaged Wi-Fi mesh unit solution to ensure that all areas of the guesthouse are serviced. These mesh units are also easily managed by a user-friendly app, which further enhances the functionality. If more advanced cabling solutions are required, perhaps for a larger premises, our technicians and engineers can set up the solution.

Happy Guests, Positive Business Outcomes

Noting that ‘The Customer is King’ is especially critical in the travel industry – guests want to feel valued as they step over the threshold, and excellent Wi-Fi is a key aspect of attracting quality guests and then retaining them for future return visits.

Investing in fast and dependable Wi-Fi access gives you a competitive edge in terms of increased guest satisfaction and corresponding loyalty. It’s also important to gather feedback from your guests to stay on top of any Internet connectivity issues that might have occurred, to keep your standards consistently high.

Another consideration is for South African hoteliers to aim their marketing at the local target market. The rise of domestic travel since the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic presents an alternative option in addition to targeting overseas guests. Arguably, domestic tourists might also be more easily able to plan a repeat visit if they’re content with their overall experience.

With everything that South Africa has to offer tourists, both local and international, wouldn’t it be a pity for guests to be unhappy with your Wi-Fi offering, when it’s a relatively simple amenity to offer – to excellent standards – thanks to experts like Vox?

Talk to us at Vox if you have any questions or concerns about setting up a great guesthouse Wi-Fi experience. We’d love to hear from you – contact us via help@voxtelecom.co.za or call 087 805 0530.

Treat your Customers Like Royalty with Vox and Smartz Solutions

Posted on 12 March 202512 March 2025 by Natalie van der Merwe

A partnership designed to revolutionise customer engagement in SA

Poor customer service can have a serious impact on the overall health of your business. In the short term, it can affect sales, and over the longer term, it can lose your business some of its existing clients, as well as harming your reputation and your brand overall. When your employees don’t universally treat your customers like royalty, cracks in your brand loyalty will quickly begin to show.

There’s a little mantra right there: ‘Treat like royalty to ensure brand loyalty.’

For larger organisations, your contact centre is a critical part of offering excellent customer service, being a central point from which your company can manage all customer interactions across various channels. Its primary purpose is to offer customers efficient and effective technical support, customer service and sales assistance.

In this article, we look at how Vox has partnered with Smartz Solutions to offer advanced, cloud-based contact centre solutions that cater to the dynamic needs of the modern market.

From Call Centre to Contact Centre

You could think of a contact centre as being an upgrade of the original call centre, which traditionally relied on phone lines for both inbound and outbound calls. Today, contact centre technology – which encompasses the software and hardware used in contact centres for digital customer service and support – extends beyond phone systems, although the use of phone systems still has an important role to play.

The customer contact digital channels that are used by contact centre technology include email communications, text messages, web-based live chats, and social media interactions including WhatsApp and video chats.

Integration of the contact centre software with applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) software and workforce optimisation software (WFO) adds deeper understanding and analytics to the contact centre’s operations.

These integrated tools enhance efficiency, improve customer service and allow for better data analysis. With the increasing demand from customers for organisations to be consistently available on various channels, and not only over the phone, contact centres are embracing multichannel (or omnichannel) approaches to enable them to refine their customer service, increase efficiency and improve insights into customers’ behaviours and needs, in a holistic virtuous circle to create better customer experiences overall.

Adding to this virtuous circle is the importance of retaining top talent in your contact centre. High attrition rates cost businesses, both in recruitment and training expenses, as well as the quality and consistency of their customer service. By empowering the agent with the right tools, organisations can build contact centres where agents thrive and want to work, which is essential for building long-term customer relationships and trust.

Vox and Smartz Solutions: Ensuring that the Customer is King

Contact centre technology shapes a customer’s journey by supporting interactions across channels. It ensures that interactions reach agents, and facilitates seamless communication between customers and the brand, regardless of the channel used.

The partnership between Vox and Smartz Solutions – an omnichannel communications solutions specialist – is designed to offer advanced, cloud-based contact centre solutions in a collaboration aimed at enhancing customer engagement solutions across South Africa.

Terminology note: Omni-channel means an integrated customer service experience across all possible channels that a customer uses to engage with a business. These channels could include Voice, video, SMS, WhatsApp, e-mail, web chat and social media.

Smartz Solutions’s feature-rich, cloud-based contact centre technology is designed to reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase your return on investment (ROI), while improving both client and employee experience at the same time. Vox is able to tailor-make a Smartz Solutions offering for your business.

Smartz Solutions features and benefits include the following:

Completely local and Rand-based: Buying in Rands helps customers avoid unfavourable, fluctuating exchange rates, which can double or triple the costs of these platforms, wreaking havoc with budgets.
Omni-channel integration: Unified customer experience across all channels with seamless transitions.
AI-Powered analytics: Real-time insights into customer behaviour for data-driven decision-making.
Intelligent routing: Efficient call handling and prioritised issue resolution based on customer needs.
Predictive customer support: Anticipates customer needs for proactive problem resolution.
Scalability and flexibility: Easily adaptable to growing business demands, reducing total cost of ownership.

Redefining Customer Experience

Nobody likes having an issue with a company that’s providing a service, but then being unable to get hold of anyone to assist them. The days of being on hold indefinitely belong to the dark ages of customer service.

By maximising Smartz Solutions’ innovative platform, Vox is set to redefine customer experience for businesses of all sizes. The partnership aims to deliver exceptional experiences and support businesses in their growth and customer engagement strategies.

By choosing Vox as your Smartz Solutions provider, customers can benefit from Vox’s market-leading expertise and commitment to service excellence, combined with Smartz Solutions’ innovative and customer-centric communication platform.

How to Make the Most of Your Vox Connectivity Line

Posted on 14 February 202514 November 2025 by Vivienne Fouche

Tips to make sure you’re getting what you signed up for

Picture the scene. It’s early afternoon and your small one is streaming HD videos in one room, your teenager is on a video call in their bedroom, and mom and dad are both working from home, simultaneously accessing the Internet via different laptops, in two other corners of the house. Best of all, thanks to your Fibre to the Home (FTTH) Internet connection, there’s no buffering or lagging in sight.

How to Make the Most of Your Vox Connectivity Line — How to make the most of your Vox connectivity line

Looking back, it’s quite surprising to think that even 15 years ago, this wasn’t a common scenario – for starters, YouTube was only started in 2005, and Netflix Streaming in January 2007. As for widespread Fibre connectivity in South Africa, it was still just a twinkle in somebody’s eye, because the first subsea Fibre cable to reach South Africa went live only in 2009. Today, Internet access has become one of the most important areas of our lives.

Internet connectivity opens us up to an incredible world of information, entertainment and opportunity, and nobody wants a slow or buffering connection, while price and value-conscious consumers are justifiably concerned about getting true value from their purchases. But what happens when you’ve paid for a decent Internet package, but it doesn’t seem to be working quite as well as you expected? When the Modern Family-inspired Internet scenario sketched out above starts stuttering and freezing?

Because even with a Fibre Internet connection – generally regarded as the crème de la crème of Internet connectivity – several factors can still reduce the performance of your Fibre to the Home (FTTH) Internet speed and reliability.

This article looks at how you can make the most of your Vox FTTH Connectivity line when certain challenges rear their heads.

Wi-Fi: Enabling Wireless Connectivity from Your Fibre Optic Line

Good Internet connectivity depends on many factors, including your Internet Service Provider (ISP) first and foremost, as well as the speed of your chosen Internet package; whether your devices are modern or no longer that new; and Wi-Fi options and challenges.

The job of a Wi-Fi router is to ‘convert’ the data packets carried within light pulses through Fibre Optic cables laid in your neighbourhood, into the Wi-Fi radio wave signal inside your home.
This then enables your family’s digital devices – laptops, tablets, smartphones and smart TVs – to link into the Internet, creating a wireless Internet connection for your home (cable-free Internet, in other words).

Wi-Fi functionality is integral to the performance of your Fibre-based Internet line.

Improving Your Wireless Signal

If your internet connectivity line doesn’t seem to be giving you the results you were expecting, or if you’re experiencing Wi-Fi dead zones in your home (caused by the distance of your device from the wireless router, thick walls or electrical interference), there are a few things you can do to improve your Wi-Fi network, as follows:

Router position: Choose a central location in your home, and raise the router off the floor. Also, don’t place the Wi-Fi router inside a cupboard or desk. Sometimes just raising the router a little higher up from the floor for better signal distribution will increase its range and speed. Make sure your router is away from other electronic and electrical equipment, metal objects and solid brick or concrete walls.
Router speed: Your router should handle a speed rated the same or higher than your chosen Internet package. And so, if your Fibre Internet is 500Mbps, your router should be able to offer speeds at least this fast.
Number of devices: All Wi-Fi equipment supplied by Vox is strong enough to cover an estimated 100 square metres, depending on what material your walls are made of. Vox recommends adding an additional device for every 50 to 100 square metres extra.
Mesh System to enhance signal: If the Wi-Fi range in your house is poor, a Vox mesh router system can help to push the signal further, so the whole family can stay connected throughout the house, providing an uninterrupted lag-free high-speed Wi-Fi connection for multiple devices in every corner of your home.
How many mesh units can I have in my home? The Vox two-pack can connect up to 100 devices and you can include up to eight units in your home if more coverage is needed. A Vox Wi-Fi Home Mesh network can handle a mix of IoT products, smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices, such as wireless printers.
Other devices can interfere with your Wi-Fi connection, including microwave ovens, cordless phones, Bluetooth products, baby monitors, alarms, cameras and other wireless LANs. To prevent this, position the Wi-Fi router or mesh extender as far away as possible from microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices, and 2.4 GHz cordless phones.
App-Enabled: If you want to check your Wi-Fi range, there are apps available for Apple and Android smartphones, for example ‘Sweetspot’ for Apple and ‘WiFi analyzer’ for Android.

Not Just the Wi-Fi to Consider

A Wi-Fi router is not the only critical component that enhances your user experience.

Wired after all: As outlined above, a Wi-Fi Home Mesh network can provide incredibly strong Internet connectivity, but there are still times when an Ethernet cable might be the best solution – for example, if you have very thick walls, or for plugging into an HD television or gaming setup, where the speed needs to stay high and the connectivity lag-free. Look at buying an Ethernet cable that is rated for ‘Cat 5e’ or ‘Cat 6’.
Great Internet, old device = problem: You won’t get the maximum range and performance from a newer wireless router unless your devices also use the same Wi-Fi standard. An old laptop is unlikely to have ‘ac’ or ‘n’ Wi-Fi access, so check the specifications to see which wireless standard it is using. If you don’t want to buy a new laptop straight away, you can buy a wireless adapter that plugs into a USB port on your laptop.

The Magic of Blazing Fast Internet

When you signed up for your FTTH Internet connection, you chose an option for yourself and your family that is fast, reliable and future-proof, and ready to deliver you the best possible Internet experience. Considering its scope and importance, maximising your internet connectivity line is critically important.

The good news is that you can optimise your home Wi-Fi experience with the right choice of routers, extenders and mesh options.

Your Vox Home Fibre line is future‑proof and capable of delivering outstanding home Internet, but a few simple tweaks to router placement, device choices and using mesh or Ethernet where needed will ensure the whole family gets the experience you expected.

If you need help optimising your home Wi‑Fi or want to add Vox Wi‑Fi Home Mesh, simply visit vox.co.za, sign up with Vox, or contact Vox Support on 087 805 0530.

With Vox Fibre to the Home, you are enabled by great Internet access. Welcome to a world of online opportunities.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I tell if the issue is my Vox Fibre line or my home Wi‑Fi?

Run a speed test directly from a device connected by Ethernet to your router. If wired speeds match your plan, the issue is likely Wi‑Fi or device related.

How many Vox mesh units do I need?

A Vox two‑pack covers many typical homes and supports up to 100 devices. You can add up to eight units for larger homes or difficult layouts.

Where should I place my router for best coverage?

Position the router centrally, elevated and away from thick walls, metal objects and kitchen appliances. Avoid cupboards or behind large furniture.

Will a mesh system reduce my Internet speed?

A well-configured mesh keeps speeds high across the home. For best performance, place mesh units strategically and use wired backhaul where possible.

Do I need a new router if I upgrade my Vox Fibre package?

Your router should support the speed of your new package. If it’s rated lower than your plan, consider upgrading to a higher‑spec router or Vox Wi‑Fi Home Mesh.

Can old devices cause slow Wi‑Fi for the whole house?

Older devices can occupy airtime and reduce performance for others. Where possible, update device Wi‑Fi adapters or move bandwidth‑heavy tasks to wired connections.

Is Ethernet worth the hassle for a smart TV or console?

Yes. Ethernet (Cat 5e/Cat 6) offers the most reliable, low‑latency connection and is ideal for HD streaming and competitive gaming.

How do I contact Vox Support for help?

Visit vox.co.za for product info and self-service tools, or call Consumer Support on 087 805 0530 for assistance.

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