Close Menu
  • Homepage
  • News
  • Cloud
  • ECommerce
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Security
  • Podcast
  • Contact

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest technology news from TechFinancials News about FinTech, Tech, Business, Telecoms and Connected Life.

What's Hot

Where the Money Meets the Mission: ESG in Procurement

2025-05-13

How To Manage Your Finances Without Feeling Overwhelmed

2025-05-13

JMPD Raids Randburg Delivery Bikes, 1 Arrested For Dagga Delivery

2025-05-13
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Trending
  • Where the Money Meets the Mission: ESG in Procurement
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn WhatsApp RSS
TechFinancials
  • Homepage
  • News
  • Cloud
  • ECommerce
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Security
  • Podcast
  • Contact
TechFinancials
Home»Boardroom Games»What Solutions Are There For Contact Centres Left In The Dark By Load Shedding?
Boardroom Games

What Solutions Are There For Contact Centres Left In The Dark By Load Shedding?

Ryan FalkenbergBy Ryan Falkenberg2023-07-04No Comments4 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Call centre
Call centre. Photo by Arlington Research on UnsPLASH
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email Copy Link

When you think about the businesses most affected by load shedding, chances are contact centres don’t immediately leap to mind. But, as with so many other companies across the country, it has played havoc with contact centres.

The problem doesn’t lie so much with the contact centres themselves, which use generators and other tools to stay online, but with being able to contact potential and existing customers.

The contactability conundrum

Already an industry–wide problem (one survey found that 87% of US adults mostly ignore calls from numbers they don’t know), contactability is massively exacerbated in South Africa by load shedding.

That’s because, despite the country’s mobile networks spending billions of rands on backup batteries and generators to keep cell phone towers running, it’s often not enough. During higher stages of load shedding (like those experienced in May 2023), things can be particularly bad — as anyone who’s sat staring at a cellphone with no signal can attest.

Contactability is also an issue for remote and hybrid workers who spend large portions of their days in meetings and aren’t always able to take calls or complete them when they do pick up. The same is true for people who are travelling and prefer not to take calls while driving or who are going through an area with patchy mobile signal – again, exacerbated by load shedding.

For contact centres, that creates two problems: the first is that people simply can’t be contacted (if they’ve got no signal, they can’t receive calls). That puts massive pressure on companies’ sales teams who rely on calling to meet their targets. The second is that, even when there is signal, load shedding makes it so patchy that calls keep dropping. That hardly makes for a good sales experience. In fact, if a contact centre keeps trying to call a customer through all those dropped calls, they might get turned off the business entirely.

While repeated calls can be an important part of the sales process (80% of sales take five to 12 calls to complete), those aren’t the circumstances under which you want to be making them.

Mitigation strategies

On the face of it, there’s not much that contact centres can do about extensive load shedding, especially given the mobile networks’ own struggles. But they’re not entirely helpless. Many of the existing strategies used to mitigate contactability issues can be ramped up during the higher stages of load shedding.

These include making greater use of other communication channels or automated rescheduling tools. So, for instance, when a call is dropped, the company can send a WhatsApp message to continue the conversation. The client can complete the interaction digitally, or can reschedule the call for a time that’s convenient to them (and when the call won’t be affected by load shedding).

These tools, already powerful in and of themselves, can be enhanced by technologies like virtual agents. These AI-enabled pieces of software bring additional levels of context and personalisation to the interaction. In this situation, human agents are reserved for doing things only humans can do, such as reassuring a worried customer or dealing with complex complaints.

Using these tools and methods has the added benefit of allowing customers to contact an organisation on their own terms (an increasingly important tenet of good customer experience).

We may be in the midst of a reprieve from the worst stages of load shedding, but experience tells us that could change at any moment. It’s therefore critical that contact centres find ways to mitigate the worst of its effects. While contact centres may never be able to erase issues around contactability, they can mitigate them while still providing great customer experiences.

  • Ryan Falkenberg, co-CEO, CLEVVA

contact centres Eskom Load Shedding jobs Load Shedding SA economy SA youth unemployment
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Ryan Falkenberg

Related Posts

Eskom Implements Stage 2 Loadshedding: 16:00-22:00 Till Thursday

2025-05-13

AI Drives Inclusive Future Tackling SA’s Unemployment And Inequality

2025-05-13

Why Cybersecurity Must Support South Africa’s Local By-Elections

2025-05-12

SA Plans R60bn Nuclear Power Boost, Eyes Mini Reactors – Sunday Times

2025-05-04

SASSA Gold Cards Valid Beyond May 2025 – Relief For Millions

2025-04-28

SRD Grant Beneficiaries Urged To Verify Identity To Avoid Delays

2025-04-28

McDonald’s SA: 30+ Years Of Jobs, Empowerment & Leaders Development

2025-04-22

Phygital Shopping Rises In SA: Blending Online & In-Store

2025-04-18

Foreigner Nabbed With 554 Cellphones Worth R2.5m In Bloemfontein

2025-04-18
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

DON'T MISS
Breaking News

Minister Nkabane Appoints ANC Cadres, Mantashe’s Son To SETA Boards

A leaked list of appointments to Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) boards has revealed shocking political patronage, with ANC loyalists,…

Cassava & Zindi Partner To Boost African AI Innovation

2025-05-12

TV Licences Are Outdated, But Is A Streaming Levy The Right Fix?

2025-03-17

US-China Trade Wars: Their Impact On Africa

2025-03-07
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
OUR PICKS

Eskom Implements Stage 2 Loadshedding: 16:00-22:00 Till Thursday

2025-05-13

Why Cybersecurity Must Support South Africa’s Local By-Elections

2025-05-12

Phygital Shopping Rises In SA: Blending Online & In-Store

2025-04-18

Foreigner Nabbed With 554 Cellphones Worth R2.5m In Bloemfontein

2025-04-18

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news from TechFinancials about telecoms, fintech and connected life.

About Us

TechFinancials delivers in-depth analysis of tech, digital revolution, fintech, e-commerce, digital banking and breaking tech news.

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit RSS
Our Picks

Where the Money Meets the Mission: ESG in Procurement

2025-05-13

How To Manage Your Finances Without Feeling Overwhelmed

2025-05-13

JMPD Raids Randburg Delivery Bikes, 1 Arrested For Dagga Delivery

2025-05-13
Recent Posts
  • Where the Money Meets the Mission: ESG in Procurement
  • How To Manage Your Finances Without Feeling Overwhelmed
  • JMPD Raids Randburg Delivery Bikes, 1 Arrested For Dagga Delivery
  • How Modern Regulatory Tech Can Help Dethrone King Cash In SA
  • Openserve Prepaid Fibre: Affordable, Flexible Connectivity On Demand
TechFinancials
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube WhatsApp
  • Homepage
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • About
© 2025 TechFinancials. Designed by TFS Media.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Ad Blocker Enabled!
Ad Blocker Enabled!
Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please support us by disabling your Ad Blocker.