Global digital transformation initiatives are increasingly driving the adoption of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) tools in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector across the Middle East & Africa.
The Communications Platform as a Service market is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 20.47% between 2023-28, with African countries like Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, ploughing substantial investment into new digital infrastructure.
The introduction of digital transformation plans is driving economic growth in the MEA region, improving public service delivery, and enhancing the quality of life for citizens.
In this article, we’ll discuss the rapid growth of unified communications in banking and financial services in this region, and the concurrent reliance on monitoring and performance management tools to facilitate this growth.
Government-initiated digital agendas
Many countries in the Middle East and Africa, particularly those in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), have launched ambitious digital transformation initiatives. For example, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE’s Smart Dubai initiatives are pushing for the digitization of banking and financial services to diversify the economy and promote technological advancements.
Mobile-first adoption
Many African markets are highly mobile-driven, with mobile banking and payments serving as the primary method of financial transactions.
UC tools that integrate mobile-friendly communication options like chat, SMS, and voice are crucial in enhancing service delivery in these environments. The African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030) is also providing a wide arena of opportunities for service providers.
The banking sector is progressively utilizing digital solutions for voice & messaging to provide better customer services. Additionally, factors such as the rapid adoption of contactless payment solutions & the growing popularity of digital banking are further expected to accelerate the growth of the market in the region.
The growing reliance on UC tools
UC tools are critical in enabling seamless communication and collaboration across digital platforms, particularly with the growing adoption of remote work in MEA regions.
Customer-centric banking services
Globally in the last five years, the focus on consumer demands for seamless, multi-channel access to banking services has driven banks and financial institutions to offer integrated communication channels.
This includes omnichannel banking across phone, email, video, social media, and mobile apps. This is becoming even more important as competition from fintech firms grows.
Due to the vast geography and proliferation of rural populations in parts of the MEA region, UC tools are enabling remote services, such as video banking for personalized consultations and financial advice. This is especially important in regions with limited physical banking infrastructure.
Remote work and hybrid models
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote and hybrid working models in the MEA financial sector. UC tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other platforms have become essential in maintaining business continuity, and ensuring that financial institutions can operate efficiently across different time zones and geographies.
With financial institutions operating across multiple countries in the MEA region, UCplatforms enable seamless collaboration between teams, enabling cross-border projects and real-time decision-making.
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Financial inclusion
In parts of Africa with underserved populations, financial inclusion is still a challenge.
UC tools integrated with mobile banking services are helping to extend banking access to rural and remote communities. Mobile-friendly platforms, combined with digital identity verification and communication capabilities, allow institutions to engage customers and provide better, more efficient services.
Language and cultural diversity
With wide-ranging linguistic diversity in both the Middle East and Africa, UC tools with multilingual support are essential for engaging with customers in their preferred languages, whether it’s Arabic, French, Swahili, or English.
This capability is vital for ensuring accessibility and enhancing customer experience.
At the same time, UC platforms are being tailored to accommodate regional preferences, including the use of culturally appropriate communication styles and services, which helps banking and financial institutions to build stronger relationships with their customers.
The importance of real time monitoring and performance management solutions
Banks and financial institutions in the MEA region are continuing to adopt UC&C platforms for enhanced collaboration, communication, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
The need for monitoring tools has increased exponentially to support this growth and to ensure service reliability and quality, security and compliance, cultural and linguistic diversity.
Real-time monitoring of UC&C performance
Robust, world-class monitoring tools like IR Collaborate are built to proactively monitor and manage the performance of critical communication services including voice, video conferencing and chat.
Powered by the Prognosis platform, Collaborate provides monitoring in real time, revealing insights into latency, jitter, packet loss, and downtime.
Collaborate’s remote monitoring capabilities support on-premises and cloud-based infrastructures, ensuring 24/7 seamless communication across geographically dispersed teams, and different time zones.
Proactive issue resolution
In industries like banking and financial services, communication disruptions can lead to service outages or customer dissatisfaction. High calibre monitoring tools like IR Collaborate enable IT teams to identify and resolve issues before they affect end users.
With real-time alerting, rapid troubleshooting, and end-to-end visibility across your entire UC ecosystem, monitoring and performance management solutions accelerate time-to-revenue, reduce service delivery costs, and confidently manage multiple customers.
Device monitoring safeguards your network devices and helps prevent the risk of security threats.
Supporting multiple vendors and integrations
Many organizations in the MEA region rely on UC&C solutions provided by different vendors.
A monitoring solution like IR Collaborate allows businesses to track the performance of services from multiple vendors, ensuring that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are met.
They also help identify which vendor services are delivering the best performance, allowing more informed decisions about future partnerships or platform upgrades.
Integration with other enterprise tools
UC&C solutions in the MEA region often need to integrate with other business systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms, enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, as well as security solutions.
Monitoring tools track the health and performance of these integrations, ensuring seamless communication and the smooth flow of data between systems.
Conclusion
As digital transformation in the MEA region continues, particularly in sectors like financial services and retail, UC&C monitoring tools go hand-in-hand with business continuity, seamless customer engagement, and competitive business advantage.
