Author: Hubtel

Large amounts of personal data generated in the country are stored across servers, networks, and several filing systems in different locations (electronically & manually), locally and abroad. The information systems used in the collection and storage of such personal data can pose considerable challenges to one’s right to privacy. As this trend continues to grow rapidly with increasingly sophisticated technology with extensive abilities to hold large amounts of data, it is necessary to address privacy concerns with data protection laws.

Personal data include all data on a given or identifiable individual that is disclosed to us or that is generated or collected by us, e.g. the inquiries from a call center, subscribing to and utilizing any of our services, and the contact data respectively provided by you in these cases i.e. particularly your name and your e-mail address.

SMSGH is pleased to announce that it has secured the Data Protection Certificate to support Mobile Money Integration with Telecommunication Service Providers in Ghana such as MTN, Airtel, Tigo etc. SMSGH values the importance of protecting your privacy when handling personal data. Personal data shall only be collected and utilized by us if this is permitted by a statutory provision or if we have received your prior consent.

The Data Protection certificate is awarded by the Data Protection Commission to registered organizations that process personal data.

About the Data Protection Commission

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) is an independent statutory body established under the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) to protect the privacy of individuals and personal data by regulating the processing of personal information. The Commission provides for the process to obtain, hold, use, or disclose personal information and for other related issues bordering on the protection of personal data.

The acknowledgment of the right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data or information led to the passage of the Act.

SMSGH organized fun games for staff at the Lizzy Sports Complex on Friday 15^th July, 2016. The essence of the games was to provide a midyear corporate hangout – a short break from work to unwind, interact in a less formal way with colleagues, and foster team spirit. There was a football match between the technical and operations teams and other fun games.

It was all fun, healthy banter, and an extensive display of team spirit.

No more street hails or waiting outside to find a ride. Uber has launched in Accra, the 11th city in Sub-Saharan Africa and the 467th globally, in a move that marks its growing presence in Africa.

The service is set to provide unrivaled intra-city movement for the over 4 million people using the streets in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA). Uber’s service has already gained massive brand recognition around the world because of its ease of use and the convenience it provides in an increasingly mobile world.

Uber selected to use SMSGH USSD-based mPOS service to enable a mobile money payment that was seamless and easy to use for riders and driver-partners.  According to a recent Bank of Ghana report, mobile money transactions in Ghana have now reached GHs35 billion per quarter.

With the launch of the SMSGH mPOS, Uber riders can now conveniently pay for rides via mobile money. Drivers will simply dial a USSD code containing the driver’s four-digit business identification number (BIN) and the rider’s mobile number (e.g.*713*1234*0244000000#), select the mobile wallet provider and enter the amount to pay. A bill prompt is then issued to the rider to confirm the transaction and complete payment with a wallet PIN. Both driver-partner and rider will then receive an SMS text as confirmation of payment.

In an interview on the solution, a Senior Product Manager at SMSGH, Bubune Peter Adih commented that “….the simplicity of the mPOS application resonates with Uber’s approach to doing business. Being everyone’s private driver Uber strives to breakdown complex interactions into very simple processes and so SMSGH sought to ensure that this payment service works just as well and simple as Uber.“

Free Weekend

Uber is celebrating its launch in Accra by providing free rides. This means that from launch date (Thursday, June 9) until Sunday (June 12, at midnight), guests will be able to request an Uber ride at no charge. In order to activate this discount, a user will need to enter the promo code MoveGHANA on their Uber iOS/Android/Windows application. This will offer users 6 free rides within Accra, each up to GHS 20.

About Uber

UBER is a technology company that connects riders and drivers at the touch of a button.
Available in 467 cities across 72 countries, the UBER platform is evolving the way the world moves. UBER’s mission is to change the way citizens of the world move, work and live. It aspires to transform the way people connect with their communities and to bring reliability, convenience and opportunity to transport systems.

On Thursday May 12, 2016, as SMSGH celebrated its 11th anniversary, Chief Executive Officer Alex Adjei Bram adviced the company’s employees to utilize the years ahead saying, “Whatever our reasons for coming to work every day – let us ensure it is bigger than us. That a good reason – and there are many – is simply not great enough.”

In an email to the company’s team, Alex Bram reiterated his commitment to the vision the founders laid out over a decade ago that technology could empower the world, and asked staff never to forget what it can do to change lives.

Here’s the full anniversary letter to employees:

Dear All,

Just over a decade ago Twitter was a bird sound, WWW was a stuck keyboard, a Cloud was only in the sky, 4G was a ticketing booth at the trade fair, Google was a baby’s burp, Skype and WhatsApp were typos and SMS was simply the Super Morning Show.

Our world is changing so fast and information technology has become so important that it is technology itself. And who can lay a better claim — by 2050 the world will be home to more than 10 billion people, and technology will play a key role in the way we organise and get people to engage.

But before you even think we are well on our way, think yet of how far behind Africa is. Here in Ghana among the many problems of the land, we still battle with availability of the most basic ingredient of the information technology age – electricity.

I remember one of our very first founders meetings to start a company… and after laying out our first set of working policies, Leslie says to us, ‘Gentlemen, let us go challenge the accepted wisdom’. That statement remains true today. It resonates of innovation to re-invent a better way of doing things, of creating useful things and of responsibility in doing so.

Today as we celebrate our 11th anniversary, it is important to remind ourselves why we do what we do.

We do it for a better tomorrow – for our society, our country, for our continent.

Sometimes it takes us years to figure out even the very product of our intended change, sometimes we spend years convincing people and organisations of that change, and other times we are not even as proud of the outcome of our efforts, but throughout all of the past 11 years we always march on — in the single belief that technology applied right will someday contribute to speedy development of Africa.

I believe a company is simply a conspiracy to change the world. And with all the tools, skills, talent and market opportunities we have at our disposal, there exists a real chance for us here to make a real contribution towards a better society.

As I said at the beginning of the year, we are pioneers at this. We don’t want to just build a good company. We want to be a part of the history of a great company. What we do today should it be successful must impact generations to come.

On our trip to Silicon Valley we learned of how a single company started by 2 university roommates, Hewlett and Packard along with the hardwork of many others (just like you), impacted a small community, then a city, then the state and country, and today Sillicon Valley represents the 4th largest GDP and provides employment and opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people and has been a source of great pride for many men and women who help start it.

Whatever our reasons for coming to work every day – let us ensure it is bigger than us. That a good reason – and there are many – is simply not great enough. That the 11th anniversary motto is ‘In Pursuit of a Great Company’.

Thank you all.

Happy Anniversary.

MYtxtBOX offers you more reason to use Email messaging to interact with your customers and audience.

For as low as GHS0.008 per message, you can send emails to your customers, making MYtxtBOX Email the preferred messaging choice for businesses.

Enjoy the freedom that you deserve with MYtxtBOX Email’s pay-as-you-go service. Top up anytime, at your convenience because MYtxtBOX was created with the budgets of small businesses in mind.

We’re excited to announce that SMS Global Holdings (SMSGH) was one of a number of global business giants selected by the Stanford University in Silicon Valley, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, for its annual Stanford African Business Forum.

Co-founders of the company, Mr Alexander Adjei Bram and Mr Ernest Appenteng, along with Chief Technology Officer, Mr Kwadwo Seinti and Board Chairman took a trip out to Silicon Valley to present our work to leading entrepreneurs and change pioneers from Africa and the world on April 23, 2016.

The annual Stanford African Business Forum (SABF) is the premier networking opportunity for African business interests for the Stanford and larger Bay Area community. This year, SABF celebrated thought leaders and changemakers on the African continent with the overarching theme of reimagining development through creating local value. The theme “Creating Local Value” captured the rise of African consumers, companies and innovations, and the growth of African economies. The forum showcased how enterprising individuals and organizations across Africa are meeting the growing needs of Africans.

CEO of SMSGH, Alexander Adjei Bram, explained before his trip to Silicon Valley: “Africa is emerging as a hub of start-ups in a wide range of areas and we aspire to take this further. We want the world to see our innovation capabilities in the startup sector. At this event, a group of African businesses will showcase their innovations and forge partnerships with the vibrant American business industry.”

“Personally I think this is one of the best times to be in Africa. There’s a lot of growth. I think in the last few years there has been a lot of capital infusion into the continent, which is providing part of the much-needed seed capital to grow. It’s pretty awesome to see how the African business is developing its own mark on the world and to be a part of that,” he added.

The Stanford African Business Forum had in attendance a number of Ghanaian speakers including Patrick Awuah (Founder & President, Ashesi University College) and Eric M.K. Osiakwan (Managing Partner, Chanzo Capital).

Others from Africa and beyond include Hans Nilsson (Board Chairman, SMS Global Holdings), Paul Mfonfu (Tools and Client Engineering Team head, PayPal), Teju Ajani (Youtube, Content partnerships lead, SSA) and Jessica Vernon (Co-founder & Director, Miti Health), who spoke on topics ranging from the Future of Content Creation and Distribution in Africa, Business Models in Financial Services to Investing in Africa.

As a keynote speaker at the event itself, Alexander Adjei Bram addressed participants on the theme “Driving Business Productivity Through Technology – Enabled Platforms,” expanding on how technology can unlock value for African businesses to better serve customers, run more efficiently, make communication simpler and more affordable, and create employment opportunities.

He shared the SMSGH success story with the Stanford community and results of the technology company’s participation in the Stanford Seed Transformation Program that began in 2014.

Silicon Valley and SMSGH are both leaders in innovation. Silicon Valley, home to major technology companies, start-ups and prestigious universities, is the world’s top innovative hub. Cooperation with Valley-based companies and institutions offers exciting prospects for SMSGH, while expanding business networks for better future collaboration.

90 percent of text messages get read within 3 minutes of delivery according to one study from 2011.

Most of your customers have a mobile phone and studies show that about 98% keep their phones within an arm’s reach. This implies that, they are very likely to reach for it at the sound of a beep or at the blink of an LED light. Bulk SMS then offers constant access to your customers.

Why SMS Campaigns?

1. SMS messaging is very popular.       Chances are that you have your phone next to you as you read this and will pick it up as soon as it beeps….and so will the 4 billion users worldwide.
2. SMS Messaging is intimate. The people you engage in via your SMS campaigns will more often than not opt to receive messages from you, because they trust you. Whatever information you send via SMS is guaranteed to reach an audience genuinely interested in your message. Don’t forget to personalize your messages by including your customer’s name and using a unique Sender ID.
3. SMS is flexible and responsive: When you’re launching a new product/service or business is slow, the fastest way to reach your customers is via SMS. You cut out the stress of using other mediums which may require more resources, making SMS Campaigns a more convenient choice in terms of pricing.
4. Instant feedback: SMS is a convenient way to ask your customer for feedback on services provided. Their responses will inform how you do business in the future. Offering freebies or discounts? People love bargains and are bound to respond to SMS campaigns almost immediately.
5. Less is more. In 160 characters, you can send your message across concisely and get your audience’s attention.

Convinced? Sign up at www.mytxtbox.com

Analyzing past campaigns is crucial to improving results in the future. SMSGH has added a new feature – Daily digests – on its messaging platform, MYtxtBOX. By introducing this, customers will receive daily and weekly reports on their account usage and balance notifications.

Importance of reports and balance notifications for Bulk SMS Campaigns

Every SMS you send out is important to you and your target market. Daily digests help account managers monitor and measure effectiveness of SMS Campaigns in the following ways:

• Track results: Our delivery reports provide detailed information on the status of each message you send.
• Have control of your account. Imagine that you have to send an urgent SMS broadcast to you customers, and log into your account and realize your account balance is too low. Receiving prompts when your account is low on messaging credits will avoid any such disappointments. Just as your bank account notifications are important to you, so should your bulk SMS account. Get notifications when your account reaches a threshold (set by you). Don’t wait till it is urgent to top up.
• Plan your SMS Campaigns. Daily reports on your SMS campaigns will inform your decisions when planning your next SMS Campaign. For premium messaging, you are in a better position to determine which of your subscribers to target or put more marketing efforts into.

With these you can customize your approach to customer engagement and marketing for SMS subscriptions to drive productivity.

Don’t have an account? Visit www.mytxtbox.com and sign up

Source: Morgan Stanley

Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) hosted this year’s SME Business fair in Takoradi for interaction and networking opportunities for SMEs within the Western Region.

The two-day MTN SME Business Fair, organized under the theme “Accelerating SME growth with smart ICT solutions and partnerships” officially opened on 23^rd March 2016 at the Akroma Plaza in Takoradi . The fair brought together about a number of companies including SMSGH Solutions Limited, Fidelity Bank, Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), GCB Bank, TXT Ghana, Glico and other businesses, who engaged participants in various products/ services they offer.

Participants had the opportunity to experience MTN’s ICT offers which includes Corporate Voice Solutions, Internet Messaging Solutions, Data Centre Services and Security Solutions. Other products showcased included MTN’s vehicle tracking devices, modems, routers, and corporate devices.

SMSGH, one of MTN’s leading partners was privileged to be a part of this event and had the opportunity to present to participants one of its products MYtxtBOX. Mr. Emmanuel Offei talked about the various advantages of using the right communication tools for customer engagement, explaining the benefits of using MYtxtBOX, its features and various offerings especially the recently launched MYtxtBOX Email.

Visitors at the SMSGH booth were taken through live demonstrations on various features of MYtxtBOX such as the #HashTag for feedback; real time messaging reports; multimedia messaging; voice messaging; e-mail messaging among others.

The Business Fair was proudly sponsored by MTN in partnership with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Western Ghana Chamber of Commerce.

Email is an essential tool for most businesses to communicate and connect with both employees and customers. The proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices have increased the percentage of emails people read on the go.

Why Email Messaging Is Important For Your Business.

The world is going mobile – and email is going with it. Today’s customer is at the center of sales and marketing, and in order to satisfy their needs, you have to understand and provide before they even realize their need for it. Here is why you should use email messaging:

• Keep your customers informed of new products/services
• Retain customers through constant communication
• Provide information of interest to your customers.
• It’s a very affordable, effective means of customer outreach
• Your audience has gone mobile and receiving emails is only as easy as they receiving SMS messages
• Grow your social network followings by including links to your social media platforms at the bottom of your emails to help your contacts easily subscribe

SMSGH recently launched MYtxtBOX Email offering its customers multiple channels to engage with their audience. Business owners who want to reach their customers using email can do so online here.

MTN Business is hosting its maiden edition of its immensely popular business Fair in Takoradi. MTN Business is the business unit of MTN Ghana responsible for providing innovative and cutting edge communication services to small-large businesses and institutions in an effort to enable and inspire growth.

This year’s event slated for the 23^rd and 24^th March at the Akroma Plaza and Takoradi Market Circle, will expose small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to smart solutions that address challenges they face in running their businesses.

One of MTN’S leading partners, SMSGH Solutions Limited, who has over the years contributed to the growth of businesses, is one of the major exhibiters at the fair. SMSGH has innovative tools and solutions for SMEs to help boost productivity, enhance customer experience and promote business growth.

If you are interested in finding out more about our business solutions, meet us at the MTN Business Fair on the 23^rd and 24^th March 2016 at the Akroma Plaza and Market Circle respectively, or go through our website. You can also send an email at [email protected]

Don’t forget to add it to your schedule.

Top local mobile value added service (VAS) providers who constitute the Wireless Applications Services Providers Association of Ghana (WASPAG) have suspended all their services on Airtel citing unfair revenue share.

Director of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs for WASPAG, Conrad Nyuur told Adom News that, the mobile network provider, like all other telcos, have over the years been imposing unfair revenue share arrangements on VAS players but this time round “they went too far”.

He explained that Airtel is one of the telcos that keeps 70% of revenue generated by services of VAS providers and gives 30% to the VAS providers, who in turn share their portion with content owners and App developers.

“That revenue share arrangement is bad enough, but just this year they wrote to us and said they will now keep 80% and give us 20% but we resisted and they reviewed it to 75% to 25%, but we still insist it is unfair,” he said.

Nyuur said they therefore gave Airtel one month notice to reverse the decision and that one month ended on March 16, 2016, but they have still not heard anything from Airtel so they have suspended all their services on Airtel until they reserve the decision.

By this action, all premium-rated and subscribed services such as all SMS-based services, caller ring back tone (CRBT), MMS or WAP content services and even some voice services have all been cancelled on the mobile network operator.

This means customers who subscribe to those services, some of which are essential, would no longer enjoy the services until Airtel reaches a compromise with their local VAS partners.

Nyuur noted that this is not the first time VAS players have had to boycott Airtel, saying that in the first instance, Airtel and Tigo failed to pay that exact amount due VAS players as reflected in mutually reconciled financial statement.

“They insisted on paying what they unilaterally collated and we lost money because we had then paid our content providers based on what the reconciled statement said,” he lamented.

He said initially the local VAS players had a 50-50 revenue share arrangement with Airtel but they kept scrapping off part of the share of VAS players every year and claiming it is based on orders from their headquarters in India.

Nyuur said “to add insult to injury”, the network even imposed their Indian-based sister company called ComViva on the local VAS players to play middle man for CRBT services.

“ComViva is nothing but a content provider like us but Airtel forced us to give our content to them in India and then they place it on the Airtel network in Ghana and that has reduced our share of the revenue from CRBT to 11% and not 30% as agreed,” he said.

He said WASPAG is particularly surprised at Airtel because, in India where it is headquartered, it gives VAS players up to 70% of the VAS revenue, but it has decided to shortchange VAS players in Ghana.

“The protest to Airtel’s imposition of unfair revenue share arrangement was necessary because we have endured that unfair cycle for years, where one telco scoops some of our revenue off and once they succeed the other telcos follow and we keep losing,” he noted.

Nyuur said WASPAG is very worried that so far, the telecoms industry regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA) is not providing any real protection for VAS players after licensing special number resources to them at a fee.

He said the last time VAS players took an issue regarding Airtel to NCA, the regulator said it could not interfere in commercial arrangements between two private entities, “but when we suspended our services the NCA said we should restore the services to customers while we negotiate with Airtel.

“We feel that was double standards on the part of the NCA because our commercial arrangement with telcos is always about the customer so why would NCA stay off the arrangement which has ramifications for the customer,” he asked.

Meanwhile, since the WASPAG members suspended their services, Airtel is said to have started feeling the pinch so its officials have called WASPAG for a meeting later today to discuss the way forward, after ignoring the VAS providers all this while.

AIRTEL

Airtel officials reached on the matter confirmed they are aware of the issue but declined comment until after negotiating with the VAS players.

But until then, all VAS services provided by WASPAG members to Airtel customers remain suspended.

WASPAG

WASPAG represents over 20 top VAS providers in the country, and they include MobileContent, SMSGH, TXTGhana, Rancard and many others.

SMSGH has launched Email Messaging on MYtxtBOX in addition to its SMS and Voice messaging. The primary aim is to give users multiple channels to engage with their audience.

MYtxtBOX is a communication tool useful for businesses and individuals to reach a large number of people through bulk messaging. The addition of email messaging is in response to the demands of customers for messaging content that promotes visual advertising.

Research shows that more than 85% of internet users use email and users have a one-stop communication tool that improves customer satisfaction, saves costs, and inevitably increases revenue.

Features

• Create your own marketing campaigns using Email messaging on MYtxtBOX
• Professionally designed email templates for different email campaigns.
• Preview to check how your emails will look like.
• About 60% cheaper than most email messaging providers
• Pay-as-you-go service

MYtxtBOX remains the most effective communication tool useful for reaching a large number of people with personalized information at the lowest costs.

Send an email on www.MYtxtBOX.com