Sakha

Mobile Account Management for Keeping Track on the Go

Enabling one of the largest mobile network operators to boost service.

About the Client

A large mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. It has over 5 million customers and counting. Our client has been awarded the highest level of customer satisfaction above any other major mobile by Satmetrix in 2015 and is a 2016 Which? Recommended Mobile Provider.

Business Need

The client has a significantly large customer base, which has consolidated from Pre-Pay & Bill-Pay users. The goal of the project is to improve online self-care channel for the client’s customers through a mobile app which would be the easiest way to keep an eye on account essentials on the move. The objectives of the engagement were to enable better user experience, branding, logical grouping of features, ease of navigation and zero cluttering. After the success of this engagement, we’re handling new development & maintenance of the Android & iOS mobile apps since past 5+ years, thus freeing the client’s internal resources to tackle other pressing tasks and lending flexibility in marketing & customer care.

Challenges and Requirements

  • Design of existing system was quite clunky and only technical, lacking in UI design & user experience.
  • Development of Android & iOS apps from scratch.
The specific feature requirements in the app were:
  • Account Balance
  • Top Up, Manage CC Cards, Top Up History
  • Vouchers, Club card Deals, Web Text
  • Account Details, Club card, Data Roaming, Move Number
  • Chatting, Account Usage, Bill History, Add-Ons, etc
  • Google Analytics using (GTM & Firebase)
Android: The application was delivered in 18 weeks and the design followed Android Material design concepts with support covering from OS 4.4 to 7.0. iOS: The application was delivered in 18 weeks and with support till Swift 3.0.

Our Role

Since time was as critical as cost savings, we used cross-geo teams to sync and deliver mobile apps. We had to co-ordinate between multiple teams (Business Team, Backend / API team, Mobile Team and Testing Team). In order to expedite delivery and have transparency, we followed Agile methodology with SCRUM model for delivery. We kept sprints duration between 2-4 weeks and had continuous delivery process with consistent feedback from stakeholders to make sure client is transparent about work-in-progress and is satisfied with the results. The Android & iPhone apps have made mobile life easier for the client’s customers. The app is available on iTunes and Google Play and is totally free to download. Once customers get it, they just type in their Mobile phone number and follow the simple registration process. From there, customers get access to a range of options for their mobile world. If they are on Pre-pay, they can easily top up their phone by debit/credit card, voucher or Clubcard Boost using the app. They can even top up other Mobile phone numbers using the app. If they need more data or texts, they can select add-ons as they go. It’s simple to take a look at how much credit they’ve got left and find out exactly how much they’ve being spending on data, texts or voice calls. For Bill Pay customers, the options include being able to view bills and getting a full breakdown of calls, texts and data usage. They can top up the accounts of their friends and family and add Clubcard information to get extra points for every euro they spend. There’s even more in the app – including free webtexts. This streamlined interface lets customers to send 200 National and 50 International texts every single month for free. It even replicates their contacts from their phone so texting is a doddle. And if customers need to get in touch with the client, there’s a full Customer Care service on board. They get messaging to local agents as well as the full online FAQ. If that’s not enough to get the help they need, they can also link out to the client’s Twitter and Facebook with a tap.

Technologies

Android (Android Studio (Version API 17 – API 25)) and iOS (Swift 3.1).

Benefits

Sakha Global provided several benefits to the client including:

  • The continuous enhancements that are being carried out to the production environment by automating the load processes, adding reconciliation and automated balancing processes, are helping the client to improve the satisfaction of its customers.
  • Since we are adopting an iterative lifecycle, we can implement the risky and high priority requirements first. Also the minor changes in requirements can be better accommodated at design phase itself.
  • Since the new application is built using superior technology, implementing changes are much faster.
  • We have freed the client’s internal resources to tackle other pressing tasks and lent flexibility in marketing & customer care.