There has been considerable attention around Glo Café since Globacom unveiled a revamped version of its self-service application earlier this year. From buying data and recharging airtime to managing accounts and reaching customer support, the platform brings several everyday services within easy reach of subscribers.

For customers, the attraction is straightforward. Instead of visiting a service centre or contacting customer care for routine transactions, many requests can now be handled through a mobile phone.

But bringing these services together is not quite as simple as it appears.

Long before the latest version attracted public attention, work had begun on how a digital platform could connect subscribers with the different systems supporting Globacom’s operations.

Oluwafemi Akinwande was among the professionals involved in that early planning in 2016. With a background in network operations and business analysis, she worked on technical requirements and the connections between systems that would need to support the proposed service.

As Glo Café draws renewed attention to digital customer services, we explore the thinking behind its early development and the challenges of bringing telecommunications services onto a single platform.

Glo Café has attracted considerable attention this year. What do you think makes the platform important?

The convenience it offers customers is probably the most obvious thing. People want to manage their services without having to visit an office or contact customer care every time they need something.

But there is another side to it. When you bring several services into one application, you also have to make sure the systems behind those services can work together. That is where much of the technical effort comes in.

You were involved in the early Glo Café work in 2016. What was the thinking at that stage?

We were looking at how customers could interact more easily with services that already existed within the business.

The challenge was understanding what would be required to bring those services together. Different systems handle different activities, and you have to consider how information will move between them.

My experience in network operations was useful because I was familiar with some of the processes supporting service delivery. I was particularly concerned with the technical requirements, the connections between systems and how proposed changes might affect existing operations.

What would you say was the most demanding part of that early work?

One difficulty was making sure that a requirement made sense beyond the team proposing it.

Something might appear simple from the customer’s point of view, but implementing it could involve several departments or technical systems.

You have to ask questions early. Where will the information come from? Which system will process the request? What happens if something does not work as expected?

Those questions may not be visible to customers, but they matter.

The application has changed considerably since those early discussions. How do you view its development?

It is encouraging to see digital services becoming more accessible to subscribers.

The work I was involved in concerned the early concept and technical considerations. A platform like this develops over time, with different teams contributing as requirements change and new services are introduced.

What remains important is the connection between what customers need and what the underlying systems can reliably deliver.

What should telecommunications companies keep in mind as more customers move to digital channels?

They should remember that convenience and reliability have to go together.

Customers may appreciate being able to complete a transaction in a few steps, but they also expect the information to be correct and the service to work.

The technology behind the application deserves as much attention as the application itself. If the systems are properly connected and the processes are well understood, the customer is more likely to have a good experience.