Our investment in R&D and
innovation
The Telkom Industry Solutions Lab was established in
March 2023 through a strategic partnership with Wits
University. The R&D lab is positioned within the Group
innovation and transformation strategy as the nexus for
research-driven innovation.
Researchers and engineers in the lab work with technical
and business teams from across the Telkom Group on
business challenges and future opportunities – exploring
the latest technologies and leveraging academic expertise.
The projects in the lab are delivered through expert-led
and solution-focused research, ensuring that innovations
are well grounded in business needs and are backed by
solid data, rigorous research and scientific evidence.
Research-driven innovation
The R&D focus at Telkom on three areas:
1) Customer experience and AI-driven tools
2) Automation and omni-channel solutions
3) Advanced sensing and insights through virtual platforms
Working with our multi-disciplinary teams of experts
and technologists, we conduct rigorous research and
leverage cutting-edge methodologies and technologies
to develop industry solutions that delve into the service
ecosystem catering to consumers and small businesses.
R&D will
continue to future-proof our
business and improve customer
satisfaction and value.
Our research-led innovation aims to pave the way for
scalable commercial solutions leveraging specialist
expertise, leveraging data and infrastructure available
to the Telkom Group, and generating data for future
advancements in AI and analytics.
Research insights: operational efficiency and
customer experience
In FY2024, we launched in-depth research projects
to study operational efficiency and links to customer
experience, lost revenue, or high operating costs.
One ongoing study within Telkom Consumer is led by a
multi-disciplinary team of experts in business science,
enterprise architecture, operations research, CX/UX
research, systems engineering, AI and data science.
Insights from these research studies generate evidence
and data-driven insights to support business strategy
and expedite digital transformation.
Based on key insights, the R&D teams are developing AI-driven digital automation solutions and using advanced
simulations and computations to develop the next
generation of customer experience tools.
AI and sensor technologies for infrastructure
Our technical R&D prioritises
developing new sensor technologies to gather data
within the national and built environment and tap into
Telkom's extensive telecommunications infrastructure. This
approach allows us to explore and develop data-driven use
cases, AI-powered digital twin platforms, and immersive
edge applications in instrumented environments within
the network and our broader infrastructure.
Centre of
Excellence research 
Now in its 27th year, the Telkom Centres
of Excellence (CoE) Programme funds
postgraduate learners and supports
research at 15 South African centres.
More detail on our spend and the
composition of the learners is provided in
the Social and relationship capital chapter.
The centres conduct cutting-edge research
in alternative energy, cybersecurity,
networking technologies, customer
experience, virtualisation, software-defined networking, cloud/fog computing,
smart technologies, IoT, 5G, and language
technologies.
Innovative research projects with
significant industry and societal impact
conducted within the CoE Programme
include:
- IoT solutions to monitor livestock,
improve farming productivity, track
wildlife, and combat poaching
- Fibre-optic sensors to mitigate
disasters in the natural environment,
e.g. detecting sinkholes, and to
monitor critical infrastructure
- Techniques to process South
African languages and enable
the development of systems with
text and voice interfaces in local
languages
- 5G-enabled telemedicine and remote
healthcare solutions
- Data-driven applications optimised
for women's health
Read more on our Social and relationship capital.
Innovation Challenge
Telkom Innovation and Transformation previously
invested in a robust Group-wide innovation
management platform, enabling an inclusive
journey towards fostering a culture of innovation
within Telkom. Building on this investment, this
year we launched an ambitious innovation
challenge, rallying our staff to contribute their
unique perspectives and innovation ideas towards
the growth of the organisation. The focus of
the challenge was on customer centricity as a
key focus of innovation. Winning teams were
awarded over R1 million and resources enabling
them to move their innovation beyond ideas. This
initiative garnered an overwhelming response,
demonstrating the depth of creative potential
within our workforce.
Through a rigorous and collaborative evaluation
process, involving both expert adjudication and
employee feedback, we identified and nurtured
the most promising concepts. The top 10
ideas advanced to a high-profile competition,
culminating in the “Lion's Den” event, where
finalists presented their innovations and
related business cases to a panel of executive
leaders within the organisation. Their innovative
endeavours in solutions and product development
are now being developed beyond the challenge.
Beyond the inaugural innovation challenge,
Telkom remains dedicated to fostering a
sustainable innovation ecosystem. Currently,
we are actively supporting the winning ideas,
ensuring their successful integration and
potential to drive transformative change within
the Company. Furthermore, we are exploring
avenues to accelerate the implementation of
all promising concepts, recognising the value
of each innovative contribution.
Sharing some articles and episodes internally
and some externally sparked incredible feedback,
highlighting our teams' remarkable talent and
dedication. We're eagerly anticipating our next
yearly innovation challenge, where creativity will
continue to drive our path forward.
Key focus areas in FY2025
Our focus areas in FY2025 are
in line with Telkom's strategic
objectives. We will focus on building
a pipeline of innovation projects
and stimulating an innovation
culture through a Group-wide
innovation challenge. We will
accelerate priority projects to be
explored and executed through
the innovation lab. We will also
continue to invest in and partner
with key start-ups that align with
the Group's strategic growth areas.
There is also support for Group-wide technology projects aimed at
growing our intellectual property
in partnership with R&D partners.
Digital transformation
initiatives to continuously
improve customer
experience
Our approach to customer satisfaction is
centred around self-service, which enables
customers to consume services anytime
and anywhere. The focus is on ensuring the
services are always available and stable,
simplifying channels to make it easy for
customers to engage us, and launching
products faster.
Openserve implemented the unified partner
platform (UPP) offering, a digitally led
omni-channel experience that enables ISPs
to manage offers and users with easy-to-use streamlined processes. We continue
to enhance the Openserve Connect app
to improve customer interactions through
improved self-service capabilities.
Telkom Consumer modernised the MyTelkom
app, increasing the utilisation of digital
channels through app downloads and usage
while reducing call centre traffic. Our agile
approach to delivering value, enhancements
and new features is enabling Telkom
Consumer to respond faster to customers'
needs. Enhancements and optimisations of
customer experience are made continually
based on user requirements.
In line with our ongoing digital transformation
efforts, we introduced a service delivery
platform (SDP) in Telkom Consumer. The
SDP allows for seamless integration with
existing systems and networks, enabling
Telkom and content providers to launch and
manage services efficiently across different
platforms. By enhancing Telkom Consumer's
service offerings, operational efficiency and
customer engagement, the platform will
improve our market positioning.
The main benefits of the SDP are:
Cost
efficiency
By consolidating
various service
delivery
mechanisms
into a single
platform,
we reduce
operational costs
Speed to
market
It enables faster
rollout of new
partner services/over-the-top
(OTT) services
by consolidating
various service
delivery
mechanisms.
With built-in
tools and
frameworks
to support
development,
testing and
deployment, we
can adapt more
quickly to OTT
market changes
and diversify our
revenues
Scalability
The SDP is
designed to
scale and
support growth
in subscriber
numbers, partner
services and
data volumes
without
compromising
performance.
This is important
as we expand our
digital strategy
Revenue
generation
SDP supports
billing and
subscription
management
features that aid
in monetising
various OTT
subscription
services. This
is driven by the
ability to quickly
launch OTT
services, expand
into adjacent
markets and
exploit new
revenue streams
Analytics
and
reporting
The platform
provides
advanced
analytics
capabilities,
enabling Telkom
to gain insights
into user
behaviours and
preferences,
which can
guide strategy
and service
adjustments
The SDP was launched with a partner content
streaming service in March 2024. The launch was
part of a campaign for Mobile Postpaid, Mobile
Prepaid, LTE and Fibre customers. Customers
with qualifying products were sent campaign
messages inviting them to subscribe to the
service and get it for free for a few months.
Telkom Consumer will deliver phase 2 of the
campaign in the first quarter of FY2025.
This will include:
- Paid content streaming services for mobile
and fibre products that customers can
subscribe to
- Migration of the TelkomPlus service content
providers to the new SDP
Data-driven insights
Openserve and Telkom Consumer
are making sales and marketing
recommendations based on insights
drawn from historical and churn data.
This optimises revenue and marketing
while enabling a data-driven approach
to business decisions.
Telkom Consumer introduced an AI
capability on its SMB online marketplace
platform in July 2023. The take-up was
good and growth is improving.
In February 2024, the business unit
commenced a programme to migrate
its machine learning capability to the
cloud with integration in the on-premises
cloud data platform. This provides
a consistent experience with secure,
shared business data across hybrid and
multi-cloud. The project aims to improve
our cost posture and processing time,
enabling quicker time to market. We
implemented machine learning models on
the cloud data platform with automated
data pipelines. This will drive customer
engagement and enhance customer
lifetime value, improving profitability.
In Openserve, the cloud data platform project allowed
data insights to be used for focused
marketing campaigns that identified
target areas, contributing to an improved
fixed-line active service and fixed-line
connected home rate.
Operational efficiency
Telkom continues to transform its business process
and operations towards automation and self-service capabilities through its digital channels.
Openserve
The multi-year Openserve operations support
systems (OSS) transformation project is
gaining traction. The project is modernising the
operational environment to improve efficiency,
standardisation, simplification and automation. It
will optimise and build capability by introducing
next-generation network technology and
simplifying processes.
In September 2023, as a first phase, the OSS
project delivered the fulfilment component of
the fibre national private leased circuit products in our carrier links' next-generation
network portfolio. In the coming year, we will add
capability across a range of network technology
stacks to transform the service order and inventory
management functions.
Telkom Consumer
This business unit embarked on a web consolidation
and technology rationalisation initiative. Phase 1
of the consolidated e-commerce website was
launched in June 2023. Phase 2, targeted for the
end of FY2025, is well under way. Its focus is
streamlined customer journeys, support for new
products and services, automated online fibre
ordering, and enhanced assurance journeys.
The modernisation of the website and the
technology rationalisation will provide customers
with a seamless e-commerce experience and
enable the following:
- Improved customer experience through
standardised customer journeys with
a common approach to user interface
design. This is achieved by applying best
practices and benchmarks for an integrated
e-commerce experience. Customer interactions and engagements are being
migrated from traditional channels (stores
and call centres) to digital channels and
self-service capabilities
- Better managed and reduced operating costs
across the business through implementing
common technologies and solutions.
These allow for a more streamlined, goto-market approach to features and an
increased focus on digital channels to meet
customer requirements in a more agile and
personalised manner
Telkom Consumer also embarked on a BSS
upgrade project to address operational risks. The
upgrade will ensure a secure BSS solution with
increased stability and fewer outages. The project
is set to be completed by the end of FY2025.
BCX
Acquisitions made by BCX over the past few years,
and subsequent proliferation of BCX subsidiaries,
led to the use of multiple disparate enterprise
resource planning platforms. This gave rise
to challenges regarding people, processes and
technologies. The oneERP project has delivered
the following benefits:
- Improved access to detailed information,
enabling enhanced analysis
- Enhanced reporting due to near real-time
information being available at a deeper level
of detail
- Enhanced, integrated financial planning
- Bulk billing capability and automated invoice
and statement distribution to improve the
cash collection process
- Skills development is progressing well within
our SAP Centre of Excellence division. This
will deliver better service to our customers
and win more S/4HANA implementation
deals. These resources are now utilised on
customer implementations as well as internal
SAP support
Order-to-cash transformation
In the dynamic landscape of our industry,
innovation and adaptation are essential
for maintaining competitiveness and
meeting evolving customer expectations.
In FY2024, Openserve and BCX embarked
on transformative initiatives to modernise
operations, streamline processes, and enhance
customer experiences.
Openserve
Openserve embarked on an initiative to
modernise its BSS application landscape. The
business unit achieved optimisation in billing
cycles, financial account management, and
order-to-cash processes by implementing
an integrated wholesale BSS application.
It enhanced operational efficiency while
delivering seamless customer experiences
through automation and integration with
digital channels and client systems via APIs.
This transformation streamlined internal
processes and positioned Openserve as
a leader in telecommunications service
delivery.
BCX
BCX focused on its OneCX project to consolidate
multiple customer relationship management
(CRM) systems into a unified platform. Prior to
this, BCX faced challenges such as disjointed
lead management processes, limited visibility
into sales pipelines, and fragmented customer
experiences across different touchpoints.
The consolidation project addressed these
challenges, enabling stronger lead and
opportunity management, improved contract
and customer account management, and
enhanced campaign and case management
capabilities.
The implementation of a unified CRM system
has enabled BCX to deliver personalised
customer experiences, optimise sales
interactions, and drive operational excellence.
BCX also introduced a partner management
capability, integrated legacy ordering systems,
and enhanced customer 360-degree views
to ensure a comprehensive understanding of
customer interactions.
The new OneCX customer self-service portal
has empowered customers to engage with
BCX seamlessly, driving satisfaction and
loyalty.
Information security
governance
Information security governance focuses
on establishing and maintaining a secure
information framework. It ensures that the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability
of Telkom's data and IT services are
protected against threats.
Telkom pursues a risk-based approach
to information security, considering the
ever-changing technology landscape and
potential threats. We continue to improve
our security posture and the maturity
of our security programme in line with
regulatory requirements, best practice
guidelines and industry benchmarks.
Key achievements across the information
security domains are illustrated on the
flow chart.
Key focus areas in FY2025
Our focus areas for FY2025 are:
- Expedite digital transformation
enablement to provide our
customers with 24/7 online selfservice capabilities and improve
customer experience by ensuring
services are always available and
stable
- Cost optimisation through
rationalisation of technology and
suppliers
- Continuously improve cybersecurity
resilience to ensure the Group's
systems customer data is secure and
protected from unauthorised access
- Evolve data insight platforms
Governance and risk
management
King IV, ISO 38500 and COBIT serve as
the foundation for IT governance. Each
of these frameworks offer a distinct
approach. Collectively, however, they
provide a comprehensive view of how
IT should be governed to support the
Group's objectives and ensure sustainable,
compliant and efficient operations.
Effective IT governance and risk
management are essential components
of our overall strategy. They ensure that
IT systems operate effectively, securely,
and in line with the business goals. They
help protect against potential threats and
maximise the value IT brings to Telkom.
The following objectives underpin our
governance framework:
Our brand equity
Telkom leverages several tools, services and
policies to ensure the purposeful impact of our
brand and reputation in the market. These
include:
- Policies and evaluation metrics that act as
guardrails to ensure brand activity aligns
with business purpose and vision
- Tools to stay “on the pulse”, ensuring
intentional steps for brand impact, shared
value and reputational resonance
- Tools and services that ensure an “outside-in”
approach to business operations guided
by the voice of our customers, driving
continuous improvement in customer
satisfaction levels
Openserve is at the heart of connectivity and has
successfully built and run high-speed broadband
networks that link banking systems, hospitals, schools
and every part of society.
Telkom Consumer focuses on consumer and SMME
solutions such as fixed and mobile broadband
services, voice technology and related value-added
services.
BCX is Africa's premier end-to-end digital solutions
partner, enabling enterprises to future-proof their
business.
Gyro is structured to provide three business services –
masts and towers, property management services and
property development.
Swiftnet is a leading tower company in South Africa
that aspires to occupy the number one position
as it continues its journey to make connectivity a
fundamental human right – accessible to everyone.
Our awards and recognition
Telkom was named Top Employer in South Africa for the second year in a row, confirming
its dedication to advancing a better world of work through excellent HR policies and
people practices.
Telkom ranked “Excellent” for the seventh consecutive year at the EY Integrated Reporting
Awards in September 2023, recognising progressively higher adherence to the spirit of
integrated reporting.
Managing brand reputational risks
One of the key aspects assessed in FY2024
was reputational risk. Stakeholders' perceptions
of Telkom have an impact on various factors,
including sales, attracting and retaining customers
and employees, share price, granting of licences
by regulators, and granting of capital by credit
providers. At the centre of reputation is trust –
there is an expectation that management will do
what is necessary to ensure the Telkom brand has
a good reputation in the market and with broader
stakeholders.
The following are the key mitigating actions to
reduce negative impacts on Telkom's reputation:
- Telkom leadership remains committed to
delivering better results for the benefit of
all stakeholders
- Telkom remains committed to ethical
business practices and zero tolerance for
non-compliance with laws and regulations
- We engage continuously to maintain open,
honest and consistent communication
with all stakeholders. Read more in the
Stakeholder chapter
- Third-party assessments are conducted
periodically to ensure Telkom's reputation is
not damaged by risks to critical third parties
(cybersecurity, supply chain, business
continuity, privacy risks, etc.)
- Several initiatives are in the pipeline to
improve employee morale. Read more in the
Human capital chapter
- We conduct proactive real-time social media
monitoring to pick up adverse sentiment
towards Telkom, including all business
units. Further, Group Communications is
undertaking a study on the reputation
perceptions of various stakeholders
