1. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SMS CELLULAR TECHNOLOGY INTO MARIE STOPES SA’s EXISTING COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE – A CASE STUDYGroup 4

2. Introduction Current Call Centre infrastructure A toll free landline number 76.3% of adult South Africans have access to a cell phone Globally, close to 200 000 text messages are sent every second MSSA not adequately capitalised on mobile communication to improve the way they communicate with clients

3. Motivation for new technology Drop in calls attributed to the difficult economic climate, and the inaccessibility of landline telephones The manner in which the “cost of call” objection could be overcome Improved access to information about services and clinical backup, without additional cost

4. Options in SMS technology USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) Uniserver option Server-based application Makes use of SMS and Please call me Require the purchase or lease of GSM Modems to host the server Security in terms of data storage Request in short codes, or menus from the network Starts with an asterisk key (*) followed by digits, separated by a *, and terminated with a hash key (#) Utilise the Mytxt system to send messages Data storage using cloud technology

5. Proof of Concept Seven clinics selected to be part of the pilot rollout over 1 month Outbound campaign to the selected areas raising awareness of the SMS free number campaign 30,000 cell phone holders, selected as female, between the ages of 15 and 24 sent awareness messages Response rate of 3.7%, which is well over the recognised response rate of 1.5% to unsolicited messages

6. Implementation Training of the existing MSSA call centre operators Bulk SMS messages to the purchased database were released on 6 June 2011 Backlog of responses for agents to clear 600 requests for either information or a return call from an operator The SMS functionality has ensured maximum reach and great usability

7. Post implementation Monitoring Total of 1127 SMS queries had been received by the call centre in June 2011 Limited reporting facility but valuable information Database of approximately 1000 contacts established Contacts with clients have increased Call centre operators capacity increased Can control and monitor the communication cycle

8. Lessons Learned The need for a clear, researched implementation strategy Timelines, roles and responsibilities are clear Dependency on consultants who are not part of the organisation and its functioning should be managed Management team should continuously evaluate the new system Legal implications of any new technology used should form part of the pre-implementation research

9. Thanks for Listening Group 4 Questions?