Rarely do Kenyans come together for a cause like they did these past few days. Politics divides them, the economy divides them (they couldn’t even stick to a cause to protest fuel tax) and many other things. But when Safaricom recently overhauled the data offerings they noticed something was amiss and couldn’t take it.
The 1GB bundle for Kes. 99 was missing. And it wasn’t business as usual and they took to the Twitter streets. It didn’t matter how awesome everything else was, the one thing a lot of people use, both poor and rich was gone. Replaced by 500MB, 500 SMS and free WhatsApp while the bundle is depleted and still valid. Some even started a hash tag, rival telcos felt they had a leg up with the new developments, and Safaricom had to act fast.
As at today morning, the 1GB daily data bundle is back, and maybe, just maybe we will hear an apology for believing they were acting on the best interests of all when removing it. Safaricom has recently stated that they are currently using data and AI (artificial intelligence) to develop products around each customer making them relevant for each individual depending on how they consume Safaricom services, but maybe this was a test on the judgement of this AI.
Tunukiwa is part of this AI that customizes data bundles daily for a user and tempts them with offers they know will interest a customer and that they can also afford at individual level. This is a good step in the right direction and we can only hope the tool gets to better predict customer preferences, after all Safaricom has the best data to understand Kenyans.
