Chriti, B. (2014). Digitization of services for the unserved in East Africa through mobile phone [Master Thesis, Technische Universität Wien]. reposiTUm. https://doi.org/10.34726/hss.2014.25348
East Africa; E-services; M-services; Digitization of services; mobile networks; base of the pyramid; unserved customers
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Abstract:
To serve better customers and to ameliorate the interactivity with them, companies started digitizing their products and services to expand their performance, effectiveness and efficiency. Digitization of services and products permits a better delivery, as it transformed and mechanized the customer relation and marketplace by settling the customers' desires and shifting from time and location based activities to non-location and non-temporal behaviours. The digitization of services offered cost reduction in any commercial transaction through minimizing labour intensive activities from the provider to the consumer. The digitization of services is called the Electronic Services (E-service) and is mainly an internet based service. The ratio of internet penetration remains to be the major obstacle for the E-service. This ratio is still very weak -in the so-called developing countries, especially in the East African countries such as Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi, where it does't exceed 8%. Nevertheless a channel like the mobile network is in a progressive growth each year.It can be used to spread the digitization of services and can be a good alternative to the internet. The digitized service offered through the mobile network doesn't require any access to the internet or mobile internet. It is called mobile service or in short M-service. The aim of this master thesis is to present the importance and the value created by the digitization of the services on both the providers and the consumers in one of the less served environment in the world.