{
  "id": 12829576,
  "title": "From Sawubona to AI: Building customer experiences that understand South Africans",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/from-sawubona-to-ai-building-customer-experiences-that-understand",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-08T08:35:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IOL",
    "slug": "iol",
    "url": "https://iol.co.za/news/partnered/2026-10-08-from-sawubona-to-ai-building-customer-experiences-that-understand-south-africans/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Customer Service Week, observed annually during the first full week of October, underscores the vital role customer service plays in fostering trust, loyalty, and genuine connections. This occasion invites companies to contemplate how customer expectations are shifting and what exemplary service should entail in an ever-digitizing world. A key takeaway is that exceptional customer experience hinges on comprehending individuals. As interactions grow more digital, companies must construct experiences that mirror how people converse, employ technology, and manage their day-to-day lives. For those leading customer experience initiatives, the challenge transcends merely granting access; it involves grasping participation. Digital adoption is expanding rapidly across South Africa, mirroring broader trends towards interconnected lifestyles and digital services. Nevertheless, mere access does not assure engagement. Customers engage with technology differently based on affordability, digital competence, language inclinations, and personal situations. Across the globe, consumers seek convenience, dependability, safety, and worth. However, the articulation of these expectations is colored by local circumstances. Crafting a customer journey for South Africa is not merely about translating an existing process into another language. It necessitates understanding how people truly live. South Africans are remarkably adaptable communicators. A chat can commence on WhatsApp, progress to a voice message, transform into a phone call, and conclude with an emoji that conveys more than mere words. Somewhere along the way, there may be a local phrase, a joke, and a language transition that alters the entire tone. We intuitively understand these cues. The challenge for technology lies in learning to do the same. This becomes especially crucial in a nation where people frequently shift between languages, slang, cultural allusions, and humor, often in the same conversation. A customer may commence a sentence in English, switch to isiZulu for emphasis, and conclude with an \"eish\" that communicates everything you need to know. The words indeed matter, but so does the underlying meaning. A technically accurate response can still feel utterly inappropriate if it overlooks the context. Anyone who has received a polite answer that completely missed the point will appreciate the distinction. There is an isiZulu greeting that offers a valuable lesson for the customer experience realm: sawubona. Often rendered as \"I see you,\" it reminds us that being perceived is distinct from being processed. Customers might receive an instantaneous reply yet still feel unseen, while a straightforward interaction can instill reassurance when their circumstances are genuinely comprehended. This notion aligns closely with Ubuntu and its focus on dignity, empathy, and human connection. The future of customer experience is not about supplanting people with technology. It revolves around leveraging technology to create more relevant, intuitive, and personalized experiences. Across the industry, customers are welcoming digital channels that provide convenience and control. At MTN, this transition is evident in the surging usage of our digital platforms. From January to September 2026, utilization of MTN Chat, MTN's WhatsApp-based self-service and support channel, rose by 90%, while involvement on the MTN App surged by 72%. MTN Chat empowers customers to finalize routine tasks directly through WhatsApp, including checking balances, purchasing bundles, retrieving PUK numbers, and accessing support. Simultaneously, the MTN App offers a unified digital platform where customers can manage their accounts, monitor usage, access personalized offers and rewards, and transact conveniently from their mobile devices. Collectively, these platforms embody the surging demand for uncomplicated, accessible digital experiences that grant customers greater choice and autonomy. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in customer experience, the forthcoming frontier is not solely about responding to more queries more swiftly. It revolves around comprehending context more accurately. This entails recognizing when customers switch languages to express themselves more clearly, grasping cultural subtleties, interpreting humor aptly, and determining when human intervention surpasses the capabilities of technology. This is particularly significant in Africa, a continent with remarkable linguistic diversity. GSMA research highlights the increasing importance of addressing Africa's AI language gap and ensuring emerging technologies better represent local languages, cultures, and user needs. It emphasizes the need for a stronger digital ecosystem that can foster AI innovation and adoption across the continent. Promisingly, there is mounting momentum behind African-led AI development and the creation of technologies tailored to African realities. This acknowledges a crucial truth: technology is most effective when it mirrors the communities it serves. Across the continent, there is growing emphasis on constructing solutions that comprehend local languages, local contexts, and local needs. Ultimately, the future of AI in Africa will not be dictated by technology alone, but by how effectively it reflects the languages, needs, and lived experiences of African communities. At MTN, our approach to AI-enabled customer experience is anchored in the same principle that underpins every successful customer journey: listen, learn, and improve. AI can aid in identifying patterns and insights across vast amounts of customer interactions; however, human expertise remains indispensable in comprehending those insights and converting them into actionable improvements. The true value of digitalization is not gauged solely by speed, efficiency, or resolution rates. It is measured by whether it fosters trust, confidence, and stronger customer relationships. As AI and digitalization continue to transform customer engagement, the organizations that will thrive will be those that can effectively blend technology with genuine human understanding.",
  "summary": "As AI reshapes customer service, South African organisations must go beyond speed and convenience by designing digital experiences that reflect local languages, cultures and everyday realities.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}