From Telco to Techco, empowering Unitel Mongolia become a leading brand in digital transformation
Bat-Erdene Gidaagaaya, CTO, Unitel Mongolia
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, the Mongolian telecommunications industry is undergoing rapid evolution. For Unitel Mongolia, operating in a unique, landlocked, mineral-rich nation, digital transformation is not merely an option, but a strategic imperative to maintain our leadership and pursue excellence. While Mongolia’s economy is heavily reliant on resource exports and imports, its telecommunications and technology sectors are rapidly advancing, keeping pace with, and in some areas mirroring, developed markets. In this article, I would like to explore Unitel Mongolia’s successful digital transformation journey, highlighting key initiatives, challenges encountered, and the benefits realized as we strive to become the No.1 Reliable Digital Telco in Mongolia.
This strategic digital transformation has been powered by our partner’s powerful platforms including but not limited to AUTIN, SmartCare, and Discovery – with a strong focus on enhancing end-user experience, driving automation, and achieving comprehensive digital transformation. By incorporating big data analytics based on data sciences into our digital operations, Unitel has significantly enhanced its operational agility, efficiency, and customer satisfaction, solidified our competitive edge and driven growth in our local market.
CALL FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Digital technologies are crucial for sustainable development globally, and Mongolia is no exception. Digitalization is significantly impacting lives and driving progress even in landlocked economies. Following recent global revenue declines linked to 5G rollout delays and the pandemic, the telecommunications industry faces a prolonged recovery. In Mongolia, this necessitates a strategic focus on digitalization, automation, and intelligence for operators to maintain growth and relevance.
“The telecommunications sector, including Unitel Mongolia, has historically relied on legacy systems”
The telecommunications sector, including Unitel Mongolia, has historically relied on legacy systems, which can impede agility and innovation—essential qualities in our rapidly developing market. The rise of over-the-top (OTT) services, evolving consumer demands in Mongolia, and heightened competition underscore the urgent need for telecom companies to evolve. Digital transformation is therefore essential for Unitel Mongolia to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and unlock new revenue streams as we aim to be the leading digital telco in the nation.
CHALLENGES FACED
Despite the clear benefits, our path to digital transformation has been fraught with challenges:
- Legacy Systems: Like many established telecommunications companies, we were initially burdened by outdated legacy systems. These systems presented integration challenges with new digital technologies. The strategic deployment of a data-driven intelligent platform has been a key component of Unitel’s digital transformation success in navigating this challenge.
- Cultural Resistance: Overcoming cultural resistance required a multifaceted and sensitive approach, fostering open communication, inclusivity, and shared values within Unitel Mongolia. Leadership actively engaged employees by soliciting feedback and involving them in decision-making processes to build trust and ownership. Implementing training programs emphasizing cultural awareness and adaptability facilitated a smoother transition. Celebrating small wins and recognizing individuals or teams who embraced the desired cultural changes motivated broader adoption of new practices. Ultimately, reinforcing a shared vision aligned with Unitel Mongolia’s goals and values was crucial in creating a more cohesive and adaptable workforce ready for digital transformation.
BENEFITS REALIZED
Unitel Mongolia’s successful digital transformation has yielded numerous benefits to our digital operations and our standing in the Mongolian market:
- Improved Efficiency: The implementation of automation and cloud-native technologies has significantly streamlined operations and reduced operational costs, allowing us to reinvest in further development. Having been able to integrate into twice as much internal systems and reducing alarm collection to near real-time, our ticket creation process got shortened by 60 times and mean time to repair has reduced by 30% since the utilization of the AUTIN into our operations.
- Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Personalized services, data-driven insights, and improved responsiveness have led to demonstrably higher customer satisfaction levels across Mongolia, reinforcing our commitment to reliability. Not only has the end users’ experience was raised, the service suppliers in our supply chain system got an operational upgrade where they are enabled to optimize work order distribution, reduce site visits and improve staff utilization.
KEY STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL TRANSFORMATION
- Implementing Advanced Analytics: Data analytics has played, and continues to play, a crucial role in understanding our customers’ behavior and optimizing services for the Mongolian market. Unitel Mongolia firmly emphasizes the increasing use of advanced analytics to gain deep insights into customer preferences. This enables personalized marketing strategies and improved service offerings tailored to the specific needs of our Mongolian customer base. We firmly believe that “if we cannot measure, we cannot improve,” making data-driven decisions central to our transformation.
- Enhancing User Experience Through NPS: To elevate user experience, we actively encourage users to share their feedback via a closed-loop feedback process. Leveraging SEQ, Huawei’s solution, we can efficiently gather and analyze this feedback. This direct engagement is crucial for identifying user issues and continuously refining our application’s UI/UX. By doing so, we ensure that our services resonate with the digital needs of Mongolian users.
- Investing in 5G Technologies: Investing and rolling out 5G technology represents a significant leap forward for Unitel’s capabilities and for Mongolia’s digital future. We have proactively invested in this future, establishing 5G mobile sites in Ulaanbaatar as well as all 21 provincial centers across the country. We are now poised to activate these sites for widespread use, pending final regulatory approvals.
“The successful digital transformation journey of Unitel Mongolia powerfully demonstrates the critical importance of embracing change in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape”
The successful digital transformation journey of Unitel Mongolia powerfully demonstrates the critical importance of embracing change in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, especially within unique markets like Mongolia. By proactively adopting innovative technologies, maintaining a sharp focus on customer experience, and diligently overcoming challenges, communication service providers (CSPs) can not only survive but thrive in the new digital economy. As the telecommunications industry continues its rapid evolution, those who prioritize and strategically invest in digital transformation, like Unitel Mongolia, will undoubtedly emerge as market leaders. We are dedicated to being the No.1 Reliable Digital Telco in Mongolia, focused on providing innovative and high-quality communication services.
