\Sunday Gbenjo is the managing director of Totaltelecoms Solutions Limited with over two decade experience in the telecom industry. Gbenjo has worked with the Nigeria Naval Dockyard, Sam Telecommunications, Briscoe Telecoms and has attended various international and local seminars and exhibitions. He spoke to chike onwuegbuchi about issues service delivery in telecom space among others.
Security Solution
The solution is so simple; remember it is more security inclined. If you deploy the equipment, let us say at a bank with 10 to 15 branches in Lagos and outside Lagos, whenever there is a crisis in any of the banks, all they need do is press a button. Once the button is pressed, the emergency alert system would be transferred to the headquarters either in Lagos or Abuja and everybody will know that branch ABC located on Enugu Road is having a problem. It ensures that the law enforcement agents are quickly brought into the scene not only that, all the necessary information the law enforcement agents need to arrest the situation would be available.
Now the system has been modified to show pictures of what is happening at the. In our case, distance is no barrier, which means that if you want to monitor a location in Kano or Abakaliki and the headquarters which happens to be the monitoring room is in Lagos, you can easily do it. Not only that, you have the benefit of listening to all conversations at the troubled spot. Day in day out, we keep upgrading it at the requirement of individuals or corporate organizations by customizing it into what they need. Most of these things work with wireless distribution and all that is needed is small equipment.
Competing with Other Tracking Systems
The market is so big to the extent that one technology complements another technology. You will find out that where our system is needed, GSM tracking system might not be the suitable option. We still see ourselves as contemporaries within the IT sector. For example, we have a tracking system that can make use of Global System for Mobile communications, Sim cards, likewise there are some tracking units they have which make use of Radio Frequency (RF) signals. It is a matter of symbiotic relationship. The market is huge, where we are talking about a population of 140 million or more people. There is sufficient room to accommodate whatever anybody is bringing into the market, it a matter of one trying to pitch a tent in the market. I might decide that my technology should be for the banks and if the banks are satisfied with my product, they will key into it. Someone else might say he wants to address construction companies as his first point of call in the tracking business. Nigeria has a huge market for whatever anyone wants to offer, instead of competing with one another we can come under an umbrella, exchange ideas like what is happening with the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (Atcon). If someone comes to our company requesting for a solution we do not have, we should be free to refer the person to the company which specializes in the solution.
Managing Different Authorized Dealership
Apart from Motorola, we are an authorized dealer to Codan, we are also an authorized dealer of Tramingo tracking system. We are currently working with about 10 to 12 agencies under the United Nations. An agency might request for tracking unit while another might request for Codan radio equipment. It is a matter of giving you what you requested for, and managing them is not so difficult. It is about creating separate units that will handle each of the products. We have well trained engineers in data transfer equipment even up to factory level on Motorola equipment and Tramingo. Now we are going into surveillance radar system whereby we bring in what is called City Watch. I can be at Victoria Island and still watch what is going on in different parts of Lagos to ensure that security is provided for the rich, poor and everyone on the street. It is a matter of how the company is designed and how each of the units is put together.
Support for these Products and Solution
Any engineering firm either mechanical or telecom that wants to see beyond today must think about its product and what package it has in place for after-sale services. For instance, for Motorola products, before you are granted agency rights, they will ensure that you have competent engineers who have been well trained. Periodically, it is not a one-off training; it is a thing we do every six months. We also send them abroad for further training. All our equipment carries one to two years warranty and with that you should have adequate support otherwise you will keep changing equipment which might not be good for the business. At Totaltelecoms Solutions, after-sales service is our watch word. Most of the profit margin are from after-sales service so if we do not have competent engineers, the chances of we being efficient is not there. This time around time is money and no good end user will want to experience down time. Ours is to ensure that the down time of any equipment is minimal. Our after-sales service is valid and robust and we do not compromise standards.
Totaltelecom Solutions and Motorola
Totaltelecoms Solutions came into being about seven and a half years ago and right from inception, we have had a relationship with Motorola. Today as I am talking to you, we are ‘one tier representative in-country’ which means it is a total package. Total package comprises of marketing, integration, installation and consultancy. Before a company would be nominated to stand in for Motorola, it must have been well tutored and trained because what we do here locally is exactly what you get either in Chicago, Israel or wherever that kind of service is offered by Motorola. Apart from the Motorola representative that people know us with, we are also into system integration, bringing in new equipment, putting them together using our knowledge of engineering so that at the end of the day when Motorola sees some of the output of some of their products, they are amazed. This has happened several times. But you will find out that engineering in a global village now is more than doing jobs in the straight jacket the way it was brought from Chicago. Customers are becoming more and more sophisticated than what the manufacturers must have input into the system. It is now our obligation to ensure that we meet up with that challenge by adding extra value to customers.
Expansion Plan
By February next year, we will open our Abuja office. We have about 30 dealers in Abuja who act as back- ups when we are not there. What we did was to train these selected dealers to position them to be able to offer after sale support our products they sale. We also have a liaison office in Port Harcourt which takes care of the South-South and South-East zones. Most of the jobs we do is unlike the GSM selling outlets where people have to see you. Trunking projects are up to about 100 to 120 million at a go, you will have to dialogue with customers, it takes time before they even put pen on paper and it is not something that happens every now and then. The equipment we deal in is more of safety, security, and industrial equipment; it is not something you can just pick from the street. We have to ensure that the organization we are working with has the necessary government regulatory approval documents. We have to check if you have the frequency license, if not we will have to link them with the Ministry of communication to ensure that the governmental aspect of the transaction is done before they can get back to us for deployment of the solution or products.
