ABOUT US

Switch Telecom is a provider of telephone and telecommunication services.

With over 12 years’ experience as a provider of VoIP and cloud telephony services, offering solutions to thousands of home and business clients, both in South Africa and abroad, Switch Telecom has gained a reputation for outstanding service and advanced solutions.

Over the years we have grown, evolved and matured. We no longer just provide VoIP services to bring down costs; we offer our client’s cost-effective communication solutions.

CHALLENGES

We’ve had to face many unique challenges relating to the telecommunications market, however, two – in particular – really stand out:

1. RICA
The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act of 2002 (“RICA” for short) requires that we follow certain processes to ensure that we know exactly who our clients are and verify their identities before providing service.

2. FRAUD MANAGEMENT
Phone calls are a commodity and, as such, there are a plethora of fraudulent schemes and criminal operations – global in scale – that actively seek to steal airtime and defraud operators. They use the global reach of the public phone network and the legitimate money flows between operators in different countries to launder criminal gains across jurisdictions.

It was clear, from the outset, that to meet our compliance obligations and to mitigate against fraud and default, we needed an effective way to authenticate the credentials of new clients and to carefully evaluate how much credit to extend.

CRED-IT-DATA SERVICES

Our initial discovery and use of Cred-IT-Data‘s services was indirectly through one of our other financial service providers.
We started ordering credit reports on South African consumers and companies as part of our credit-vetting and approval processes and found the reports to be invaluable.

The reports had become critical to our business operations however, as we grew, so did our need for more extensive services. We decided to contract directly with Cred-IT-Data in order to gain access to their complete portfolio of services.

Some of the reporting services we now use on a daily basis include identity verification, business incorporation details, consumer credit and business credit.

We also occasionally use Cred-IT-Data to issue letters-of-demand, list credit defaults and, critically, to delist defaults after recovery because listing often results in recovery of bad debt.

Cred-IT-Data have also assisted us, from time-to-time, in obtaining D&B reports on international clients as well as more detailed investigated reports and bank codes in respect of clients requiring particularly high credit limits.

THE DIFFERENCE

We’ve approached many companies with respect to credit reporting and related services; however, only Cred-IT-Data has consistently understood our requirements from the outset and they consistently provide the solutions we need, supported by excellent customer care and reliable infrastructure.

Owing to the volume of new clients that we onboard every day, we now process almost all new applications via our Online Sign Up Portal on our website. Pertinent client details present to our administrative staff for vetting and, in some instances, credit approval. Our staff never have to leave our systems to manage the vetting processes.

Key to enabling this is that Cred-IT-Data provides an API for integration. After a client has entered their particulars into our Online Sign Up Portal and once our staff perform initial vetting, our system automatically queries identity and credit information directly from Cred-IT-Data. Within seconds, our systems securely obtain and store the applicable information and present exactly what is needed to our staff to proceed with vetting, highlighting any risk factors. The entire process has an audit trail and, because it’s completely integrated, we are able to ensure that, before a report is requested, client consent has always been obtained.

Because of the level of technical integration and the rock-solid reliability of the service, we have very little day-to-day interaction with Cred-IT-Data‘s staff. However, when we do call on them for assistance, we are always satisfied with the promptness and professionalism with which our queries are addressed.

RECOMMENDATION

I would highly recommend Cred-IT-Data to any business that extends credit to its customers and/or that wishes to mitigate risks associated with identity theft and fraud, and/or wishes to assess the reputation and trade history of new clients.

One of the key benefits for smaller to medium size businesses is the relative ease of contracting, simplicity of their online portal, and pay-for-what-you-use pricing structure.

For larger businesses, the ability to easily integrate via API is a clear win.

Gregory Massel

CEO: Switch Telecom