Soweto Retail Rollout

A retail credit team that needed wider onboarding reach

The client was a retail credit operation serving shoppers in Soweto and nearby trading areas, with applications arriving through online channels, store referrals and follow-up calls from sales teams. The old process depended too heavily on in-person document checks, which made it harder to keep applications moving when customers lived far from a branch or could not get away from work.

The brief was straightforward in plain terms. Add a mobile-friendly video verification step that could fit into the existing customer journey, let an agent check the person against the ID document, and keep the process tidy enough for audit files and internal review. The team also wanted a structure that could be used across branches without every site inventing its own script.

• Customer type: retail credit operation
• Location focus: Soweto, with wider South African reach
• Main need: remote identity checking for online onboarding
• Channel fit: mobile phone video sessions

The operating limits we had to work around

The process needed to work for applicants using ordinary mobile data, not only for people sitting on a strong office network. That meant the session flow had to stay light, clear and predictable. The credit team also wanted fewer points where staff would improvise, because that creates uneven files and messy follow-up notes.

There was also the matter of record keeping. The team needed consent captured before the session, clear notes on what was reviewed, and a stored record that could support internal customer due diligence steps under FICA, while keeping personal information handled in line with POPIA principles. We worked with the client on the operational side of that, not as legal advisers but as a practical verification team.

• Mobile-friendly video path for low-friction applicant access
• Consent captured before the verification session started
• Recorded evidence kept for audit and file review
• Agent steps written to reduce variation between sessions

How the rollout was structured week by week

The rollout ran in a short series of working blocks rather than one long open-ended change. First came workflow mapping, where we traced each handover from application intake to final decision. That included where the applicant would enter the queue, what the agent should ask for, which fields needed checking, and where the record would be stored in the client process.

After that, Jared Jantjies led the integration planning and API coordination work with the client’s systems team. The goal was not to build around the process after the fact, but to fit the verification steps into the onboarding path before bad habits set in. During the same phase, Anele Nortje prepared staff training material and the verification scripts used by the agents.

The full work ran over 6 weeks. The first 2 weeks covered mapping and call flow design. The next 2 weeks focused on integration alignment, script drafting and test files. The final 2 weeks were used for pilot launch support, quality monitoring and go live stabilising across the live queue.

• Week 1 to 2: workflow mapping and process review
• Week 3 to 4: integration planning, API coordination and script design
• Week 5 to 6: pilot launch support, quality checks and stabilising

What the agents actually did on the call

The verification session followed a clear pattern. The customer joined from a phone or laptop, gave consent, showed the ID document to camera, and then completed the face comparison part of the check. Where the image quality was weak, the agent guided the applicant to adjust light, angle or position so the file could be completed without unnecessary back-and-forth.

We also built in liveness checking steps and escalation design for cases that did not fit the normal path. If the document was damaged, the face match was unclear, or the applicant details needed a second look, the file could be shifted into a controlled review path rather than being forced through. That kept the operation calmer and gave the client clearer reasons for each decision.

• Guided video session with live agent supervision
• ID document capture with visual quality checks
• Face comparison and liveness review
• Escalation path for unclear or disputed cases

Training the team that would carry the work

Thabo Mokoka oversaw the project direction with Megan Vermaak handling client-facing coordination and Sibusiso Gamieldien leading quality monitoring. Leila Petersen shaped the verification team’s working rhythm, while the training side focused on practical handling rather than theory heavy sessions. The aim was to keep agents confident enough to manage ordinary calls and steady enough to handle awkward ones.

The staff training covered script use, document handling, consent steps, note taking and how to spot cases that needed escalation. We also covered refresh training planning so the client would not lose consistency after the first rush of live cases. That mattered because credit onboarding is a live operating process, not a once-off launch event.

• Script use for consistent applicant conversations
• Record notes for audit-ready case files
• Refresh training for new staff and process changes
• Quality monitoring to catch drift before it spreads

What changed once the video path was live

The main change was reach. Applicants who could not get to a branch at the right time were no longer blocked by geography or store hours, and the credit operation could handle more cases through a controlled remote path. The team also had one process to work from, which made internal handovers easier across Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Gqeberha.

Another gain was file quality. With the same script, same capture order and same escalation rules, the team reduced the kind of uneven case notes that make reviews messy later. The client also got clearer operational reporting, which helped management see where applicants were dropping out and where the process needed tuning.

If we were doing a similar rollout again, we would keep the same order: map the live journey first, lock the script before broad release, and use a short pilot before scaling. That structure suits retail credit work because the pressure is always in the queue, not in the planning room.

• Wider onboarding reach for applicants outside branch travel range
• Cleaner case files for internal review and reporting
• Single process that could be used across multiple cities
• Stable rollout supported by pilot launch and quality checks