Telecommunications market leader Zain Sudan implemented the Genesys Cloud™ platform to create a fully virtual contact center that supports 12 million customers, improves workforce flexibility and strengthens operational resilience. The transformation increased its answer rate by 19%, lowered cost per call by 60%, and established a foundation for future AI-driven customer and employee experiences.
19% increase
in calls answered
46% faster
average speed of answer
60% lower
cost per call
Building a customer experience operation that can adapt to disruption, support a distributed workforce, improve efficiency and prepare for AI is a priority for many organizations. Yet few have tested the limits of what’s possible with a cloud-based customer experience (CX) platform more dramatically than Zain Sudan has.
Over the past three years, the telecommunications provider has used Genesys Cloud to help transform its customer and employee experiences, creating a fully virtual contact center that delivers greater agility, stronger operational performance and a foundation for future innovation. Along the way, Zain Sudan increased the number of calls it handles by 19% , lowered cost per call by 60% and improved service levels by 15%.
The value of that transformation became especially clear when Sudan faced two crises: the pandemic in 2020 and the armed conflict in 2023. These crises forced the company to rethink how it operates. Zain Sudan responded by transitioning to a fully virtual contact center model, enabling customer service teams to continue supporting customers while remaining safe.
“There was an enormous amount riding on that decision,” said Elshaikh Madani, Director Customer Care at Zain Sudan. “We needed a cloud solution that would protect our people while ensuring customers could still reach us. Maintaining trust and service continuity isn’t optional — it is absolutely vital.”
That need for service continuity became even more critical when conflict broke out in Sudan in April 2023. Mobile connectivity became far more than a convenience. For millions of people, it became a lifeline — a primary link to loved ones, vital information, financial support and humanitarian assistance.
With a network reaching 90% of the population and serving more than 12 million customers, Zain Sudan has been at the heart of the country’s response. The operator has worked tirelessly to restore and maintain mobile and internet services, connect separated families, enable food and medical aid deliveries, and help communities navigate profound economic disruption.
Zain also plays a vital role that extends beyond communications. Through Bede, the organization’s mobile wallet and fintech platform, millions of Sudanese can access essential financial services at a time when traditional banking infrastructure has been severely impacted.
“There was an enormous amount riding on that decision. We needed a cloud solution that would protect our people while ensuring customers could still reach us. Maintaining trust and service continuity isn’t optional — it is absolutely vital.”
Elshaikh Madani
Director, Customer Care, Zain Sudan
Delivering that level of continuity, support and resilience required more than remote working capabilities. Zain Sudan needed a cloud platform to fully enable its virtual contact center strategy — one that could unify customer engagement, support a distributed workforce and enable the organization to meet its immediate operational needs while laying the foundation for future experience innovations.
Following a successful proof of concept, Zain Sudan selected the Genesys Cloud platform and implementation partner IST Networks to help bring that vision to life.
“We can get vendors and products any time, but what we wanted is a strategic business partner,” said Madani. “Genesys stood out for its flexibility and ease of deployment, while IST Networks helped us confidently meet an ambitious 10-day migration deadline and maximize ongoing value from the platform.”
Zain Sudan took a phased approach to its transformation, initially going live with voice before working with the Genesys Customer Success team and IST Networks to expand into WhatsApp and workforce management. Over time, the company unified voice, email and workforce management on Genesys Cloud™, while enhancing customer engagement with integrated WhatsApp and chat experiences across web and mobile channels.
Moreover, it enabled its contact center teams to transition to full remote working — inside and outside of Sudan, with home workers onboarded from Africa, the Gulf, Canada, Egypt, the UK, the US and beyond.
“Our employees can practically work from anywhere with a decent internet connection, providing the business with a large catchment area for attracting and recruiting the best talent,” said Madani.
“Genesys stood out for its flexibility and ease of deployment.”
Elshaikh Madani
Director, Customer Care, Zain Sudan
In a typical day, 500 Genesys Cloud users handle about 135,000 customer interactions, assisting with everything from account and billing inquiries to roaming, data bundle purchases, technical support and mobile money transactions.
“People often talk about heroes in times of crisis,” said Elshaikh Madani, Director Customer Care at Zain Sudan. “For me, those heroes are our contact center agents. No matter the circumstances, they continue to support our customers, solve problems and keep services running when people need them most. They are one of our greatest strengths.”
Recognizing the critical role those employees play, Zain Sudan has invested heavily in workforce optimization and engagement.
The addition of Genesys Cloud Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) has improved forecasting and scheduling accuracy, ensuring agents with the right skills are available at the right time, while minimizing overstaffing and cost leakage. At the same time, WEM has strengthened engagement across a globally dispersed workforce, ultimately reducing the number of agents scheduled by 50%.
“Genesys gamification tools motivate our teams and improve performance against KPIs, such as average handling time and average speed of answer,” said Madani. “Also, the introduction of friendly competitions and league tables are helping to create a positive and rewarding culture.”
“Genesys gamification tools motivate our teams and improve performance against KPIs, such as average handling time and average speed of answer. Also, the introduction of friendly competitions and league tables are helping to create a positive and rewarding culture.”
Elshaikh Madani
Director, Customer Care, Zain Sudan
The move to Genesys Cloud has also accelerated the company’s ability to innovate. By consolidating customer engagement and operational tools on a single platform, Zain Sudan can implement changes faster, respond more quickly to new requirements, and continuously improve experiences for customers and employees. Regular feature releases from Genesys further support that evolution, enabling the business to benefit from new capabilities without lengthy upgrade cycles.
“We can now make most changes ourselves, significantly improving efficiency,” said Madani. “Projects such as IVR redesigns that once took two years to deliver — and cost more than our entire Genesys licensing investment — can now be completed in a fraction of the time and far less expensively.”
Three years on from its Genesys Cloud migration, Zain Sudan continues to deliver operational gains. By resolving more customer issues at the first point of contact, the organization has increased the answer rate by 19% and lowered cost per call by 60%.
“We used to suffer from silent and disconnected calls, which we’ve since reduced by 33% and 60%, respectively,” noted Madani.
As a result, customers are connecting more reliably and receiving faster service, reflected in a 46% reduction in average speed of answer (from 28 to 15 seconds) and an increase in answer rates from 78% to 92%.
Together, these improvements enable Zain Sudan to handle demand more efficiently, deliver a better customer experience and minimize lost opportunities. This is further underlined by a 15% overall uplift in service levels.
“Projects such as IVR redesigns that once took two years to deliver — and cost more than our entire Genesys Cloud licensing investment — can now be completed in a fraction of the time and far less expensively.”
Elshaikh Madani
Director, Customer Care, Zain Sudan
With a modern, AI-ready contact center platform in place and delivering continuous operational gains, Zain Sudan is now exploring its next wave of innovation. The company is evaluating Genesys chatbots, speech and text analytics, and AI-powered capabilities, such as intelligent routing and predictive engagement, to further enhance customer and employee journeys.
“Customer care has come a long way in three years with Genesys Cloud,” concluded Madani. “Today, our virtual contact center is involved in every strategic planning and business transformation initiative, and we see AI as the next major opportunity to accelerate that progress.”
To learn more about the solutions featured in this case study, visit www.genesys.com.
