E-SERVICES AT THE KIPSIGIS TEACHERS SACCOIN KERICHO, KENYA
The ATM method of withdrawing money and the SMS methods of banking have become very popular among the people of Kericho Town generally .This is proven by the long queues that can be seen at the ATM points at all the banks in the town .A bigger percentage of the towns banking population prefer to use this machines and mobile phones to the normal traditional methods of banking. The reason being that the machines are more time saving than the normal methods of withdrawing money and the availability of money through the ATMs and the SMS services on their mobile phones for the twenty four hours of the day throughout the seven days of the week.
The Sacco encourages its members to use the ATM because of its benefits in the reduction of congestion and all the other benefits that will come as a result of the use of the machine.
The Sacco uses a Visa branded ATM card which gives its members an advantage of accessing their money anytime any day and anywhere in the whole world where the visa card is used.
The Customers of the Kipsigis teachers Sacco are not left out in this development s and trend of life. The possibility of withdrawing money at the ATM any time of the day has given the machines more advantages over the traditional method, and hence, many customers of the Sacco Prefer using the ATM. Customers can use the ATM services even at night.
Next is the Mobile phone banking .This methods of banking also have changed life upcountry a great deal .More and more people are turning to the use this method of banking .They are easy and secure than carrying hard cash in the hand .Compared to the time consuming queuing methods of doing the same thing over the counters, plus the expenses of travelling from their distant homes to the Sacco’s office to make simple inquiries. More customers have turned to the use of these methods .The method is popularly known as e-banking where the customers exchange the money electronically over their mobile phones during a transaction.
The Sacco provides these services to its customer’s .They can make inquiries about the state of their accounts with the FOSA, the back offices and co-operative house. They can also know how much they have in their balances .And they can also do more with it.
The customers can also get notifications on their salaries, loans, a check which has matured dividends and more other services which the society continues to add on to the list as time goes on and as they continue developing and their needs changing to match with the times.
The services are intended to reduce congestion at the Sacco’s’ offices.
Although there have been normal break downs due to mechanical problems in the machines and weaknesses in the networks from the mobile phone service providers and except for the few reports early in the year in other banking institutions whereby it was said that the machines printed the receipts wrongly causing the customers to be overcharged in their accounts, but the machine are expected to be more convenient than the humans who serve the customers over the counters. Many people are taking to mobile banking.
The teachers Sacco ATM has been out of order for the bigger part of the month of august .This cost a lot of inconveniences to the Sacco’s customers generally. Some of the customers had to go back home without money and spend the weekends the hard way. The Sacco’s administrations office declined to speak about this issue when we visited them for an interview about the problem. The most senior boss at in that office said that he wasn’t willing to say anything about the matter and warned us not to report anything about this matter.
According to the interview between us and the female group four security company guard who was on duty on Saturday, the twenty seventh day of the month of august, when we went to check the machine, It had been in the malfunction state for over two weeks and the staff of the Sacco hadn’t given an explanation for the break down of the machine to their customers up to that date .Other wise the masses in kerihco town are continuing to change to the use of e-money and very soon ,they could drop the use of hard cash and use the e-money in their daily lives entirely .
On the society’s’ Development ,The Sacco intents to become a micro credit organization .The products are still being developed and improved after a successful completion of the feasibility study .The society’s members are encouraged to form groups and open accounts with the FOSA so as to benefit from the project.