WYZETALK

Since 2012, Wyzetalk has been recognised as a leading digital employee engagement company that connects large organisations with their dispersed frontline workforce to improve communication, increase engagement and drive business performance. In 2019, they were named the Best Digital Company by Africa Tech Week and Employee Engagement Vendor/Consultancy of the year at the Africa Employee Engagement Awards.

Wyzetalk has grown tremendously and the Cape Town office has been the springboard for launching offices in Johannesburg and recently, Utrecht in the Netherlands. They’ve received several rounds of funding from local investors and the company’s ambitious plans includes the process of refining a bold globalisation strategy that will require further office expansion in the next few years.

Tell us a bit more about your business and what it offers?

Wyzetalk is the leading digital employee engagement company that connects large organisations with their dispersed, frontline workforce to improve communication, increase engagement and drive business performance.

Employees access company information on their personal mobile device via an employee app, mobi link or USSD. They can view and action a broad range of work-related functions such as messages from the CEO, productivity targets and updates, and HR related processes like leave application, and even suggest a business improvement idea.

Our Professional Services team works closely with each client to drive success by delivering strategic campaign development, hands-on community management, content curation, message scheduling and publishing, and in-depth data reporting on uptake, activity and analytics.

By integrating seamlessly with ERP systems, company communication to employees can be segmented and personal, sending the right message to the right person at the right time. An employee can view their payslip, receive relevant training, track targets in real-time and receive content and messages relevant to their role or function.

What important role does your company play in Cape Town, and abroad?

We’re a great Cape Town start-up success story having received a number of rounds of funding from local investors, and we’ve grown tremendously (doubled our staff compliment in 2019 alone).

Our Cape Town office has been the springboard for launching offices in Johannesburg, and more recently, Utrecht in the Netherlands. We’ve become an employer of choice in Cape Town, with a high staff retention rate and a surprising number of our ex-employees returning to Wyzetalk (4 have come back just in the last 30 days!).

Wyzetalk is a showcase for local technology, having developed our trademarked digital platform in Cape Town, and seeing it used internationally by clients like Anglo American in South America, Australia and Europe amongst other countries is testament to the great talent we have here. 

When considering Cape Town, what factors made you choose to start here? Why Cape Town and what prompted the decision?

The founders are from Cape Town and chose to set up offices in Technopark in the suburb of Stellenbosch (dubbed the “Silicon Valley” of South Africa) where many tech greats started their journey. Cape Town has become a powerful innovation hub with regular meetups and conferences happening all over the city, and a number of incubators and accelerator programs helping start-ups and small businesses to get off the ground.

What do you enjoy most about operating your business in Cape Town? What are the benefits of running a business/investing in Cape Town?

There are some fantastic investment firms and VCs that are based here. Cape Town is also recognised internationally as one of the most beautiful cities in the world; looking out onto our view of the winelands helps us to be creative and imagine endless possibilities.

Our journey began by signing up local, proudly South African companies and clients like Woolworths, Pick n Pay and Shoprite who are head quartered in Cape Town, and we’re grateful to them for working with us to radically change their workplaces. When the work that we do improves the lives of employees and inspires them to bring their best to the job every day, we know that has a knock on effect in their communities too. Our x-factor is in our ability to improve the work landscape and impact these communities in a positive way.

Highlights/success stories you can share since starting your business in Cape Town?

• Growth: Our userbase has grown to over 500 000 across 5 continents and 13 countries, and in the last year, our client acquisition grew by 88%.
• Awards: In 2019 we were named Best Digital Company by Africa Tech Week and Employee Engagement Vendor/Consultancy of the year at the Africa Employee Engagement Awards. We have also been named a finalist for a number of awards including HR Tech Service Provider of the Year by the Future of HR, Technology company of the year by Africa Tech Week a finalist at the FNB Business Innovation Awards.
• Client feedback: We have many powerful client testimonials that speak to how we’ve made a difference to their workplaces and bottom line. Sipho Pityana, Non-executive Director of Anglogold Ashanti said: “Congratulations Gys. We’ve had a fatality-free 1st quarter which is unprecedented in the history of the company. We’ve also had an uninterrupted fatality-free nine months – a historic first.”
• User feedback: The user feedback has been overwhelming. We regularly receive stories of employees whose lives have improved radically by having access to their payslip, or finding a new job through the company vacancies listing, or learning opportunities that have enabled them to improve their skills and better support their families.

What challenges, if any, have you experienced in setting up your business?

We’re constantly navigating our pricing and product strategy, especially as we’re not a pure SaaS player. Finding our niche, being confident in ourselves and what we offer and pricing accordingly is a constant challenge for us.

As we grow our challenges have changed; with our global expansion the company structuring, set up, legal and tax compliance has been difficult to navigate. Now having a much larger employee-base with multiple offices in different countries which means investing a lot in infrastructure and formalised processes.

Have you had any interactions, positive or negative, with the City of Cape Town in setting up or running your business?

We’re excited to be part of this campaign and the good news it’s spreading. It’s great to be able to share our story and experiences in a way that encourages other entrepreneurs and companies who are thinking of coming to Cape Town.

How has doing business in Cape Town, or with City of Cape Town, been different to anywhere else?

 The challenges are different regardless of which country we’re operating in. In South Africa issues of infrastructure and connectivity are something we have to navigate around, whereas overseas it’s language and a different style of working. Our operations centre will remain in Cape Town for now, giving new opportunities to lots of homegrown graduates. We love the diversity of our people, being able to facilitate their growth and development and seeing them fly as they take on responsibility. Over the last few years, Cape Town has really prepared the ground for a new world of remote working. We have a flexible office environment and autonomous working from home policy that’s been key to our retention strategy.

The influence we’re having with our clients – which are also brands we interact with socially on a day to day basis is quite special. We get to improve the workplace and home dynamics for the cashier who needs to know when a shift change has occurred, or a miner who needs to know when it’s safe to come to work. These human stories, not only give our work purpose and define our raison d’être, but as South Africans making a different in South Africa, we are part of the solution in our city and in our great nation.

 What’s next? What is the future of your business?

We’re going global at pace which is incredible reach for this Cape Town based start-up. We now have a few offices around the world, and we’re in the process of refining a bold globalisation strategy that may require further office expansion in the next few years. Our plans are ambitious and considerate, making sure we have the right team to deliver. We are also working to ensure our products and services are right for the markets that we’re currently in, as well as the ones we’re expanding into.

If your best friend was on the fence about opening a business/investing in Cape Town, what would you tell them?

You’ll find great investment partners here, and there’s unbelievable talent to recruit and grow.

With the mountains and the ocean within reach from any direction, Cape Town is poised for work-life balance.