How Choice Bank Is Building a More Connected Customer Experience with Telvoip

Choice Bank is a microfinance bank licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya, serving SMEs and individual customers. Its services include supporting businesses with supplier payments across currencies and through the China corridor.

Customer experience is an important part of how the bank wants to serve and differentiate itself. That commitment was recognised when Choice Bank received recognition from the Kenya Bankers Association for Excellence in Banking Customer Experience.

We spoke to Nadine Elsie Mangala, Executive Assistant to the CEO and Board at Choice Bank, about what that standard looks like in practice, and what it takes to maintain it as the bank grows.

For Nadine, it comes down to something simple:

“Good customer service to us means that clients don't have to chase us down, that they are able to reach us and we are able to respond to their queries in minutes.”

But banking makes that harder than it sounds.

A customer might call, continue the conversation on WhatsApp, require help from another team and then follow up again. Complaints need to be investigated. Managers need visibility. And as volumes grow, the bank needs to understand not just how many conversations it is handling, but what is happening inside them.

In a regulated environment, that visibility matters.

For Choice Bank, the question became:

Can we consistently deliver and manage the customer experience across thousands of conversations and multiple channels?

So Choice Bank turned to Telvoip.

Choice Bank wasn't starting from scratch. They already had communication systems in place.

But as the bank grew, those systems were no longer solving the problem in the way the bank needed.

“We were looking for a better way of serving our customers at the least cost possible, but we were also looking for a robust system.”

The gaps were practical.

Conversations were fragmented. A customer could call, continue on WhatsApp and then need another team to step in. For the customer, it was one conversation. For the bank, it could look like several.

Three teams needed different things. Customer Service handled enquiries and issues. Telesales engaged customers around products and loans. Collections needed dependable follow-up. All three needed better visibility.

Leadership couldn't see enough. Which calls were answered? Which were missed? What happened during the interaction? Where did customers need to follow up?

Communication spend was difficult to control. Airtime was loaded onto individual employee lines, making usage harder to monitor. At the same time, Choice Bank wanted a more cost-effective platform without compromising reliability.

Complaints needed evidence. If a customer questioned an interaction, the bank needed to know what had actually been said.

Quality checks were manual. Supervisors could review samples, but at thousands of conversations a month, a sample could only tell them so much.

The problem wasn't a lack of communication. It was a lack of connection, visibility and control.

And those were the gaps Choice Bank wanted to close.

For Choice Bank, price mattered. But price alone wasn't enough.

The bank needed a robust platform that could bring its communication environment together, support different teams and adapt to the realities of banking.

"Telvoip offered us all these features at a very affordable cost, and we were able to solve our client needs under one platform."

That consolidation was a major part of the decision.

“The fact that Telvoip came in to solve all those needs without us having to have fragmented communication systems really was a plus.”

The bank also needed flexibility.

During the trial, Choice Bank identified requirements specific to how it operates. Telvoip worked with the team to adapt the platform rather than asking the bank to work around the technology.

"We had a few suggestions of other things that could be added, and we really appreciated that Telvoip was willing to customize a few features for us just to suit the needs of the banking industry."

The transition, Nadine says, was seamless.

Today, 13 agents across Customer Service, Telesales and Collections work within the same Telvoip environment.

Customers don't think in channels.

They think:  “I already told my bank about this.”

That's why Telvoip's role for Choice Bank extends beyond voice.

Voice and digital conversations sit within the same broader customer communication environment, giving teams a more connected view of what is happening around each customer.

200+ WhatsApp messages every day

Choice Bank receives more than 200 WhatsApp messages daily.

Instead of sitting in a separate inbox, those conversations are now managed within Telvoip and filtered by agent, giving supervisors visibility into who is handling what and helping teams manage ownership as volumes grow.

For a busy customer-service channel, that structure matters. 

But the customer journey doesn't always end with a reply.

From a customer conversation to a resolved ticket

Some customer issues need action beyond the first response.

Telvoip's ticketing capability allows Choice Bank to assign customer issues to individual agents within the same platform.

A conversation can become a ticket.

A ticket gets an owner.

The agent follows it through.

The team can see what is still outstanding.

That creates a clearer path from conversation → action → follow-up.

Because good customer service isn't just about answering the customer.

It's about making sure the issue doesn't disappear after the first response.

The agent doesn't start from zero

Telvoip also connects with Choice Bank's banking system through an API, giving agents access to relevant customer history.

“If it's a repeat client, Telvoip allows us to know that this is the history of this client, they've been calling or messaging because of certain issues.”

That context changes the interaction.

The agent can see more of what came before instead of treating every conversation as a new one.

If one agent isn't available, calls can be routed to another. Missed calls remain visible until someone follows up. Supervisors can monitor live conversations, whisper guidance and step in when needed.

It is a more connected way of managing the customer conversation, from the first contact through to resolution.

5,000+ calls a month. 80% service level.

Choice Bank's teams handle more than 5,000 calls every month through Telvoip.

With routing, missed-call visibility and real-time monitoring in place, the bank is achieving an 80% service level across customer calls.

That gives Choice Bank a measurable view of how effectively the bank is responding to customer demand.

And it brings Nadine's definition of good service into something the bank can actually track:

“Clients don't have to chase us down.”

This is no longer just a phone system.

The bank can see the demand coming in, understand how it is being handled and identify where follow-up is needed.

80% service level across customer calls

Choice Bank now has a measurable view of how effectively its customer calls are being handled.

200+ WhatsApp messages a day are no longer sitting in a disconnected channel

Digital conversations are managed within the same environment, with visibility and filtering by agent. 

For the customer, it means WhatsApp becomes part of the bank's customer-service operation rather than a separate communication silo.

Customer issues have an owner

With Telvoip Ticketing, customer issues can be assigned to individual agents, creating a clearer path from customer conversation to follow-up and resolution.

Customer conversations now come with context

The API connection gives agents relevant customer history, helping them understand repeat interactions rather than starting from zero.

Complaints come with a clearer trail

When a customer raises a concern, Choice Bank can return to the conversation itself.

“In case of any customer complaints, maybe a customer feels they were spoken to rudely, we are able to actually go back and listen in… You don't have to hold someone to something that they did not do because there's proof in the system.”

That gives the bank a clearer record of what happened - protecting both customers and agents.

In banking, that accountability matters.

Supervisors can coach in the moment

Supervisors can monitor calls, whisper guidance or step into a conversation when necessary.

“The system is as good as the agents that are actually using it.”

Telvoip gives managers better visibility into where that human intervention is needed.

For Choice Bank, Telvoip has made coaching easier to apply across a larger number of conversations.

40% lower platform costs

The financial impact is one of the clearest outcomes of the move to Telvoip.

Compared with its previous setup, Choice Bank has achieved 40% savings on its communication platform costs.

The saving came primarily from moving to a more cost-effective platform while bringing Customer Service, Telesales and Collections into one environment.

The bank didn't have to trade capability for cost.

“We're able to onboard more agents at the least possible cost, which is actually a plus for the company.”

And:

“We didn't have to compromise reliability for savings.”

90% savings in airtime and communication usage

There was another cost problem to solve.

Previously, airtime was loaded onto individual employee lines, making usage difficult to monitor and control.

With Telvoip, Choice Bank can now see, monitor and manage communication usage centrally, including loading airtime where needed.

That has resulted in approximately 90% savings in airtime and communication usage costs.

The value isn't only the saving.

The bank now has visibility into who is using what, how much is being used and where spend needs to be managed.

Communication usage becomes something the bank can see and control rather than simply pay for.

For Choice Bank, the technology is only part of the relationship.

During implementation and support, Telvoip's engineering team spent almost a week onsite with the bank, working through requirements and troubleshooting issues.

That local support has continued through ongoing engagement with the bank's stakeholders.

For a financial institution, having a partner who can respond, adapt and work through problems alongside the team matters.

“Having a reliable partner means we look good.”

Choice Bank has a bigger ambition: to position itself as a digital AI bank, with automation playing a greater role in how it operates and serves customers.

The foundation is already there.

Connected conversations. Omnichannel communication. API integration. Ticketing. Agent-level visibility. Call recordings.

The next opportunity is to bring intelligence into those conversations.

As the bank moves further into its digital-AI journey, capabilities such as conversation intelligence, sentiment analysis, AI-powered QA, summaries and recommendations create another layer of opportunity.

For Nadine, that alignment matters.

“The fact that Telvoip shares the same values and the same sentiments means we are able to forge our vision with a partner who actually understands where we want to be.”

And the ambition is clear:

“Telvoip is actually a partner we will need on board to be able to actually succeed in our vision to be the best digital AI bank in Africa.”

What started as a need for better communication infrastructure is becoming something bigger: a more connected foundation for how Choice Bank serves customers, manages teams and builds for the future.

After more than a year of working together, Nadine’s answer is direct.

"If they're not using Telvoip, they should move. They don't know how much they are missing out in being able to just have seamless communications with their clients."

For Choice Bank, the move wasn't about adding another piece of technology.

It was about making thousands of customer conversations easier to reach, easier to manage, easier to follow up and easier to understand.

And for a bank, that means something simple:

When the customer speaks, the organisation is better prepared to listen.

Your customers are already talking to you.

What happens next is up to your platform.

Bring voice, WhatsApp, digital channels, customer context, ticketing, analytics and AI-powered conversation intelligence into one connected environment.

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