By Sharon Tibenda

11^th July 2011:

NSSF officials lauching the new e-service

The National Social Security Fund [NSSF] has launched an SMS service which will enable its members to get access to their contributions balances on their mobile phones, and detailed statements online from NSSF’s website.

NSSF also announced that it had set up a call centre with a toll free line.  Addressing a press conference on Wednesday 6^th July, NSSF Managing Director Richard Byarugaba said the three services are part of the Fund’s innovations aimed at improving service delivery to members in its continued effort to be customer centric.

“…The SMS service, toll free line 0800 286773 and e-statements are part of our customer self service initiatives. Our customers no longer have to come to our offices to access their statements; they can now check their balances on their mobile phones, access their full statements online and call us for free”, Byarugaba said.

The Fund has previously been sending and issuing statements in hard copy to members, which was costly and inconvenient. The Fund has also not had a fully fledged call centre.  To access balances through SMS, NSSF members will be required to send the word “NSSF” to 6773, after which they will receive instructions to request for a Personal Identification Number (PIN).

Members will be instructed to type NSSF< leave space> NSSF No < leave space> Date of Birth Full Names then send an SMS to 6773. NSSF Customer Service will then validate the data sent in by comparing it with the bio data of the customer available in our system. Once the data has been validated, the member will receive a PIN and instructed to “type Bal your new PIN” and send to 6773 and the balance will be received.

Byarugaba said this will be a one-time request for a PIN but contributors can thereafter change the PIN to a preferred private number.  To access detailed statements, members are required to visit the Fund’s website www.nssfug.org and follow four simple steps.

“…All customers have to do is send an e-mail to customerservice@nssfug.org requesting a password with details such as name, NSSF number, date of birth, parents names and current employer.  We shall immediately validate the details and a secret password will be sent to the member’s e-mail account. The customer can then go to our website, fill in his/her NSSF number and password, log in and view their e-statement”, Byarugaba said.

He added that the Fund’s new SMS service and e-statements are quicker and convenient ways to access their statements. The toll free line will be available from 7: am to 9:00 pm.  Byarugaba added that the Fund will continue to automate and ensure efficiency, customer centricity and save its members’ time and money.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.