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What Absa learned when it started adopting a dotAfrica domain

Last year the geographic top-level domain (gTLD) dotAfrica was launched a fair few companies have adopted it.

One of those companies is Absa which rolled out www.absa.africa back in July.

During the process the financial institution encountered a number of problems that it has outlined for other firms to take note of should they wish to adopt the gTLD as well.

The email problem

As part of adopting the dotAfrica domain, Absa needed to migrate 60 000 email address to the domain while minimising downtime.

The process has been arduous to say the least with only 6 000 email addresses having been moved since 11th July.

Absa says that this was by far one of the most complex processes during the adoption.

The firm hopes to transfer the remaining 54 000 email addresses in the next 18 months.

But while moving email addresses the firm discovered another problem.

With 41 000 employees chances are good that email addresses might be duplicated. So, the firm had to draft email address guidelines that prevent this from happening.

It’s a problem that will likely only appear when it becomes an issue but it’s something worth considering for your own company.

Whitelisting

The financial institution also shared a rather interesting lesson in whitelisting.

Many networks whitelist domains so that users are able to visit them without being told they might be at risk. In the case of dotAfrica however Absa learned that the domain might not be whitelisted.

This should be rectified in time as adoption of dotAfrica ramps up, but it’s a problem worth considering before transferring your entire website to a domain that might be blocked by some networks.

Domain parking, just in case

As we’ve mentioned, adoption of dotAfrica domains is slow and this presents an opportunity for brands.

Absa for instance has registered 400 domains as a defensive strategy.

This is a good idea for a company that wants to both protect its brand and may want to expand its online presence in the future.

These are just a few things that Absa learned and may come in handy should your company wish to adopt a dotAfrica domain as well.

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