SANGEETATANWAR

Airtel Payments Bank, the first in the spaceto roll out services nationally, has grownto 400,000 outlets across India. The com-

pany, which was initially launched as a pilot inNovember 2016 with 10,000 outlets in Rajasthan,has covered 15 million customers since thenationwide roll-out of its services in January thisyear. Given the thin margins for payments banks,the company needs scale to justify customeracquisition and marketing costs as it eyes expan-sion. As it faces these challenges, Airtel PaymentsBank has adopted an asset-light model — sanslarge physical branches — to keep its operatingcosts low. Also most importantly, it is consis-tently drawing lessons from its pilot in Rajasthanto improve its services.

At present, customers can open accounts andremit money out of 1.5 million Airtel outlets.Following a successful pilot, the company has

managed to establish a paperless network ofbanking outlets with uniform on-boardingprocesses across India.

Shashi Arora, managing director and chiefexecutive, Airtel Payments Bank, says, “The pilotwas a crucial phase for us to beta test our tech-nology. For digitally powered paperless bank out-lets, technology is at the heart of operations, it isthe backbone. We have to ensure the technologyinfrastructure at the outlets is robust and our appinterface is simple and easy to use.”

For example, for the company, fine tuningits on boarding process by accurately fetchingAadhaar for establishing user identity throughbiometric authentication has been a key learn-ing from its pilot. Often, people would come tothe outlets with visible discrepancies in theirnames in two sets of documents such as PANand Aadhaar. In most cases, the name of theperson, her first and second name and initials,would be misspelled on the two documents.

“With such cases, we had to figure out how tomarry and match the details provided by a userto verify her identity. Given the discrepancies infields like name of the person, to carry out bio-metric authentication we had to tweak our sys-tems to ensure they take Aadhaar as the ulti-mate document for establishing an individual’sproof of identity,” says Arora.

The pilot proved that to onboard users it was

crucial for the team to pick up and stay with userdetails seeded in Aadhaar. Because this was keyto biometric authentication and crucial for run-ning paperless outlets. Other equally importantinnovation came in the form of USSD (a GSMcommunication technology)-based solutions andensuring these were optimised for feature phoneusers across rural areas.

For Airtel Payments Bank customers, theirmobile number is their account number as well.Given that most customers in rural areas useentry-level feature phones, it was important forthe company to check the key services it couldoffer to them. During the pilot phase, the teamtested and offered services like providing bankbalance and details of last five transactions.

Also, with an aim to tap into users cuttingacross regions and languages, the AirtelPayments Bank app is menu-driven and availablein 12 languages. Using the app, migrant workerscan remit money to other users by using a simpleUSSD code.

Unlike its competitors, Airtel PaymentsBank has the advantage of tapping into Airtel’s280 million subscriber base and converting amajority of pre-paid customers to opt for digi-tal payments services. Also, for players in thefield, payment is the key revenue line and henceit is crucial to identify and create more use cas-es for digital payments. Recognising this, AirtelPayments Bank is aggressively identifying androlling out more use cases for customers.

Leveraging Airtel’s huge customer data base,the payments bank has made utility bill pay-ments a simple process for rural folks who arefamiliar with a feature phone usage but may notbe literate. For utility payments, the app shows upthe electricity board based on the state the useris located in, eliminating confusion for users.

Alongside, the player is striking alliances withthird parties, thereby adding to the depth andreach of its network. For instance, it has tied upwith Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and 14,000HPCL fuel stations will act as banking points forAirtel Payments Bank. Customers would be ableto access a range of banking services at thesefuel stations including opening up new accounts,making cash deposits and withdrawing andtransferring moneyopening up new accounts,making cash deposits and withdrawing andtransferring money.

VANTAGE POINTINSIGHTS FROM CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH

8 STRATEGY NEW DELHI | MONDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER 2017

> .

“We plan to offer an aspirational,international bike at an affordableprice and create a substantial newmarket segment”RAJIV BAJAJManaging director, Bajaj Auto

“We are keen on bringing the I-Pace (JLR’s firstelectric car) to India, but we need chargingfacilities, the ability to service electric cars andthe feasibility of battery supplies’ROHIT SURI

Managing director, JLR India

“I believe discount has a role to play. Thatrole is inducement and trial. Once youhave induced a trial, people should stayback for the benefits”DEEP KALRAFounder & chief group executive, MakeMyTrip

� The pilot proved that to onboard users it wascrucial for the team to pick up and stay withuser details seeded in Aadhaar

� With an aim to tap into users cutting acrossregions and languages, the Airtel PaymentsBank app is menu-driven and available in 12 languages

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

What are the key pain points affectingexecutives and leaders in a VUCA(volatility, uncertainty, complexity,and ambiguity) world?Senior executives, business leaders,ambitious managers and top corpo-rate performers — all of them face sim-ilar pain points, from dealing withcomplexity and ambiguity to a culturethat requires long hours, overwork andbringing work home. Travelling, iso-lation, being always “on”, wanting tohandle everything and not being ableto delegate — all can play a role, asdoes the stress of career moves, healthand family issues.

According to you, psychological per-formance stages are not at all rigid,but involve fluid transitions. How dothese stages correlate with managers’goal-setting ability and performance?A professional’s trajectory can be divid-ed into four psychological stages —drawn in, obsessed, ready for successand playful — which I call the “Ex-ecutive Performance Transformation”.Often, once professionals have their firstmajor success — not only reaching along list of corporate objectives, but also

marking an outstanding achievementon a truly business-critical issue, theirtransformation happens. They learn tofocus their goal-setting and perform-ance management abilities on the areasin which they personally need to makea distinct difference. They deliver excep-tional quality in these specific areas,and effectively manage and delegateother tasks within the organisation.Getting there is a challenge, and manyprofessionals get stuck in the obsessed

stage, feeling tense and frustrated.Certain factors and situations pushthem towards a meltdown, and theycan't progress.

Why is it important for leaders andmanagers to determine their meltingpoint? And how can they go aboutaddressing their melting point?When massive intensity and pressureprevent us from controlling ourthinking, emotions or behaviours,

we’ve reached the melting point. Westart to derail and perform badly,making mistakes. No matter our pas-sion, we can’t take the pressure ormeet the challenges and demands ofour role. Even high-achieving corpo-rate champions can reach that point,when they panic and want to walkaway, potentially damaging theircareer. To really excel in business youhave to learn how to raise your melt-ing point.

First, feeling like you’re makingprogress has been found to be a keymotivator — so it’s important to setdaily priorities, and focus on thosetasks that require your personalattention. Executives especially canfeel pulled in so many directions thatthey may leave after a 12-hour dayand feel like they got nothing done.Instead, break your day into a fewblocks of focused, concentrated,uninterruptable time. Second, mak-ing conscious decisions to eliminatedamaging but deeply ingrainedhabits, and replacing them with goodhabits, can have countless benefits foryour life and work. For instance,instead of churning through theworkday, take regular breaks to dis-connect and move around. And exer-cise will significantly help your sleeppatterns at night — which are vital toperforming well the next day. Learnto leave the office with 30 per cent ofenergy still in the tank — so at homeyou can focus on that last task, andstill have energy left for family.

For leaders and businesses, what isthe key to sustaining high perform-ance consistently?There are three recognisable traits.High performing individuals needpassion for their area of achieve-ment. Passion fuels their journey tosuccess. Next, adaptability. It's notenough to recognise your flaws andunderstand what behaviouralchanges you need to make. You need

to be able to implement thosechanges effectively, and not revert toold habits when you’re under pres-sure. Adaptable people can engagewith and process high quality infor-mation, and bring it to bear effec-tively on their behaviours. Finally,there’s coolness: the best performersexcel in highly charged, criticalmoments and difficult conditions.They don’t allow anxiety and nerv-ousness to stand in the way of beingat their best. They stay cool.

What are the key elements that makefor an effective and impactful corpo-rate programme which could helpkeep leaders stay focused?An effective corporate programme focuses not just on work, but on leaders’ whole lives. I have put togeth-er P6PROP programme, to help lead-ers become highly productive and effective even under massive pressure. The programme focuses onsix strategies: increasing productivity,harmonising inner and outer worlds,discarding dysfunctional habits,applying comprehensive energy man-agement skills, maximising health,and interacting efficiently with pro-fessional and personal networks.

Being able to remain at your per-sonal best, even in times of uncer-tainty or change, is intensely impor-tant. It’s about far more than justworking hard or being smart. It’sabout taking care of yourself onmany levels.

Airtel bank’s pilot lessonsThe payments bank is taking cues from its initial launch in Rajasthan as it eyes expansion

Managing divided attitudinalloyalty of business customersWhile companies toil to gain undivided customer loyalty,customers have long displayed a propensity to exhibit divid-ed loyalties towards brands — while purchasing even basiccommodities. Most of the research on understanding cus-tomer loyalty has focused on the behavioural aspect. The sim-ple rule is that repeated purchases of the same brand signalcustomer loyalty. However, this measure of loyalty suffersfrom a major deficiency — that of not being able to capturethe divided loyalty attitudes of customers. It also hampersexploration of the cruxof the problem: motiva-tions behind the dividedloyalty behaviours.

S Arunachalam, assi-stant professor of marke-ting at the Indian Schoolof Business, says it is im-perative to understandthe motivations behinddivided loyalty for two reasons: to gain deeper insights intocustomers’ loyalty attitude determinants; and to help com-panies gain managerial insights on understanding and han-dling divided-loyal customers to the company’s benefit. Hesays, “An understanding of customer loyalty begins with anunderstanding of customer motivation. Unless brands under-stand the motivations behind the divided loyal behaviours ofcustomers, brands will struggle to create meaningful relation-ships or enduring engagements with customers.” The resultsof a study by Arunachalam and his colleague show firmsmust pay attention to divided-loyal customers as they formaround 30 per cent of the customer pool. For firm-friendlyresults, firms could get dealers to intervene on their behalfand recommend products to end customers. The study alsostresses that a customer-value oriented strategy is more effec-tive than an incentive-reward strategy in motivating dealersto recommend a product to customers.

Online buyers preferengagingdirectly with brandsThe retail industry is constantly undergoing change,altering the roles of retailers, brands and shopping channelsto meet consumer demands for information, convenienceand high-quality commerce experiences. While tradition-al consumers once preferred multi-brand retail experi-ences, the pendulum is shifting towards the brand, puttinggreater importance on manufacturers’ websites for sales,research and service. In fact, 55 per cent of shoppers preferto shop directly with brand manufacturers over retailers,according to Astound Commerce Insight’s “Global BrandShopper Survey”. Withtwo out of three onlineshoppers surveyed hav-ing purchased at leastthree products in thepast six months, busi-ness is brisk at brandsites as well.

To better understandhow consumers shopwith brand manufacturers and their expectations for brandexperiences, Astound Commerce surveyed 1,000 consumerswho shop online and have visited a brand manufacturer’swebsite in the past six months. The survey found the major-ity of these shoppers (54 per cent) turn to brands over retail-ers for more comprehensive product information, in addi-tion to enhanced customer service, better prices and morepersonalisation options. “The role that brand manufactur-ers play in today’s retail landscape has evolved,” said LaurenFreedman, SVP of digital strategy for Astound Commerce.“Consumers’ heightened expectations for digital commercemeans brands must master online selling and present com-pelling and competitive shopping experiences, on par withmulti-brand counterparts. Moving forward, brands andretailers must explore even more creative ways to demon-strate value and engage through experiential means to wooyounger customers and maintain customer loyalty, partic-ularly in light of the challenging retail climate.”

STATSPEAK IN YOUR OPINION,TECHNOLOGY IS…

WHAT IS THE NEXT BIG TECHNOLOGY TREND? (In %)

CREATING78.6%

DESTROYING 21.4%

Artificial Biotechnology Robotics Internet Driverless intelligence of Things cars

28 11.5 9.3 9.3 7.1

WHAT MAKES CONTENT TRUSTWORTHY

ON THE INTERNET?(In %)

Certified websites61.8

Reputation of the publisher53.6

Shared by experts48.4

Content owner’s Reputation48.1

Education 19.3

Health care 14.9

Manufacturing 14.4

Energy 14.1

Infrastructuredevelopment 9.4

WHICH SECTOR WILLMOST BENEFIT FROMTHE ADOPTION OFTECHNOLOGIES? (In %)

An overwhelming numberofyoung people in the agegroup of18 to 35 thinktechnologyis “creatingjobs” as opposed to“destroying jobs”,according to the WorldEconomic Forum’s GlobalShapers 2017 survey.Regionally, Sub-SaharanAfrica and Europe have thelowestshare ofvotes for“creating jobs” (70 and 71.6per cent) compared to otherregions where the value iscloser to 80 per centofvotes

TECH-FRIENDLY

CHRISTIAN MARCOLLIAuthor, The MeltingPoint: How to stay cooland deliver world-classbusiness performance

‘Adaptable leaders can engage with and process quality information’Even corporate champions can reach a point when they panic andwant to walk away, potentially damaging their careers. To reallyexcel in business you have to learn how to raise your meltingpoint, CHRISTIAN MARCOLLItells Sangeeta Tanwar

DALIP KUMAR