Submitted to:

Dr. REETI AGARWAL

Submitted by:

Alok Shukla JIML-10-012 Amit Gupta JIML-10-014 Ankur Tewari JIML-10-023 Anubha Gupta JIML-10-024

Acknowledgement

We take immense pleasure to acknowledge the efforts of the following people who helped our group to make this project a reality. We express our gratitude for their suggestions, guidance and intellectual influence.

We express our sincere thanks to Dr. REETI AGARWAL, for making this project a reality.

We are also thankful to all our Lecturers for their help and kind co-operation throughout the course. Last, but not the least, we would like to thank our parents and friends who always supported in all our endeavors.

Alok Shukla Amit Gupta

Ankur Tewari Anubha Gupta

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

Telecom Sector in India .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Network Expansion: .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Wireless Service: .................................................................................................................................................... 4

Wire line Subscribers: ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Teledensity: ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

Increasing Role of Private Sector: ........................................................................................................................ 5

Tariff Rebalancing Measures: ............................................................................................................................... 5

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI): ................................................................................................... 5

AIRTEL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6

Businesses .............................................................................................................................................................. 6

Competitive Strengths ............................................................................................................................................ 7

Brand Architecture: ................................................................................................................................................ 7

VODAFONE ....................................................................................................................................................... 8

SWOT Analysis ........................................................................................................................................................... 9

Bharti Airtel .............................................................................................................................................................. 9

Vodafone .................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Company Prospective ............................................................................................................................................... 11

Customer Perspectives ............................................................................................................................................. 22

Introduction

Telecom Sector in India

Than 125 million telephones network is one of the largest communication networks in world, which

continues to grow at a blistering pace.

The rapid growth in the telecom sector can be attributed to the various pro-active and positive policy

measures taken by the government as well as the dynamic and entrepreneurial spirit of the various

telecom service providers both in private and public sector. The telecom sector has shown impressive

growth during the past decade. Today, more

Two striking features of this growth viz. increasing preference for mobile phones and higher

contribution of private sector in the incremental growth have pre-dominated the telecom sector. The

share of mobile phones (including WLL mobile) has overtaken the share of landlines with 62% in the

total number of phones. The private sector's contribution is also increasing rapidly. Currently more than

30 lakh phones are being added each month and it is targeted that by the end of 2008 the total number of

phones may reach a level of 350 million taking the tele-density to more than 30% which is currently at

24.63%.

Network Expansion: The total number of telephone subscribers has reached 281.62 million at the

end of January 2008 as compared to 232.87 million in July 2007. The overall Teledensity has increased

to 23.63% in January 2008 as compared to 21.20% in August 2007.

Wireless Service: The wireless segment saw a surge of 8.77 million subscribers last month compared

to 8.17 million in December2007. This pushed the total wireless subscribers’ base to 242.40 million by

Jan 31 2008.

Wire line Subscribers: The wire line segment subscriber base stood at 39.73 million with a

decrease of 0.16 million at the end of January 2008.

Teledensity: The gross subscriber base reached 206.83 million at the end of March 2007. The

Teledensity is 24.63%at the end of January 2008 as compared to 18.31% at the end of March 2007,

registering an increase of 6%.

Increasing Role of Private Sector: The private sector has played a significant role in the growth

of telecom sector. The share of private sector has risen to 85 per cent in December 2007 from 64.14 per

cent in November 2006.

Tariff Rebalancing Measures: There has been a dramatic fall in the tariffs due to increased

competition. The minimum effective charges for local calls have fallen considerably in recent months

especially for cellular service. The long distance domestic as well as international charges have also

fallen considerably.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI): TRAI was established under the Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 enacted on March 28, 1997. The goals and objectives of TRAI

are focused towards providing a regulatory framework that facilitates achievement of the objectives of

New Technology Policy (NTP) 1999. TRAI has endeavored to encourage greater corporation in the

telecom sector together with better quality and affordable prices.

AIRTEL

Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India operated by Bharti Airtel. Airtel is the largest

cellular service provider in India in terms of number of subscribers. Bharti Airtel owns the Airtel brand

and provides the following services under the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using GSM

Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line, Internet Connectivity (DSL) and Leased

Line), Long Distance Services and Enterprise Services (Telecommunications consulting for corporate).

It has presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers 71% of the current population (as of FY07).

Leading international telecommunication companies such as Vodafone and SingTel held partial stakes in

Bharti Airtel. The Company has developed the following strategies to achieve its strategic objective:

• Focus on maximizing revenues and margins;

• Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum geographical coverage;

• Offer multiple telecommunications services to provide customers with a "one-stop shop"

solution;

• Position itself to tap data transmission opportunities and offer advanced mobile data services;

• Focus on satisfying and retaining customers by ensuring high level of customer satisfaction;

• Leverage strengths of its strategic and financial partners; and

• Emphasize on human resource development to achieve operational efficiencies.

Businesses

Bharti Tele-Ventures current businesses include -

• Mobile services

• Fixed-line

• National and international long distance services

• VSAT, Internet services and network solutions

• Broadband services with DSL and Wi-Fi network

Competitive Strengths

Bharti Tele-Ventures believes that the following elements will contribute to the Company's success as

an integrated telecommunication services provider in India and will provide the Company with a solid

foundation to execute its business strategy:

• Nationwide Footprint - approximately 92% of India's total mobile subscribers resided in the

Company's fifteen mobile circles. These 15 circles collectively accounted for approximately 56%

of India's land mass;

• Focus on telecommunications to enable the Company to better anticipate industry trends and

capitalize on new telecommunications-related business opportunities.

• The strong brand name recognition and a reputation for offering high quality service to its

customers;

• Quality management team with vision and proven execution skills; and

• The Company's strong relationships with international strategic and financial investors such as

SingTel, Warburg Pincus, International Finance Corporation, Asian Infrastructure Fund Group

and New York Life Insurance.

Brand Architecture:

Bharti is working on a complex three-layered branding architecture — to:

• Create specific brands for each service,

• Build sub-brands within each of these services and

• Use Bharti as the mother brand providing the group its corporate identity as well as

defining its goal to become a national builder of telecoms infrastructure.

VODAFONE

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 16 telecom circles

in India Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar; its products are simply branded Vodafone. It

offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong

in the major metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology,

offering voice and data services in 16 of the country's 23 license areas.

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 16 telecom circles

in India . Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded Vodafone. It

offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong

in the major metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology,

offering voice and data services in 16 of the country's 23 license areas.

SWOT Analysis

Bharti Airtel Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India's largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU's) - Mobile Services, Airtel Tele media Services & Enterprise Services.

Strengths

Bharti Airtel has more than 65 million customers (July 2008). It is the largest cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone services - as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers. Other stakeholders in Bharti Airtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel, with whom they hold a strategic alliance. This means that the business has access to knowledge and technology from other parts of the telecommunications world. The company has covered the entire Indian nation with its network. This has underpinned its large and rising customer base.

Weaknesses

An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by Sunil Bharti Mittal over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and experience of how a cellular telephone system actually worked. So the start-up business had to outsource to industry experts in the field. Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strength of some of its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally. The fact that the Airtel has not pulled off a deal with South Africa's MTN could signal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity for the business once the Indian market has become mature.

Opportunities

The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine which will enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with Google can only enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides advertising opportunities in Indian for Google.

Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a key strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone will be launched in India via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with BlackBerry Wireless Solutions.

Threats

Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off relationship. Vodafone which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel, and instead invested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its competitors.

The quickly changing pace of the global telecommunications industry could tempt Airtel to go along the acquisition trail which may make it vulnerable if the world goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact upon the decision not to proceed with talks about the potential purchase of South Africa's MTN in May 2008.

Vodafone

Strengths

• Complementary strengths of Vodafone & Hutch esaar • The brand name it has in the Indian market • The kind of subscriber bas it has in the Indian market • It has the 2nd highest market share in India • It has a 2nd highest subscriber base in India 1st being Airtel • Its strong advertising strategies and impact on people • Its India’s 3rd biggest mobile carrier

Opportunities

• Emerging markets and expansion abroad • Innovation • Product and services expansion • Growing data business and 3G auctioning • VAS as a means to increase ARPU (big boss, Zoo Z00) • Growing Enterprise solution market (10.2% in 2009 anticipated) • Large capital can be raised by listing Vodafone on Indian Stock Exchange(IPO) • Tower sharing business with Indus Towers

Weaknesses

• Low R&D

• Ubiquitiouegory, products, services

• High customer churns (33.33%)

• Rural India unable to relate to the brand

• Poor network coverage

Threats

• Lower cost competitors or imports

• Price wars

• Falling ARPU from 247-222(September 2009)

• Hyper completion (total 13 players in the market)

Company Prospective

Question 1: Do you have a formal system of CRM? If yes since where, if no then why not?

Answer:

For Airtel: Yes we have a formal system for CRM.

Its importance is customer grievances are resolved faster, when system was manually operated only 40% of customer issues were resolved. About 90% issues are resolved.

We can provide the customer with innovative products and services.

For Vodafone: Yes as soon as any customer contacts us we respond them. In case they want to learn about our plans we always ask them that we can sent a representative to there home who can clear al their doubts we always try to resolve there grievances at the earliest.

Question 2: What you understand by CRM? Why do you think CRM is important for co. today? Answer: For Airtel: CRM means customer relationship management. For us it means maintaining good relation with customer by listening to the problems n solving them. As it will increase the customer base n help the company to retaining them.

For Vodafone: CRM means customer relationship management. It creates good image for the company in the minds of the customer. And it attracts more customers to our company.

Question 3: How do you target your customer? What media do you use mostly?

Answer:

For Airtel: Through telephone calls, sms, emails, fax, and TV commercials. For masses we use advertisements.

For Vodafone: - Through telephone calls, sms, emails, fax, and TV commercials (featuring zoo)

Question 4: While acquiring customer do you give any incentive to attract them?

Answer:

For Airtel: No, we have standard plans for all the customers. For Vodafone: No, we have standard plans for all the customers.

Question 5: What are the various touch points available for your co.? How do you inform your customer about these various touch point. Which touch point is most popular among customer according to you and why?

Answer:

For Airtel: Our touch point with the customer is through our Airtel Stores which we have around the city and also through the retailers who have a special access to our customer care center and also through our website.

For Vodafone: We have an extensive program through which we try to give our customers an easy solution of their problem by providing Vodafone stores which are run by Vodafone and Vodafone Mini Stores (VMS) were we can not open our large Vodafone store which are run by franchise. We also try to do it through our website.

Question 6: What is the most cost effective touch point for the company? What do you do to make customer use more of this touch point?

Answer:

For Airtel: Airtel website is one of the most cost effective way of getting in touch with our customer we place our promotional offers and if a consumer wishes to purchase a product he can do so and can also solve his problem.

For Vodafone: Vodafone website is one of the most cost effective way of getting in touch with our customer we have a we place our promotional offers and if a consumer wishes to purchase a product he can do so and can also solve his problem our highly interactive websites offer our costumer a delightful experience on our services like 3G.

Question 7 Do you have a formal system of collecting information about your customer? Describe.

Answer:

For Airtel: Yes at Airtel we collect our customer data and have an extensive database management and Airtel has also implemented CRM so that we get customer history and credentials ready

It also helps in

● Customer segmentation ● Cross selling and up selling of relevant schemes ● Market analytics like records of customer profiles, profile, payment history etc ● Generation of accurate leads and SMS bursts that target only the right customers based on their

segmentation is possible ● First time resolution has increased from 40 % to more than 90 %

For Vodafone: Vodafone customer management systems in India Enterprise Business Unit (EBU). This involved the implementation of the latest version of dise3G, Martin Dawes’ end-to-end billing and CRM solution.

Vodafone said the upgraded system would improve customer service handling and build the cross-selling of products and services, helping the operator reduce customer churn and increase ARPU.

Question 8: Do you use a data base or software? If yes which one?

Answer:

For Airtel: Oracle was used as the database software

For Vodafone: Vodafone had in house developed software for the CRM Purpose.

Question 9: What information do you collect about customer? For what purpose do you use this information? How regularly do you update information about customer? Answer:

For Airtel: All businesses are there to support its clients for it to achieve success. The focus of all the companies should be on their clients. In order to know the customer preferences, you will have to collect, group and analyze customer details. By knowing the likings and disliking of your customer will help you build a strong bond with existing clients and also to attract many more new clients. This strategy not only applies to conventional multinational companies even to small businesses that entail dealing directly with clients. They said as we regularly to get in touch with the customers for proper changes according to need of customer.

For Vodafone: The customer data and information will be stored in a central site, and with the help of CRM tools you can access these details, manipulate them and make your decision from anyplace in the world at all times. The customer targeted scheme will help companies build a strong link with their customers and thus increasing its stronghold with its customer, giving a profitable Return of Investments thru the business. They also said that they regularly try to get in touch with the customers for proper changes & feedback according to need of Customer. They both also said that they will only collect

Personal Information when it is necessary to do so in accordance with our core business activities (the Primary Purpose). The nature of the Personal Information collected by them will depend upon the Primary Purpose for which it is collected. We will make the Primary Purpose known at the time the information is collected.

The nature of Personal Information collected may include, but is not limited to:

• Name • Phone number • E-mail address • Job title • Company address

Instances where Personal Information will be collected or requested may include, but are not limited to:

• Requests for product or service likes information

• Asking for software troubleshooting or support assistance & try to solve them as soon as possible.

• Allow them to be contacted by an employee for any sort of problem.

In some instances where a business relationship already exists with company, or is reasonably likely to exist, it may be necessary to collect or request the collection of additional information to allow company to perform its business activities and obligations. Such information may include, but is not limited to:

• Exploration data • Production data

Use of Information The information collected by companies will generally be used for the Primary Purpose for which it is collected. Depending on the Primary Purpose the information may be stored in Company’s Customer Relationship Management System or other databases.

• Company may use stored information for purposes including, but not limited to: • How to Improve products and services • Improving marketing material • Promoting related companies products and services

Question 10: How regularly do you get in touch with customer and for what purpose through what media?

Answer:

For Airtel: We regularly get in touch with the customers, either they come to Airtel office or outside the office. We open our lot of relation ship management stores across whole nation if any customer comes

to that store for any complaint we assure them to clear out their problem in 24hours and give the details of their problems in 24 hours and outside these on every store where Airtel is present we provide them complaint forms which should be filled by customers for fast problem solving. He said that purpose of doing this is that now in this type of market customers has lot of choices to switch over other so to retain them is very necessary so we try to communicate to them by any medium which we think it helps to understand us better.

For Vodafone: They also said that they also try to get in touch with customers by providing call center service to mobile operators the site have complaint form which was check in every 12 hours for quick assistance. By telling customer about the new offers through phone calls is also one of the method by which we can touch with them we try to create the association of customer with us. The purpose was same that to retain customers because of lot choices in the market with large competition so it is very necessary to convey or provide them the value for money time of things with lot of flexibility for them & we always focus on these things. They think the best way to tell about you to customers is pan shops, autos where the visibility is much higher.

Question 11: Generally what do you feel about satisfaction level of customer with the product and service of your co.?

Answer:

For Airtel: He said that according to me there are following attributes which are very necessary to decide for satisfaction level with the product & service usage of the product & they are as follows

Product Use Service usage Design: Fit , Form, Function Timeliness

Availability Knowledge Speed Timeliness Frequency of problems

Accuracy Accuracy of Service Ease of use Delivery when Promised Value Concern for customers Quality Friendliness Features Overall Service Quality

So these are the things which our company are paying attention to retain our customer and we think that we are success in doing that & we also think that the customers are satisfied with are product & services provided by our company.

For Vodafone: They said that their product & service offered to customers are so flexible that customer are satisfied with their brand even they are trying to give their so much flexibility in every service offered that customer do not have to take so much of stress or take any problems. We are launched so flexible packs that customer will get on one click only.

He also talks about the product and service attributes such as:

Level of satisfaction: - That most of the customers who are attached to Vodafone family are satisfied with services provided and Product offered.

Knowledge of Product: In today’s world every one knows that telecommunication playing an important role so every one is aware of Vodafone also & its product.

Repeat Purchase & number of customer retained are much larger than any other company.

Question 12: Do you have a formal way of measuring customer satisfaction? Describe it. Answer:

For Airtel: They said that as customer satisfaction is the key for improving all companies’ internal processes. A customer satisfaction rating (CSR) is often obtained through a questionnaire—the customer satisfaction survey (CSS). This method, however, suffers from the drawback of customers likely being emotionally influenced while filling out these questionnaires.

For Vodafone: They also said that they will use the questionnaire or conduct the customer feedback type of surveys but they also said that companies do not get any value from customer-filled CSR forms. But they must recognize that responses can be emotionally based, and that the customer is not one person, but an organization—meaning multiple people. While so, only one person represents the organization and fills out the survey. Would this person consult all concerned before filling it out? Ideally, he or she should, but often, he or she will not. This gives rise to the need for a way to compute a CSR based on internal data—data that is free from bias and that gives a realistic metric on customer satisfaction.

Question 13: What step do you take as a co. to increase the satisfaction level of customers?

Answer:

For Airtel:

1. Perceived As An Expensive Brand. Price should be competitive, Airtel always charges extra for

the same service as compared to the prices charge by other operators.

2. Distribution of new connection should be in reach of customer. 3. Sales promotion tools like gifts, contests and coupons must be given to retailers as well as

customers and prospects.

4. Absence in the Rural and Interior Areas.

5.

For Vodafone:

1. The company should modify its credit policy as they only target the cash paying customers who are not easy to trace.

2. Sales promotion tools like gifts, contests and coupons must be given to retailers as well as customers and prospects.

3. The company should offers such rate in the market so that it may able to catch a bigger market share and it should be able to compete with the local traders and commission agents while having a brand name.

Question 14: How do you distinguish between your more valuable and less valuable customer’s? Is there any special treatment or service given to the more variable customer? Describe this.

Answer: Being in a position to focus on your most valuable customers might sound like a luxury. After all, many small businesses are grateful for customers of any kind. But every business finds that some customers are more valuable than others. This can be for a range of reasons - from the size of their purchases to the relative ease of managing their account. Successful businesses are generally those that identify these customers, build relationships with them and work to bring in new customers with a similar profile.

A valuable customer will usually meet one or more important criteria such as: placing a few large orders rather than a number of smaller orders; purchasing services or goods with high profit margins; paying on time; and requiring only a limited amount of after-sales support. To identify its most profitable customers, a business will need to analyze all its sales data. Some businesses will find that a relatively small number of customers account for much of the profit. Some techniques used by Airtel and Vodafone are:

• Efficient IT system. • Effective management of customer's database.

Once the most valuable customers have been identified, it makes good sense for a business to shape its service and resources around their needs. Special treatment or services given to the more valuable customers by Airtel and Vodafone generally are:

• Offering priority services. • Rewards • Excellent and personalized customer care.

Question 15: Do you have any loyalty scheme of your program for your customer? Describe them. Is there any incentive for the referral?

Answer

For Airtel:

1. Airtel has introduced the latest customer loyalty points program known as Airtel super points.

2. The company is going to launch a new customer loyalty program across the country for the pre-paid customers called Recharge Reward. In which PRE-PAID users of Airtel can look forward to some free talk time each time they recharge their card.

3. Shop & Earn Points: Shop for some Exciting Offers at GIFT360.in & get rewarded with Bonus

Points!

For Vodafone:

1. Vodafone VIP: A way for Vodafone to thank all of their customers for being with their network. They can get advanced tickets and enter competitions to win unique customer experiences in three different areas; Festivals, Fashion and Formula 1

2. Vodafone El Super: The first program to offer great value and fantastic gifts, offered specifically

for special prepaid line customers.

3. The Roam & Redeem Outbound Loyalty Program.

Question 16: How many customer complaints on an average do you get in a month? What are generally these complaints related to? How do you solve these complaints in terms of?

Answer:

For Airtel: As many as 12,001 complaint calls were received against Bharti Airtel telephony services, as per the data available with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH). Reacting to the data, Bharti Airtel said the number of complaints in percentage terms is negligib1le when compared with the company’s active customer base.

i) Time taken: Usually any issue is resolved within maximum 72 hours.

ii) Solution given:

i) Airtel customers have the convenience to access our 24-hr customer service centre at 121. ii) Complaints, comments or suggestions are also entertained via e-mail at 121@airtel.in iii) Follow up: This is generally accompanied by a verification feedback call from the

customer care after the issue is fixed.

For Vodafone: As many as 10,599 complaint calls were received against Vodafone services, as per the data available with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).

• Time taken: Usually any issue is resolved within maximum 72 hours.

• Solution given:

a. Vodafone customers have the convenience to access our 24-hr customer service centre at +91 9811098110

b. Complaints, comments or suggestions are also entertained via e-mail at vodafonecare.del@vodafone.com

• Follow up: This is generally accompanied by a verification feedback call from the customer care after the issue is fixed.

Question 17: How many customers do you loose or lost in last 6 months or average in the month? Have you taken any step or planning to take any steps? What do you think is the main reason for your customer leaving co.? Describe them.

Answer: According to well documented study a business loses customers for the one or more of following reasons:

• 1% die • 3% move away • 5% leave because of a recommendation from a friend or relative • 9% leave because they perceive that another company has better products, services or prices

than you do • 14% leave because they are dissatisfied with your product or service • Add all of those together and you only have 32%. • That leaves 68% of the customers who defect to your competitors unaccounted for. What

other reasons could there possibly be for why customers defect?

Number of customers Airtel and Vodafone lost in past 6 months is:

Company Number of customer Lost(in million)

Airtel 0.15

Vodafone 0.07

Reason for customers leaving company:

Three categories of problems or critical incidents were identified: 1. Technical problems 2. Pricing/billing 3. Miscellaneous regarding disconnection, transfer of phone number

Plans undertaken to win back the lost customers by Airtel and Vodafone:

1) Better Network Coverage – It should follow you! So, network coverage is certainly on top priority.

2) Improved Quality of Service – They should understand you! Once access network coverage is achieved, quality of the service provided was of utmost importance.

3) Slashed Tariff Charges – It should be enviable! No points for guessing what the fuss was all about in the telecom industry for last couple of years. Yes, it was regarding ultra-competitive tariff rates. Each telecom operator was trying to pip other in terms of introducing 1 second plan to ½ second plan and even fraction-of-a-second plan.

4) Increased Value added Products – More than a helping hand! Mobile value added services are innovative set of mobile applications serving beyond basic voice and messaging services. These include high-end services such as entertainment (chats, video downloads, ring-back tones), gaming, multimedia content delivery and conferencing services to name a few.

5) Attractive offers to include Friends and Family – Always remain in touch! Yes, almost every operator has some package or scheme revolving around economical calls routed to the number of your near and dear ones. Most telecoms provide facility of calling at cheaper rates on particular set of mobile numbers on paying certain subscription charges.

6) Better 3G Services – Speed does matter! The new 3G technology will ensure fast-paced internet connection at broadband speed even while on a move.

Customer Perspectives

Question 1: How long have you been a customer of this company?

For Airtel:

Answer: Out of 10 customers around 7 of them have been using Airtel from last 2-3 years.

For Vodafone:

Answer: Out of 10 customers around 6 have started using it from last 1year. Question 2: What is your level of satisfaction with the following parameters of the co.- Answer: Out of 10 most of the customer rated all the attributes as good and average Airtel Vodafone

(i) Product good good

(j) Service good average

(k) Complaint handling good average

(l) Price average average

(m) Quality good average

(n) Employee behavior good good

(o) Response good average

(p) Query handling etc. average average Question 3: Why have you chosen this company visit the competitors?

For Airtel: Because of it good service

For Vodafone: Because of its advertisement and new schemes

Question 4: What do you as a customer understand by the term CRM? Answer: most of the customers replied-having good relations with customer, solving customer problems, retaining customer. Question 5: Were you’re first approached by the co. or did you approach then describe how? Answer: in most of the cases the customer bought the sim of the respective operator themselves after listening about its fast speed and good services.

Question 6: What are the various touch points available for you to get in touch with the co.? Which one do you use the most frequently and why? Answer: various touch points are:

• shops • call centre • customer care centre • company website

Most of the customer usually used customer care number then customer care centre in order to get in touch with the company.

Question 7: Why do you or have you mostly get in touch with the co.?

Answer:

For Airtel: Most of the respondents said that they get in touch basic problem solving or getting to know about the various products of Airtel or running services.

For Vodafone: On the other hand people contact Vodafone for best deals or certain billing related issues or enquire various products of Vodafone.

Question 8: When were you getting in touch with the co.? How would you rate the co. in terms of employee behavior, response given, time taken, concern, empathy, attention, soar etc.? Does the co. get in touch with you? How regularly and what purpose?

Answer:

For Airtel: Most of the respondents were of the view that the comp group were a strong believer that company any never contacted them and the majorly they didn't show an attitude of concern and empathy.

For Vodafone: The customer thought that they were valued and a strong wrongly believed that they valued time and focused on problem solving.

Question 9: Does the co. give you an option of not allowing them to get in touch with if you so desire?

Answer:

For Airtel: Yes

For Vodafone: yes

Question 10: Does the co. asked you or has asked you to give any information about yourselves to them? What all information have they asked for?

Answer:

For Airtel: Yes all the basic proofs of identity and a few things about income gender etc.

For Vodafone: Yes all the basic proofs of identity and a few things about income gender etc.

Question 11: How do you feel about sharing the information and how regularly do they ask you for information about yourself? Answer: For Airtel: Rarely

For Vodafone: Sometimes

Question 12: For what purpose do you think the co. uses this information?

Answer:

For Airtel: Most of the people thought that it was for the compliance with TRAI

For Vodafone: Most of the people thought that it was for the compliance with TRAI

Question 13: Do you think your information has been or can be misused by co.? Answer:

For Airtel: We have done the survey for 10 peoples & used that information in drawing some conclusion. When we asked them so 70% of people said that no the company do not misuse the data they have just taken that data for their regular customers & check for loyal customers but 30% of them said that they misuse the data for getting telephone numbers & other data given to them. After taking the data the proper changes should not be made.

For Vodafone: In respect of Vodafone 80% peoples are satisfied with the product & services offered by the company & they said they thinks the company will not misuse the data they take it for making proper changes acc. to need for all customers. But 20 % of them said that they will misuse it some of them complaint about disperencies in the bill.

Question 14: Has the co. use formally approached you for measuring your satisfaction with their product or services? Describe the procedure. Answer:

For Airtel: The Company formally measured our satisfaction level by calls from customer care services. Some of them replied that there are several ways to gather input from customers. The simplest way is to find out how customers feel and what they want is to ask them. If you have only 20 customers, you can talk to each one personally. The advantage of this approach is that you’ll get a personal “feel” for each customer. The disadvantage is that you’ll gather different information from each customer depending on how the conversation goes.

For Vodafone: Customer surveys with standardized question surveys insure that you will collect the same information from everyone. Remember that few of your customers will be interested in “filling out a questionnaire”. It’s work for them without much reward. By launching a customer survey as an attempt to find out “how we can serve you better” — your customers will feel less put upon. They also check the satisfaction by regularly home visit.

Here are a few of the possible dimensions you could measure:

• quality of service • speed of service • pricing • complaints or problems • trust in your employees • the closeness of the relationship with contacts in your firm • types of other services needed • your positioning in clients’ minds

Question 15: Are there any rewards given by the co. for being a regular and loyal customer of the co.? Describe them. Answer:

For Airtel: There are 90% customers who said that Yes Company will give rewards for being a regular and loyal customer most of them will get discounts in their monthly bills even they will get various schemes to buy at a discount prices. But 10% peoples denied from this fact that they will not get any reward or discount types of schemes for being a loyal customers.

For Vodafone: For Vodafone 80% are agree with reward type of things but 10% said that these type of facility will given by company only at the time of launching new services & 10% said that they had not get any reward for being a loyal customers.

Question 16: Have you or would you purchase from this co. again. Why or why not? Answer:

For Airtel: Out of 10 customers 6 are using Airtel & they are ready to purchase again if they need, because they are satisfied with the product & service offering & most of them are getting lot of benefits by associating with Airtel.

For Vodafone: out of 10, 7 customers are using Vodafone they also ready to buy or go for Vodafone again they are also satisfied with the service offerings of Vodafone & even they think they are one of the loyal & members of the Vodafone family.

Question 17: Have you or will you recommend this co. to your friends, relatives. Why and why not? Answer:

For Airtel: 90% of them are ready to recommend Airtel to their friends & their relatives the major reason is better offering at better prices with good quality is giving by Airtel. But 10% of them are not recommended the company because of some disperencies in bills or because of some other reasons.

For Vodafone: As Vodafone is one of the largest telecommunication brand now a days so 9 peoples say that the packs in Vodafone are so much flexible that we didn’t have to go anywhere everything is available only on one click & that is the best feature of Vodafone is offering, the seamless service is the second aspect of the company.

Question 18: Does the co. have a loyalty program? Are you a member of it? Why or why not? What advantages and disadvantages do you associate with the program?

Answer:

For Airtel: Yes the company will have loyalty programs, & 60% of them are the members of various loyalty programs in this type of market the customer retention is very necessary because we have very options to switch so company tries to retain their loyal customers the advantage of these type of program are that they will gain new customers & retain their existing customers. The disadvantage to associate to these types of program are that they can’t call to each & every people who are loyal so it will lead to switching,& other thing is that company will cost so much of money in these types of loyalty programs.

For Vodafone: Yes the company has the loyalty programs & 70% of them are the members of various loyalty programs. The main advantage of these programs is that the company more focuses on the existing customers and always tries to associate with them. The disadvantage of these types of customer is that they can’t consider all loyal customers. 30% are not heard about any of the loyalty programs run by the company.

Question 19: What improvement/ changes would you like to see in the loyalty program, products, service quality, working of the company etc.?

Answer:

Number of People Improvements Required

6 Loyalty Programs should also target people who are not very valuable customers but are very frequent customers

4 Bill Payments should be collected from their home

2-4 More discounts and offers should be given quite often.

Question 20: Have you ever had a complaint with the company? How many times and what were these complaints related to?

Answer:

Number of People

Issue Faced Made any complaint

Number of times complaints were made

Issue Type

5 Yes Yes 90% Network Problem

5 Yes Yes Every time Unnecessary Price Charged

1 Yes No 0 -NA-

1 No No 0 -NA-

Question 21: How was your compliant handle by the company? Discuss the procedure in full details.

Answer:

Number of People

Issue Faced Course of events Result

5 Network Problem Was believed. Quick solution to the problem.

Satisfied.

5 Unnecessary Price Charged

Was treated well and promised correction. This did not happen despite several reminders.

Very dissatisfied.

1 Yes No Neutral

1 No No 0

Question 22: Were you satisfied with the company’s way of handling the complaints? What more do you think the company could have done? Discuss in details.

Answer: It is always important that customers are treated well. Good treatment of and belief in customers are decisive in how customers perceive The Company’s handling of a critical incident. It affects the customer’s future planning more than anything else.

• All the network related issues were dealt diligently and the customer’s problem were solved quickly and respectfully

• Price related issues were not resolved 50% of the times, it is apparent that the critical incident consists of a combination of factors such as the customer is not believed, poor treatment, and that the problem is not solved within a reasonable time period and sometimes not at all. When several mistakes are made, strong negative feelings are evoked in the customer.

Most customers trust The Company and those stable customer relations can withstand a few critical incidents. The trust is mutual, i.e. that The Company must trust its customers in order for the customers to trust and have confidence in The Company. When the customer feels that he is trusted, treated well, and gets his problem solved and questions answered, the relationship in not weakened but in some cases even strengthened. However, repeated critical incidents will destroy the trust and can cause reconsideration.

Question 23: Does the company approach you with add on offers? How do you feel about these offers? Why or why not?

Answer:

Number of People

Company approaches with an add on offers

Reason

8 Yes Received with gratitude because it was a best deal.

1 No Never been approached.

1 May be I didn’t noticed because I hardly care

Question 24: Are you planning to continue as a customer of this com? Why or why not?

Answer:

Number of People

Will you continue with the services

Reason

7 Yes Best Network coverage, less of call drops.

2 No Unnecessary amount is charged at times

1 May be If approached/came across some better options.

Bibliography

Links 1. www.Airtel.in 2. www.google.com 3. www.india.com 4. www.Vodafone.in

Magazines 1. Airtel (2 July to 10 July 2004) 2. Airtel India page of HT paper (Thursday 1December 2004) 3. Cowards India (26 December to 4 Jan. 2004)