One of the big disadvantages that the Internet/Telecom revolution brought to a customer is on dealing with companies when he has a difficulty with them. If you have a complaint on the product bought or service received, you are asked to call up a toll free number. The Tom and Jerry exercise starts thereafter. You will talk to a Toni or Moni or Soni (obviously, that is not their original names) and you have to give all the details (of purchase, serial numbers, warranty details, your details etc. etc….) before you get some response to the problems that you face. If it is resolved by this guy, you are indeed lucky. If not, God save you! You will be told that they would get back to you. Most of the Indian companies do not keep the promise. The escalated calls go and fall in the Arabian Sea! You call again, you hit the same Toni, Moni & Soni and you are nowhere. You ask them to connect you to their reporting officers but they are trained well to dodge the request. You ask for details of company’s higher ups and then you would realize that these Toni/Moni/soni is addressing your calls from an outsourced call center and do not have any connect with the company from where you bought and do not know anyone in the company. You hit a wall!
Recently I had an experience with the Internet broadband that I was using at home, provided by the largest business enterprise in the country, famous for ethical standards and customer focus. The service was disrupted totally and we had made 8 calls in 10 days to the same Toni/Moni/Soni, but of no use. They were parroting the same lines all over again. Even droppinging the name of the big man of the enterprise did not help. Several times in the midst, I called the regional office of the company to register the complaint and I always got directed to the Toni/Moni/Soni’s number. I went to the company's website to lodge the complaint and got a default reply stating that my complaint is registered and it would revert to us soon (never did that happen). Eventually I get the broadband connect back, after 15 days of the disruption of the service. In spite of being the ethical company with customer focus tag, this company did not take the escalation. You just are just a number and whom they have got to address you is the pappus, the Toni/Moni/Soni’s.
A professor friend recently narrated the story of a computer problem that he faced. The computer was sold by the company that claims to be closest to the customer. Two days after registering the complaint through the Toni/Moni/Soni route, an engineer landed up. He resolved the problem but by then there were two more subsequent problems which the engineer refused to attend stating that he was sent only for addressing the cited problem and nothing else. So the professor again went through the Toni/Moni/Soni route to have the next of the issues resolved. In all, it took only 10 days to resolve a set of minor problems which otherwise could have been resolved in one day through a normal direct route!
At our office, the commercial broadband connectivity went down seven days back. Compliant was registered with Toni/Moni/Soni of the company and nothing happened. This company is run by one of warring sons of the greatest of the entrepreneurs the country had produced. Since we had some business connections with this company, we talked directly to some of the senior officers there. Not only that nothing happened, one of them even justified by telling that it is possible for the DNS Servers to go down once a month!
The wonder of wonder is the notice issued by the same company in yesterday’s newspaper. If a big notice like this has to come out in the paper, one has to assume that it must be undergoing many challenges in this front. The notice looked very funny to me. It says once you register a complaint, if within seven days it is not resolved, you could call up a Nodal officer (whose details are given) and if within 10 days complaining to the Nodal officer nothing happens, you could go to the Appellate Authority with a written complaint.
What does this mean?
In this Internet age, in this nano-second based century, this company will still take so much of time to resolve matters. Therefore, if your line or website or broadband or billing or any service is down for seventeen days or more, you are advised d to suffer without getting any assistance from the company. Great!
God save us all from these fortified companies having faceless people!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
THE GAMES MNCs PLAY
Most of you who had read my resume would know that I dwell in IT space, directly managing two companies, one in System Integration and the other, in software development.
Some of the recent developments that had happened in the SI Company that I run propel me to post this blog.
There is this MNC whom we represent in this part of the world. Though times had changed, this company is still in colonial mode. It will effect business only after receiving hundred percent advance, be the customer private or government. However as any other self-conscious company, it doesn’t mind going directly to the customers, bypassing the dealers. On one such occasion this company went to a major Bank and negotiated prices at ‘bone marrow’ levels. The Bank wanted multiple installation of the product across 150 branches and would pay only after completing the installation. In the fairness of things, it would take minimum ninety days to complete the process to receive payment. But how can our MNC supply without getting hundred percent advance? This was where the play came to effect.
The company’s local area manager (AM) calls me and asks me to attend a conference call with the regional manager (RM) based at Bangalore. Now the RM comes on to the line and very condescendingly tells me that he, based on the recommendations of the AM, he had decided to gift us this order worth INR 6 million. For us to execute the same, we would be given four percent commission. Whereas my principal would take the order directly, my company has to pay full amount as advance to it as coverage money. The money would be credited to us after we install the items at all these individual branches located at Godforsaken places across the country and after that, collect the payment from the bank’s HO and send to it. Many times in the conversation, he mentioned the GIFT aspect to me and the New VALUE that they had seen in us (!)
At the lowest rates of 1.5 % per month, by the time we collect the payment and get reverse credit from the principals, we would have incurred 4.5 to 6% expense on the interest itself (for three months). Now add the cost of installation, travel and follow up expenses. That would be another 2 % minimum. In effect, we would spend 6.5 to 8 percent to earn 4%. HOW DOES THE EQUATION LOOK? So much for its channel management! What are we, guinea pigs?
There is yet another case:
Some time back, we went into a jam with an institutional customer to whom we had supplied the most well known MNC IT company’s product. One year later to the supply, the customer realized that they ordered the item with a particular component but what had come inside was another. After verifying this, we went back to the company but it said that there is no chance for the mistaken delivery from them. Having not bothered to open up and verify at the time of delivery, with great difficulty, we organized the entire bunch of documents and communications of the past and submitted to them and then only the company relented. But said that it is a product technical issue. We asked as to why we were not taken into confidence when they decided to supply with a wrong component, they gave us a lame excuse which we are yet to understand. Now what? The customer wants the replacement (mind you, there are 50 numbers).We were advised by the principal that we buy this component from it by paying upfront and give to customer and it would compensate us just half of the amount (the other half is our share of the penalty) over a period of time in the form of commissions on new deals. It was unable to help us in any which way.
Now, we are the ones who had billed the item to the customer. If there is litigation from the customer, we are the one who will face the music. It is our goodwill that goes into dustbin. Eventually we had no other alternative but to oblige the customer. How does it look?
Before starting my entrepreneurship I had been working in IT marketing for about 15 years in reputed Indian companies and I too had handled dealers and channel partners. If there was a deal that had gone wrong due to our mishandling, I had always fought for the customer within my system. I do not know if that is ever possible for these MNC employees. These sales guys are paid fat salaries and immense incentives and they are used to the comfort and therefore, they have no other alternative but to sing the song for their companies all the way. ‘Customer, go to hell, dealer will take care”, That is the dictum these companies and its managers adopted.
And all these MNCs, in their annual reports will mention in BOLD GOLD letter about the highest customer satisfaction index that they had achieved over the year (who does the audit for them, I wonder!). And also the CSR (corporate social responsibility) that they have undertaken for the poor and for the environment, the earth, moon and the stars. The stakeholders sing ga ga for these MNCs and it’s shares goes the bull way!
Who suffer? The small time, small town reseller & dealer for whom this is the only livelihood. He is always sandwiched between the customer & the principal. He is the doer, sufferer & of course, the sucker.
Amen to that!
Some of the recent developments that had happened in the SI Company that I run propel me to post this blog.
There is this MNC whom we represent in this part of the world. Though times had changed, this company is still in colonial mode. It will effect business only after receiving hundred percent advance, be the customer private or government. However as any other self-conscious company, it doesn’t mind going directly to the customers, bypassing the dealers. On one such occasion this company went to a major Bank and negotiated prices at ‘bone marrow’ levels. The Bank wanted multiple installation of the product across 150 branches and would pay only after completing the installation. In the fairness of things, it would take minimum ninety days to complete the process to receive payment. But how can our MNC supply without getting hundred percent advance? This was where the play came to effect.
The company’s local area manager (AM) calls me and asks me to attend a conference call with the regional manager (RM) based at Bangalore. Now the RM comes on to the line and very condescendingly tells me that he, based on the recommendations of the AM, he had decided to gift us this order worth INR 6 million. For us to execute the same, we would be given four percent commission. Whereas my principal would take the order directly, my company has to pay full amount as advance to it as coverage money. The money would be credited to us after we install the items at all these individual branches located at Godforsaken places across the country and after that, collect the payment from the bank’s HO and send to it. Many times in the conversation, he mentioned the GIFT aspect to me and the New VALUE that they had seen in us (!)
At the lowest rates of 1.5 % per month, by the time we collect the payment and get reverse credit from the principals, we would have incurred 4.5 to 6% expense on the interest itself (for three months). Now add the cost of installation, travel and follow up expenses. That would be another 2 % minimum. In effect, we would spend 6.5 to 8 percent to earn 4%. HOW DOES THE EQUATION LOOK? So much for its channel management! What are we, guinea pigs?
There is yet another case:
Some time back, we went into a jam with an institutional customer to whom we had supplied the most well known MNC IT company’s product. One year later to the supply, the customer realized that they ordered the item with a particular component but what had come inside was another. After verifying this, we went back to the company but it said that there is no chance for the mistaken delivery from them. Having not bothered to open up and verify at the time of delivery, with great difficulty, we organized the entire bunch of documents and communications of the past and submitted to them and then only the company relented. But said that it is a product technical issue. We asked as to why we were not taken into confidence when they decided to supply with a wrong component, they gave us a lame excuse which we are yet to understand. Now what? The customer wants the replacement (mind you, there are 50 numbers).We were advised by the principal that we buy this component from it by paying upfront and give to customer and it would compensate us just half of the amount (the other half is our share of the penalty) over a period of time in the form of commissions on new deals. It was unable to help us in any which way.
Now, we are the ones who had billed the item to the customer. If there is litigation from the customer, we are the one who will face the music. It is our goodwill that goes into dustbin. Eventually we had no other alternative but to oblige the customer. How does it look?
Before starting my entrepreneurship I had been working in IT marketing for about 15 years in reputed Indian companies and I too had handled dealers and channel partners. If there was a deal that had gone wrong due to our mishandling, I had always fought for the customer within my system. I do not know if that is ever possible for these MNC employees. These sales guys are paid fat salaries and immense incentives and they are used to the comfort and therefore, they have no other alternative but to sing the song for their companies all the way. ‘Customer, go to hell, dealer will take care”, That is the dictum these companies and its managers adopted.
And all these MNCs, in their annual reports will mention in BOLD GOLD letter about the highest customer satisfaction index that they had achieved over the year (who does the audit for them, I wonder!). And also the CSR (corporate social responsibility) that they have undertaken for the poor and for the environment, the earth, moon and the stars. The stakeholders sing ga ga for these MNCs and it’s shares goes the bull way!
Who suffer? The small time, small town reseller & dealer for whom this is the only livelihood. He is always sandwiched between the customer & the principal. He is the doer, sufferer & of course, the sucker.
Amen to that!
Friday, August 1, 2008
THE INNER STRENGTH
Yesterday (31/07/08) evening, I attended the inauguration of the kick-off activities of Kerala Management Association for the year, at the KMA hall at Cochin. The honor to do so went to Mr. S Mohan, Director-HR, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), who is also the current President of Bombay Management Association. Mr. Mohan is a renowned HR professional and had put yeomen efforts in enhancing the professionalism within BPCL. One of the key objectives that he achieved there was the competency mapping of the personnel of the Corporation.
In his speech, he mentioned an initiative undertaken by his team as a part of the competency mapping exercise. This was to collate/compile the qualities and competencies of well-known CEOs in India, present and past. This required one to one interaction with business/management doyens such as Vindi Banga (HLL), Krishanmurthy (Maruti & SAIL), Naik (L&T), Rajinder Singh (NTPC) and many others of the same class.
While comparing the qualities and competencies of the above people with the western counterparts such as Alfred Sloan, Jack Welch, AG Lafley etc, Mr. Mohan said that many of the qualities and competencies matched very well. This confirmed that the essential qualities, values and competencies of efficient CEOs, are more or less the same, wherever they are. Though there are cultural differences between India & the western world, the running of a corporation requires these qualities and competencies, that is.
What attracted me in his speech was the additional quality/value that the Indian CEOs have over their western counterparts, which his team noticed. He called it as the INNER STRENGTH, which the Indian CEOs possessed. It dose not mean that the western CEOs did not have the inner strength but that was not an essential element of the CEO personality there, whereas dwelling in a developing economy called India, besotted with its pronounced diversity of culture, language and living, this inner strength played a major role in them coming through successful in their endeavors.
This element of inner strength takes us to the bearing of an Indian. For a nation which was highly spiritual from its genesis, a nation where Vedas and Upanishad’s originated, a nation in which multiplicity of thought processes on the way life such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Sufism emanated, a nation that had pure leaders such as Gautama, Bodhi Dharma, Mahavira, Adi Shankara etc in the earlier times and Gandhi, Vinobha Bhave, JP, Amte etc later, is bound to have this INNER STRENGTH in every one of its citizen, by default. You could call this inner strength many names. Call it Self, Atma, Consciousness or whatever; the inner strength lies in every individual of this great nation.
The Indian CEOs mentioned by S Mohan, realized their inner strength and relied on it to a very great extent, in the execution of their vocation. No wonder they came to be noticed as very eminent CEOs of the country. The fact is that, in all of us lies this great INNER STRENGTH and it is unto us to realize it, bring it to the forefront and rely upon it in the execution of our own Karma.
Try it, people.
In his speech, he mentioned an initiative undertaken by his team as a part of the competency mapping exercise. This was to collate/compile the qualities and competencies of well-known CEOs in India, present and past. This required one to one interaction with business/management doyens such as Vindi Banga (HLL), Krishanmurthy (Maruti & SAIL), Naik (L&T), Rajinder Singh (NTPC) and many others of the same class.
While comparing the qualities and competencies of the above people with the western counterparts such as Alfred Sloan, Jack Welch, AG Lafley etc, Mr. Mohan said that many of the qualities and competencies matched very well. This confirmed that the essential qualities, values and competencies of efficient CEOs, are more or less the same, wherever they are. Though there are cultural differences between India & the western world, the running of a corporation requires these qualities and competencies, that is.
What attracted me in his speech was the additional quality/value that the Indian CEOs have over their western counterparts, which his team noticed. He called it as the INNER STRENGTH, which the Indian CEOs possessed. It dose not mean that the western CEOs did not have the inner strength but that was not an essential element of the CEO personality there, whereas dwelling in a developing economy called India, besotted with its pronounced diversity of culture, language and living, this inner strength played a major role in them coming through successful in their endeavors.
This element of inner strength takes us to the bearing of an Indian. For a nation which was highly spiritual from its genesis, a nation where Vedas and Upanishad’s originated, a nation in which multiplicity of thought processes on the way life such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Sufism emanated, a nation that had pure leaders such as Gautama, Bodhi Dharma, Mahavira, Adi Shankara etc in the earlier times and Gandhi, Vinobha Bhave, JP, Amte etc later, is bound to have this INNER STRENGTH in every one of its citizen, by default. You could call this inner strength many names. Call it Self, Atma, Consciousness or whatever; the inner strength lies in every individual of this great nation.
The Indian CEOs mentioned by S Mohan, realized their inner strength and relied on it to a very great extent, in the execution of their vocation. No wonder they came to be noticed as very eminent CEOs of the country. The fact is that, in all of us lies this great INNER STRENGTH and it is unto us to realize it, bring it to the forefront and rely upon it in the execution of our own Karma.
Try it, people.
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