Today businesses are not limited to only selling and buying. People round the globe are very conscious while buying goods, specially the electronic gadgets. Different gadgets, emerging every now and then has made life more easy and sophisticated. The conscious customers demand more and better service of the products delivered through every possible channel. That's why more and more companies are compelled to provide better service support. In true sense, good service support is forming a relationship with the customers- a relationship that the customer would like to continue with. It is a fact that customers will repeatedly do business with companies that provide quality customer service. The service centre aims to support the customer throughout the life cycle of the product with various functions such as installation, technical support during warranty and extended warranty.
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The significance of service support is obvious. According to Raj Jadhav, Vice-President - Solution Consulting, Tech Support & IT, D-Link (India) Ltd., “In today's highly competitive market arena where consumers are being showered with wide choices of products, it is the unique level of customer service offered that differentiates one business from another and also acts as a key to success.”
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“It is about maintaining uptime of the deployed systems as per the SLA and enable the customer with the maintenance of the systems proactively,” says Anil Zachariah, Regional Service Director - India and SAARC, EMC Corporation. Anil Zachariah adds, “Service support is extremely important in the Indian context. Indian companies love to continuously innovate and optimize their systems and therefore need a higher level of support when compared to western markets.”
Customer service is not merely restricted to getting the products repaired during warranty period. It starts with guiding the customer in choosing which product to go for, help in repairing the product even after the expiry of warranty period and scrapping the product in an environment-friendly manner. “Service Preparedness and Delivery is what customers want, especially in India. These days, the customers have short-listed some two or three brands which meet their requirements. It is the deciding factor for most business transactions happening in India today,” says Gautam Ghosh, Country Director - India, MMD.
“Service support is the after-sales support process where all companies need to ensure that the product/service offered to the customer works effectively as committed at the time of sale. In the Indian market for purchase decisions, effective post-sales support is very critical. It is very important for any IT product to be supported by efficient qualified and authorized support personnel,” says Sridharan Mani, Director & CEO, American Megatrends India.
“Service support plays an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue. Customer service seeks to acquire new customers, retain existing customers, provide superior customer satisfaction, and consequently builds customer loyalty,” says Sudha Jagadish, CEO, Dax Networks.
It has always been the intention of D-Link to offer world-class quality and service to its consumers, as customer satisfaction is the company's topmost priority. “D-Link is now responding to all the technical and service-related queries through 22 service centres in the country. In addition to this, D-Link has also introduced a 12x7x365 days toll-free No. 1800-22-8998 for all kind of technical assistance. With this, D-Link will now be in a position to reach out to customers present even in smaller towns and cities,” says Raj Jadhav of D-Link.
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IT behemoth HP is well positioned to provide the best customer experience with its robust service and support infrastructure. Its post-sales strategy is to provide world-class support experience through web, call centre and authorized service centre network. HP provides both offsite and onsite warranty support on its product portfolio. M. Vinayagamurthy, Country Manager, Consumer Support, Imaging & Printing Group, HP India says, “HP has always placed customer experience on high priority, and the same is reflected in our customer support. Best-in-class technical support call centre operates from 9 AM to 9 PM, Monday through Saturday. We also have interactive online chat, which helps the customer choose the best printer or multifunction based on their specific needs. We also have email and phone support to address all the queries which a customer has before he buys a printer and also post-purchase technical support requirements. Other than these initiatives, we also have consumer and business support forums and other self-help options which customers can exercise at their discretion. Moreover, HP support website has extensive self-help documentation, manuals and drivers which are intuitive to use.”
Vinayagamurthy says, “HP support infrastructure is structured to provide superior after-sales service and support at any given point of time. Today, we have a robust network of service centres across 150 cities with over 200 touch points and as we move deeper into upcountry markets, we will also expand our network to match our growth.”
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E R Ashok Kumar, Vice President, Cisco Services, Cisco India & SAARC says, “With respect to the geographic areas covered, Cisco in India has one of the widest networks of support centers covering the length and breadth of the country. In fact, Cisco support services centers are present in close to 50,000 unique pin codes locations, the most for any company in India. Cisco even has support centers in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.”
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Dell strives to provide the best experience to its customers and partners with its high-quality support services. Dell offers multiple warranty options to its customers to suit their requirements. Depending on the warranty the customer opts for, it can vary anywhere from phone support to a technician visit. “Dell has its own comprehensive suite of support services in applications, business processes, consulting, infrastructure and support that helps customers succeed. The first centre was set up in 2001 in Bangalore. The contact centres have evolved from a break-fix warranty function - wherein they functioned mainly as a cost centre - to being a value-added organization, becoming a profit centre in their own right,” says Shishir Singh, Product Director, CSMB, Dell India.
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Data storage giant NetApp takes service support in right earnest. “NetApp provides cost-effective support, scaled and priced for customer needs whether it is for a large enterprise, classified government installation, or small and medium businesses,” says Syed Masroor, Manager - Pre-Sales, NetApp India.
Along with a variety of IT products and services that every company offers to the consumers in this domain, it is essential to address and provide customer service at every level.
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Toshiba offers both Depot and Onsite service. “While the Onsite service is in selected cities currently, we intend to extend the Onsite Warranty to 100% coverage locations gradually and we are swiftly moving in that direction. The service centres are equipped with well- trained technical staff, adequate spare parts inventory and equipments for testing to deliver first grade service support to our customers. The ASPs (Authorized Service Partners) are trained and educated on Toshiba products by our technical team through a proper process well before the launching of the new products,” says Sivakumar N., Vice-President, Strategic Marketing, Product Management & Service Digital Products, Home Appliances & Service Division, Toshiba. Sivakumar adds, “Customers can reach us through toll-free numbers and through emails to our call centre to get their issues addressed and get their break-fix calls registered. The break-fix calls are dispatched through service management software to the ASP near to the customer location.”
EMC has seven support centres across India. EMC has three types of service support, Basic, Extended support and Premier Support. 90% of EMC customers are catered to on Premier Support
EMC systems have a Dial-Home configuration (which is a differentiator for EMC), which means that the systems automatically call the support labs within EMC in case the system develops any fault
Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Check Point Software Technologies, says, “Check Point Support programs and plans ensure our customers and partners have immediate access to critical resources when you need them. You already rely on Check Point to provide the best security products in the industry. As a valued Check Point customer, you can rely on constant updates to keep your security current and the confidence that comes from knowing a world-class support and service organization is prepared to provide you with everything you need to maximize the bottom line of your business.” Bhaskar adds, “Check Point is committed to protecting our customer's critical infrastructure and is available 7x24 to help resolve critical network issues. The Technical Assistance Centers (TACs) back each other up to ensure that there is no single point of failure in our availability. We have also implemented sophisticated methods, processes and tools to coordinate continuous coverage for critical service requests and to work closely with Check Point's engineering teams.
Acer believes in providing an undisrupted and seamless after-sales support to its customers. Sudipto Ghosh, Chief Support Officer, Acer India, says, “We have recently built a strong after-sales support to provide advanced service solutions which would help customers solve their issues at a faster pace. Based on our past experience, we have established a multi-layer service structure which is aimed at providing not only easy but a transparent service procedure.”
According to Sivaprakash Sivaraj, GM Field Service Delivery, Lenovo India, service support is very important for the Indian market. Sivaprakash of Lenovo says, “We do have multiple service support offerings like the basic warranty support services and retail services.”
Over the years, Epson has established a strong onsite support offering for almost all its products in its portfolio. With a view to help provide better service in metros and B-class towns, Epson responds to all its service requests within 4 hours from the login time or attend to customer complaints on the same day. This has been achievable through our nationwide service network and the SAP-based CRM which keeps an online monitoring of calls.
“At Epson, we define Service Support as an integral part of our 'framework', a practice that we have followed to provide a comprehensive experience while our customers make their purchase. We have set up a systematic procedure tailor-made to exceed customer expectation,” says Vijay Kumar - General Manager - Customer Service, Epson India
Modern IT makes a significant contribution to business success. But a coherent concept for maintenance and support is required to keep this valuable IT functioning reliably. Fujitsu offers maintenance and support services comprised of standardized services that help the customer keep costs low while reducing workloads for the IT personnel and ensuring the needs-based availability of your IT systems. “Our maintenance and support services are the ideal enhancement for Fujitsu products and solutions, offering expertise for heterogeneous infrastructures from a single source. The services range from the integration of new technologies in IT infrastructures to proactive support for running operation,” says Rajeev Karkhanis, Head Services, Fujitsu India.
Xerox understands customer needs & has multiple flexible maintenance offerings based on customer requirements. “We also provide additional value added services, e.g. on site engineer, 24*7, special requirements etc. We also support with remote solution tools by which we resolve customer query remotely. Xerox works on preventive maintenance approach to maximize uptime & work towards enhancing its service delight experience for customers,” says Balaji Rajagopalan, Executive Director, Operations and Lean Six Sigma, Xerox India.
As a truly consumer-driven company, Nokia is committed to addressing changing consumer needs and delivering true value to consumers. Keeping that in mind, the company has launched various Nokia Care Experience Centres across the country where consumers can, both, experience and receive support for Nokia's latest services and applications, such as Music, Messaging, Maps and Games.
Sudhir Kohli, Director, - Care, Nokia India, says, “Nokia's success depends on trust and satisfaction of our customers. As a step in this direction, we have launched many Care Experience Centers across India. These centers are in sync with our company's strategy to provide a holistic solutions experience to the consumers at all consumer touch points.”
Manish Pant, MD, Luminous Power Technologies, says, “We render Customer end support where we have our own Service Centers & from most of the Service Locations as well. Other Locations get Customer end support from the Trade partners. We in turn support these Trade Partners through mutually fixed periodic visits of our Service Executives. Overall the Service Support delivery is very pro-active as the customer gets the support either from the Company's own representative or the Channel partner without any confusion”
“Our service sup port centres are both owned and outsourced, so that we can reach out to the maximum number of customers. Since we support the complete geography of India, majority of our support centres are outsourced,” says Gautam Ghosh of MMD India. Gautam adds, “The overall number of support centres is close-to 200 partners. We are well equipped to reach any part of the country within two working days, except a few places where the normal means of transportation itself is not up to minimum standards.
Vijay Kumar of Epson says, “Across India, we operate through a franchisee model. We have established a robust ASP management to support our customers across the length and breadth of the country. We operate through 200 service centres spread across the nation.”
In India, the common trend is to provide warranty - and not guarantee. When it comes to warranty, after-sales support services become very important as these involve repair of the products sold, as per customer demand and satisfaction. So, in India, selling a good product is not enough. The sales have to be backed up by an excellent after-sales service. Sunil Grewal, Sales Head - India, GIGABYTE Technology India Pvt. Ltd, says, “We provide a three-year warranty support valid from the date of manufacture. We also provide a replacement if the same product comes for RMA for the third time, under our Dead on Arrival (DoA) policy.”
Grewal adds, “We have GIGABYTE Exclusive Service Centres in six major cities, which also act as hub for the pan-India market. We also have appointed over 40 Premier Partners as Special Service Partners (SSPs) that basically are collection points. SSPs will be increased to over 100 soon. We have over 80 collection points in over 80 cities, and intend to spread our service support / collection point network to over 100 cities.”
APC has its own service support centers. They are spread across metros and Tier-2/ 3 cities. Some of the centers are in Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Cochin, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur and Secunderabad. “For our home & business networks business however, we follow an outsourced model of Service Delivery through 152 Authorised Service Providers (ASPs) in 125 top cities of India. Through this network we can reach out to over 450 different towns and cities,” says Urooj Abbasi, Director - Strategy, Services Business Development & M&A, ITB, APAC & Japan, APC by Schneider Electric
To ensure highest level of customer satisfaction, Sony maintains a very robust service network. Tadato Kimura, GM, Marketing, Sony India, says, “We offer service support through a network of 232 Authorized Service Centers and 22 company owned service centers which are manned by customer friendly and informed sales persons.” Apart from this, Sony focusses on providing upstream solutions to customers through its dedicated call centre (1800-103-7799 Toll Free No.). Many generic queries are resolved through guidance over phone. Specialised product support teams assist customers telephonically on product related issues so that they are relieved of the hassle of visiting a service center or even waiting for a service engineer's visit to resolve the issue. “Tele-resolution has been a successful method with 50% success rate for LCD TVs and 80% for notebook PC. For VAIO, we also offer Remote Diagnosis wherein our engineer can log into customer PC and do trouble shooting,' adds Tadato Kimura.
Finally...
Service support is a vital part of every organization. As businesses expand globally, they need to efficiently communicate with customers, or risk losing business opportunities. Since service support involves customer interactions, this allows companies to reduce costs and gain insight into other business information derived from customer interactions.
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Support Service Outsourcing Gaining Momentum
These days, outsourcing and the use of external third-party service partners is now a buzz topic for many CIOs and IT managers in India. D-Link has tied up with Kaizen Info Services Pvt. Ltd., as D-Link's Authorized service partner and vCustomer will look after D-Link Technical Assistance Centre (DINTAC). Effective from April 01, 2011, all product service- related issues are being taken care by Kaizan through its 22 service centres present across India, whereas vCustomer acts as D-Link's authorized call centre partner for D-Link TAC services.
“We, at HCL Infosystems, put in a significant amount of research in understanding the need of the customer and design the product accordingly. With the right product in place, we further strengthen our backend services in order to support the product throughout its life cycle,” says P. Sesha Chalam, Head, HCL Care, HCL Infosystems. HCL Infosystems offers 24*7 service support with the help of their one-touch service, HCL Care, reaching out to over 4,000-plus towns. With over 505 HCL-owned and manned service locations across the country, the service provides multilingual remote support in 11 different languages.
Wipro offers a set of support and maintenance services across various products and technologies under the umbrella called 'Infrastructure Availability Services' (IAS). IAS covers support services for hardware and software including x86 Servers, Storage, Operating Systems, Availability solutions, Backup devices, Desktops, Laptops and Peripherals.
IAS offers services for customers in India. We have an extensive reach and presence across the country, covering more than 30,000 locations. We attend more than 2,00,000 incidents in a month and service more than 1,00,000 spares through a network of 22 warehouses spread across the country, with additional 100 locations for critical spare stocking,” says Venkataraghavan S.K, General Manager, Infrastructure Availability Services, Wipro Infotech.
inTarvo supports most of the fortune 500 companies in the IT, telecom and electronic security domain thus as a company we focus on supporting after market requirements for them. “The success rate of this philosophy lies in the fact that inTarvo has grown from strength to strength by sticking to this core philosophy. Out of warranty market is quite fragmented and today relies on the local support centers where the price is the key factor and not the quality or usage of components sourced from genuine suppliers,” says Sudheer Putthiran President inTarvo Technologies Limited.
As a part of its after-sales service commitment, TVS-E provides warranty, AMC and out of warranty service support to customers. Some of the key customers whose presence all over India include Railways, LIC, Government Schools, District and Sub-courts and national banks. “TVS-E offers service support to end-customers through a dedicated and well- focussed service organization called TVS-E Servicetec with 14 regional / area service offices backed by six regional warehouses,” says J Suresh Kumar, Manager -Customer Support, TVS-E.
RLC provides a one stop, technology enabled, comprehensive reverse supply chain solution. RLC understands that the power of reverse logistics is in data and so its solution's backbone is its proprietary tec hnology platform that provides end-to-end data visibility of the returned products from point of origin to its final disposition. Hitendra Chaturvedi, Founder and Managing Director, RLC, says “We are a PAN India company having our direct presence in major locations and rest managed through our network of Franchise's / Partner network. We provide services companies like Toshiba, Acer etc.”
S. Mohini Ratna
mohini@varindia.com
