CHAPTER – 1

   Background of the Report

GrameenPhone is the leading Cellular Net Provider in Bangladesh. GrameenPhone started their business approximately 8 years. GrameenPhone is operating in the market for long time. During this time GrameenPhone went for different types of mergers as well as acquisitions. They gained success from the very beginning of their operation and were capable enough to hold the success year after year. GrameenPhone main competitors are AKTEL, BANGLA LINK, CITYCELL and TELETALK. One of the strongest sides of GrameenPhone is its customer’s service and management ship.

 Objectives of the study

Grameenphone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good development. Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity. This gain in productivity is development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service, generating a good business. Thus development and business go together. The objectives of this study:

• To analyse long term customer management ship results.
• To have an overview of market position and market share.
• To have an overview of the Technology used.
• To determine how Grameenphone is promoting their new services to their subscribers through tele-marketing.
• To determine how they are motivating their customers to take their different services in tele-communication.
• To determine Grameenphone cost advantages for telemarketing using through own infrastructure.
• To determine the way of positioning their products among the existing subscribers.
• To determine their customer retention policy.
• Effects of tele-marketing in revenue generation.
• Analyzing their strategy of subscriber’s attitude changing towards company.

 Significance of the study

Grameenphone is dealing with customers on a daily basis; greater customer satisfaction will lead to greater customer loyalty. By promoting and retaining through tele-marketing they can achieve many advantages. Like –

1. Positioning: customer retention and raising satisfaction will help Grameenphone to identify its current position and hence find out ways to reduce the gap between loyal and disloyal customers. It will also help Grameenphone to identify future prospects for the company.

2. It helps to understand how customers feel about the company: it identifies behaviors and attitudes of the customers i.e. how customers feel about the company. This will help Grameenphone to be more responsive and to change their behavior towards the company.

3. Greater customer care adds value: the greater advantages will be – Reduced cost of sales due to better customer retention, profitability gains from expanded management ships and new revenue from customer referrals and the rate of using new services.

  Methodology of the study

This study is based on the primary and secondary data. The primary data collection process was the informal interviews of different employees in Customer Management Division of Grameenphone and from the learning’s of my practical work experiences as Tele-marketing employee.  There are 187 employees (fulltime & part-time) working there and I have chosen randomly from them to interview. The secondary data is collected from the Grameenphone brochures, websites, annual reports and some text books

Limitations of the study

I had to work within some limitations like –

ü  Grameenphone a good number of employees in their Customer Managements division; I could not interview most of them due to office hour work pressure.

ü  The Tele-marketing is new concept in Grameenphone, so gathering information was very critical.

ü  Due to time constraints could not go through a depth research.

ü  There is no numerical data available for tele-marketing to present calculative figures and to apply the tests.

CHAPTER – 2:

Telecommunication Industry in Bangladesh: An Overview of Grameen  Phone

Since the introduction of mobile phones in August 1993, the telecom industry in Bangladesh has undergone dramatic changes for the last 8 years. The potential growth of the telecom industry in Bangladesh is very prospective due to the country’s large population and relatively a small number of phones. Only 4 out of 1000 people in Bangladesh have either a fixed or a mobile phone.

At present there are four mobile operators in Bangladesh i.e. Pacific Bangladesh, the analog cellular operator, GrameenPhone (launched its GSM services in the second quarter of 1997), TMIB (launched its services in the summer of 1997), and Sheba Telecom (launched its services in the middle of 1998).

Fig 2.1:  Market share of mobile operators

The telecom market in Bangladesh is comprised of half a million-phone connections of which 82% i.e. 410,000 phone connections is provided by the fixed line network, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB). The remaining 18% i.e. about 2,85,000 connections are divided among the four mobile operators. The market share of the mobile operator is as follows:

GrameenPhone Ltd. is the market leader in the cellular industry in Bangladesh. The coverage area of mobile operators is also increasing rapidly. At present, GrameenPhone has the coverage in six divisional head quarters including 35 districts. The company has a long distribution channel, which comprises of 170 Sales Outlet and 60 Individual Agents all over the country other than its own.

Competition in the cellular industry has increased among the operators and now a day’s customer has more alternatives. As a results of this, start up prices has gone down and, eventually market penetration in all possible segments has become possible.

Huge demand, a combination of competitive markets, private ownership and foreign investment has created an environment for rapid growth in the cellular industry in Bangladesh. Although the demand of the mobile phone is very high, some of the constraining factors have hampered the industry’s growth. The main obstacle to the growth of this industry is insufficient interconnection with BTTB. Many potential clients are being discouraged to subscribe mobile phone due to this reason. However it seems that with the growth of mobile phone in the country, the demand for fixed lines will be decreased in the near future.

The growth in the cellular industry is contributing very positively in the local economy. Lot of job opportunities has been created for the country where thousands of people are jobless. Moreover, cellular network all over the country has built a basic communication infrastructure for the country, which will definitely attract the FDI in the country. Finally it can be said that mobile pone now a days has become a necessity rather than a luxury.

The potential growth of telecom sector in Bangladesh is bright, due to the country’s large population and relatively a small number of phones. Only 4 out of 1000 people in Bangladesh have either a fixed or a mobile phone. In comparable India, there are 12 per 1000 people.

The simplest way to understand the potential of telecom in Bangladesh is comparing the country’s situation with that of India. Economically, India is indeed comparable to Bangladesh. While the nominal per capita income in Bangladesh is about 15% lower than that in India, Bangladesh has a slightly higher per capita income than India when purchasing power is taken into account. The two countries have virtually identical income distributions and the share of their respective economies in the non-agricultural sectors. The following table (with data from 1994-1996) illustrates a general comparison of Bangladesh with its neighbors.

The telecom market in Bangladesh is comprised of half a million-phone connections of which 82% i.e. 410,000 phone connections is provided by the fixed line network, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board. The remaining 18% i.e. about 85,000 connections are divided among mobile operators: Pacific Bangladesh, the analog cellular operator, GrameenPhone (launched its GSM services in the second quarter of 1997), TMIB (launched its services in the summer of 1997), and Sheba Telecom (launched its services in the middle of 1998).

Thailand is also shown here as model developing country that Bangladesh could follow.

Table 2.1    Comparative position of some Asian developing countries.

GrameenPhone Limited, the number one and leading mobile company in the area of telecommunication in Bangladesh. Of the four mobile operators, GP managed to grab 61% of the market share only by providing cost-effective & the best service available in the market of Mobile Telecommunication. GP has made its expansion not only in the urban areas, but also it has stretched its network in the rural areas for the economic empowerment of the rural people. GrameenPhone has made a special arrangement with Grameen Telecom, an affiliate of Grameen Bank, in providing cellular services in the rural country with an aim to cover the whole of it by 2001.

GP believes Excellency in its service towards the subscribers. It is growing and at the same time being competitive. To keep up this upward trend and leading position absolute dedication to understanding and fulfilling their customers’ need with the appropriate mix of standard service, reliability, improved technology, and skilled as well as dedicated manpower is necessary.

Organization History

The concept of mobile telephony became largely familiar and phenomenal in Bangladesh in the early 90s. The government of Bangladesh awarded Grameenphone a nationwide digital cellular license on November 1996.

Grameenphone has been established by a consortium involving Grameen Telecom of Bangladesh, an affiliate of the world famous Grameen Bank.

Telenor AS, the main Norwegian Telecommunication Company Marubeni Corporation, one the largest trading and investment companies in Japan; and Gonofone Development Corporation, a telecommunication development company in the United States. Besides these shareholder or ownership, GP’s other investors are – NORAD, CDC IFC, ADB.

Grameenphone launched services in Bangladesh on 26 March 1997 with 72 employees. It has taken lease of Railway fiber optics on September ’97 for 20 years. In February 2000 Grameenphone received GSM Community Award from GSM World Congress, France and in June 2000, Grameenphone started service in all 6 divisional towns

Grameenphone started to provide services to all people in the country, irrespective of their location. Grameenphone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. The Company launched its service on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh.  In 1996, Bangladesh Government was arranging an auction off private cell phone licenses; then on behalf of Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank’s founder)  a not-for-profit private company called Grameen Telecom was created. In turn Grameen Telecom created a for-profit company called Grameenphone, found a foreign partner, and put in a bid; Grameenphone received one of the four licenses.

Grameenphone makes its profits by serving wealthier urban customers. But from the point of view of the Grameen family and its strong anti-poverty mission, the for-profit, urban-only Grameenphone exists for only one reason: To fund, with its profits, the extension of cell phones into rural Bangladesh in order to provide entrepreneurial opportunity to Grameen Bank members through Village Phone. As Dr. Yunus puts it, “Grameenphone is merely what we need to do Grameen Telecom’s Village Phone.”

Culture

Grameenphone has a conducive and safe working environment. Besides focusing on customers and communities, they are committed to treating their employees with Integrity, dignity and respect. The Company’s intent is to establish good working management ship through a mutual understanding of expectations.

They believe in working in a team and demonstrate team spirit to maximize and excel in standard quality service to their valued subscribers in the area of telecommunication. Employees’ work in an environment where they feel valued, responsible and supported by the authority as well as by their colleagues.

 Company Strategy

GrameenPhone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. The Company has devised its strategies so that it earns healthy returns for its shareholders and at the same time, contributes to genuine development of the country. In short, it pursues a dual strategy of good business and good development.

Serving the mass market is one of GP’s primary goals. By serving the general public as opposed to niche markets, the Company plans to achieve economies of scale and healthy profits. At the same time, service to the general public means connectivity to a wider population and general economic development of the country.

In contrast to the “island” strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links, Grameenphone builds continuous coverage, cell after cell. While the intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout Grameenphone’s network. In addition, GP has positioned itself to capitalize on the declining prices of handsets, making its goal to serve the general public realistic.

Business Performance

Between 1991 and 1996, mobile telephone services in Bangladesh were provided by a single company, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd. (PBTL) that targeted the country’s relatively small urban elite. The market expanded significantly when new licenses for relatively small urban elite. The market expanded significantly when new licenses for GSM networks were awarded in 1996. However, Grameenphone’s competitors have not been able to expand beyond subscriber bases in the tens of thousands. Grameenphone, meanwhile, has experienced rapid growth

  GP Vision

“To be leading provider of telecommunication services all over Bangladesh with satisfied customers and shareholders, and enthusiastic employees.”

 GP Mission Statement

GrameenPhone Ltd. aims at providing reliable, widespread, convenient mobile and cost effective telephone services to the people in Bangladesh irrespective of where they live. Such services will also help Bangladesh keep pace with other countries including those in South Africa region and reducing her existing disparity in telecom services between urban and rural areas.

 Purpose of Grameenphone

GrameenPhone has a dual purpose:

1.   I.      To receive an economic return on its investments.
2.   II.      To contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh where telecommunications can play a critical role.

The People

The people who are making it happen- the employees- are young, dedicated and energetic. All of them are well educated at home or abroad, with both sexes (genders) and minority groups in Bangladesh being well represented. They know in their hearts that Grameenphone is more than just about phones. This sense of purpose gives them the dedication and the drive, producing the biggest coverage and subscriber-base in the country. Grameenphone knows that the talents and energy of its employees are critical to its operation and treats them accordingly.

The result

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, Grameenphone is delivering the digital revolution to the doorsteps of the poor and unconnected. By being able to connect to urban areas or even to foreign countries, a whole new world of opportunity is opening up for the villagers in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank borrowers who provide the services are uplifting themselves economically through a new means of income generation while at the same time providing valuable phone service to their fellow villagers. The telephone is a weapon against poverty.

  Grameenphone’s Values

1. Caring for customers
2. Integrity
3. Sense of Urgency
4. Creativity
5. Speedy
6. Honesty
7. Empowerment
8. Courage

Values can be showed as follows combine. Company’s values guide the actions and behaviors of employees to fulfill its vision. Peoples of different CMOss-cultural sections join a company and work together. So each & every employee of that Company should adhere to these vales as the ideology of the Company.

Values are very important for the Company to reach its vision. Employees’ willingness & commitment to the company is important in demonstrating values in their personal and professional lives.

Fig 2.2  GrameenPhone has a standard set of values that all employees should practice.

These two companies own shares of GrameenPhone in the following manner:

Table 2.2:  Shares of Grameenphone.

Fig 2.3:  The graph showing the percentage of Share

  Coverage of Grameenphone (Fig 2.4)

   Product Line of Grameenphone

GrameenPhone, the number 1 mobile Phone operator in Bangladesh; connected to GSM 900, one of the most advanced mobile communication systems in the world. GrameenPhone hope to serve its customers with utmost dedication and are committed to provide subscriber with a highly reliable mobile customer service and most innovative products and value added services for subs convenience.

Fig 2.5:  Products of Grameenphone

POST PAID SERVICE

1. GP Regular:

GP Regular connects to all GrameenPhone mobiles and to other mobiles, subject to interconnection agreement with other mobile operators, within GrameenPhone’s coverage area. GP Regular is product with BTTB [Local, NWD, and ISD] connectivity. Subscribers can connect to all mobiles and BTTB lines. It has no network mobility charge and no inter zonal charge, with which one can move around throughout the country with subs GP mobile phone [within GP coverage]. This product has a credit limit of Tk. 1000 on airtime usage without any security deposit. There are no incoming charges from mobile to mobile. There are incoming charges from BTTB [1^st minute free, tk. 2 from 2^nd minute] and while subs in roaming situation.

1. GP National:

GP National is another addition of post-paid products with mobile to mobile connectivity of GrameenPhone. This mobile can make and receive calls to and from all mobiles [with in GP coverage]. It has no network mobility charge and no inter zonal charge, with which one can move around throughout the county with GP mobile phone. This product has a credit limit of Tk. 1000 on airtime usage without any security deposit. There are no incoming charges from mobile.

Optional Features:

GP regular and GP National Subscribers can choose any 3 GP numbers as his “Friends and Family” numbers. No matter where subs are [within GP coverage], one can call these 3 numbers at a reduced rate. Tk. 1.5/min. day & night 24 hours, without any additional monthly fee.

Supplementary Features:

Caller ID: Display of the phone number of an incoming call in your handset before the call is answered.

Call Waiting: While talking to the first caller, subscriber will hear a special tone informing you about the second call on the line. At that moment subscriber can put the first caller on hold and talk to the second caller.

Call Conference: Receiving calls from multiple callers can be supplemented by joining these multiple callers so as to enable them to talk to each other. Subscriber will be able to communicate with a group consisting of maximum ten callers.

Call Divert: Call Divert lets subscriber redirect or re-route his/ her call to another GrameenPhone mobile or any other fixed (if you have BTTB connectivity) or mobile phone.

Call Barring: Enables subscriber to restrict certain types of calls to be made from another mobile. This feature is especially important for security purposes.

Value Added Services

Short Message Service (SMS)

• SMS in mobile acts like an advanced pager.
• Subscriber can send and receive text messages of up to 160 characters, directly from one GP mobile to another GP mobile.
• Fax and Data Service (currently available only to corporate clients):
• Subscriber can use your mobile phone attached to a computer to send faxes or transfer data.
• No need to have connection with a fixed line.
• Subscriber can use this service even when you are on the move within GP’s coverage area.

Wireless Application Protocol [WAP]

This is a tool to access information from internet though GP mobile phones. Subscriber can also access his/ her yahoo e-mail account through GP WAP service. Subs should have  a WAP enabled handset to avail the service. To give better service to all package products, the upcoming service of Grameenphone is EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution) which is upto 8 times higher than GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). This is an advanced mobile technology which enables high speed mobile internet and data services.

SMS Push-Pull Services

With Push-Pull service, subs can enjoy more than 160 contents EX: Usage Info, Payment Status of last bill, Sports news, Emergency numbers, Restaurants, Airline and railway timing, travel info etc. Example: to know the contact numbers to taxi cab companies:

• Go to the message option of handset.
• Write “taxi”
• Send the sms to 2000
• Subs will receive the list of taxi cab numbers in return.

Voice Mail Service (VMS)

• VMS is a unique answering machine.
• It provides you with a personal electronic mail box in our voice mail center.
• It records your personalized greetings as well as stores your incoming voice messages.
• It records incoming voice messages if subscriber are:
• = Outside GP’s coverage area or
• = Busy or
• = Simply switched off your mobile.
• It provides 24-hour automatic secretarial service
• Makes subscriber available to subscriber’s calling party anytime

Fax and Data:

This service enables a GP subs to send/receive fax and data though their handsets by connecting to PC/Laptop.

News Service [222]

This is a news broadcasting service jointly provided by GP and Prothom Alo; Daily Star. A subscriber can call 22 from his/her GP mobile hone and listen to the latest news highlights in English or bengli of their coice.

Channel–I Program Schedule [2525]

2525 is a Channel–I program schedule service. A subscriber can call this number from his/her GP mobile phone and listen to Channel I program highlights.

Event Based Sports Update [2002]

This and event based sports update service. In respect to special sports events for ex: international and national cricket events, GP updates the latest news, which can be accessed by dialing 2002.

Iftar And Sehri Timing [1515]

During the month o f Ramada, a subscriber can listen to the timing of iftar and sehri in Dhaka ad adjacent areas.

 PRE-PAID SERVICE

Introduction of GrameenPhone’s Pre-Paid Service is another development of mobile telephony in Bangladesh. Pre-paid service has National Roaming facility and a flat airtime charge of Tk. 6 per minute. There is no incoming charge and also for inter zonal. This service helps the subscriber to control costs. It frees the subscriber from the hassles of paying bills, security deposits and line rents. But it contains nearly all services available in other GP products.

1. Easy Gold

Easy Gold is a pre-paid product with BTTB [Local, NWD, and ISD] connectivity. One can connect to all mobiles and BTTB lines. It has no network mobility charge, with which subscriber can move around throughout the country with your GP mobile phone [within GP coverage].

2. Easy Pre-paid

Easy pre-paid product with mobile to mobile connectivity. One can make and receive calls to and from all mobiles [within GP coverage]. It has no network mobility charge, with which subscriber can move around throughout the country with your GP mobile phone [within GP coverage].

 Djuice

Djuice is a mobile subscription for young people who use the mobile phone for communication and entertainment. So —-

• Djuice provides the most relevant voice, messaging and content services, and constitute a strong and differentiated mobile lifestyle offering.
• Djuice aims to support customer lifestyle interests and enhance their mobile experience.
• Djuice is registered trademark owned by Telenor, and is currently operating in Norway, Sweden, Ukraine and Hungary.’
• Telenor is a leading provider of mobile voice and value added services in the Scandinavian region, Central Eastern Europe and South East Asia and embraces operation in 12 countries.

Youth segment is largely untapped and untargeted by the current mobile operators of Bangladesh,  which itself is a significant potential market (40% Approx.).

• If the potential target group is targeted now, then the transition from youth to higher age group (Established Consumer or Business Segments) can be attained, which will assist in total life cycle management of a significant subscriber base (loyalty).
• Majority of the Youth segment tends to be more tech savvy, early users of new technology, high user of data services (SMS) and uses mobile phone as the primary mode of communication.

Business Objective djuice

è GrameenPhone is now launching djuice, with its own identity and value propositions (‘reasons to buy’) tailored to the youth segment’s mobile behavior, preferences and lifestyle

è djuice  will be  an instrument for GrameenPhone to strengthen the position in the youth market through a strong and differentiated mobile and lifestyle offering with targeted communication.

è djuice will be  the tool to;

ð  get new customers

ð  Increase usage and adoption of new non voice  services (increase non-voice ARPU)

ð  increase loyalty

ð  strengthen GP brand

djuice Start-up kit

è Tk. 50/- free airtime with every subscription with a validity of 15 days

è First 50 SMS absolutely free (GP to GP)

è djuice SIM

è Xtra Card

è User guide

è PIN/PUK Letter

djuice highlights

• djuice SIM (simply bigger and better)
• freedom to store up-to 200 friends’ numbers through the e-phonebook feature
• messages(max 40)
• Group Message
• (max 10 groups with max 25 members)
• Subscriber will be charged per group member
• Dedicated djuice menu to secure easy access to attractive SMS and voice based services

ANYTIME

1. Anytime 500

This is the  new product lauched same as previous post products like Anytime 450. But the difference is subscribers can enjoy Taka 500 free at first and Bundled fee 1500 per month. But after that Anytime 450 package product has been converted to Anytime 500. ‘Anytime 500’ is a post paid product with BTTB (Local/NWD/ISD) connectivity. Anytime 500 offers  first month of connectivity 500 minutes (billed duration) of talk time free of charge. It has no network mobility charge and no inter zonal charge, with which one can move around throughout the country with your GP mobile phone.

Supplementary Features:

Caller ID: Display of the phone number of an incoming call in your handset before the call is answered

Call Waiting: While talking to the first caller, subscriber will hear a special tone informing you about the second call on the line. At that moment subscriber can put the first caller on hold and talk to the second caller.

Call Conference: Receiving calls from multiple callers can be supplemented by joining these multiple callers so as to enable them to talk to each other. Subscriber will be able to communicate with a group consisting of maximum five callers.

Call Divert: Call Divert lets subscriber redirect or re-route subscriber’s call to another Grameenphone mobile or any other fixed (if subscriber have BTTB connectivity) or mobile phone.

Call Barring: Enables subscriber to restrict certain types of calls to be made from another mobile. This feature is especially important for security purposes.

Value Added Services

Service for the rural poor [Village Phone]

Establishing a nationwide network gives fair access to all geographical areas. From a business point of view, this strategy serves both the long distances as well as the rural markets. This emphasis on rural coverage brings a much-needed infrastructure in the underdeveloped rural areas.

In collaboration with Grameen Bank, which provides miCMO-credit only to the rural poor, GP utilizes the bank borrowers to retail telecom services in the rural areas. Leveraging on Grameen Bank borrowers reduces the distribution costs of GrameenPhone’s rural services, contributing to the profitability of this segment.

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, GrameenPhone is bringing the digital revolution to the doorsteps of the rural poor and unconnected. By being able to connect to urban areas or even to foreign countries, a whole new world of opportunities are opening up for the villagers in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank borrowers who provide the services are uplifting themselves economically through a new means of income generation while at the same time providing valuable telephone service to their fellow villagers. Thus, the telephone becomes a weapon against poverty.

Insta Care

GrameenPhone introduces INSTA CARE an automated service with Integrated Voice Response [IVR] system to meet your GP service related queries, 25-hours a day, 365 days in a year.

If a GP Post Paid subscriber wants to know his/her recent Billing updates, Account, & Payment status, credit limit and policy, billing procedure etc. He/she simply call 123 or his/her desired HOT-code from his GP mobile

 If any GP subscriber has a query on GP’s after sales service procedures, coverage information, existing products, tariff, value added services, international roaming, GSM features or information on emergency numbers, travel or even eating out and lot more he/she has to call 124 or desired HOT-code from his/her GP mobile.

Direct Hot Code Dialing

Hot-code dialing allows one to get information without going through the menu system. One can directly call to the Hot-code numbers to avail your desired information.

  Organization Units

Departments/Divisions of GrameenPhone

Recently management has brought a change in the organizational structure in view of need of time. As of the recent change, line function of the company comprises of the 3 different tasks. These are:

Build & Operate

Sell

Care

Accordingly 3 main divisions were identified as the line organization part of the company. These are:

Technical Division

Sales and Marketing Division and

Customer Management Division.

 Technical Division

Technical division is split into two parts:

• Roll -Out Division: Responsible for building the network.
• Operations Divisions: Responsible for operation and maintenance of the network.

Responsibilities of the Planning Section

• Responsible for mainly Base Station related planning
• Responsible for planning of data transmission equipment from Base Station to switch
• Responsible for BSC (Base Station Controller) and MSC (Mobile Switch Center) related planning.
• Responsible for timely supply of equipment
• Responsible for negotiating with hose owner for building Base Station on the rooftop.
• Responsible for roaming agreement with other countries.

Responsibilities of the Implementing Section

• Responsible for construction & maintenance of Base station room, Antenna pipe, Power supply etc.
• Responsible for installation of Base Station Hardware.
• Responsible for start-up and pilot operation of Base Station.

Organ gram of Technical Division

 Marketing and Sales Division of Grameenphone

The following chart shows different department under Marketing Division.

Sales Department of GrameenPhone

As its name suggests this department involves in the selling procedure of GP and thus enjoys the responsibility of direct interface with the customers.

Responsibilities of Sales Department

• Market survey and collecting the feedback
• Participation in exhibition
• Participation in opening of dealers outlet
• Instant delivery
• Introducing & selling new packages
• Follow up with existing subscribers
• Building up managements with subscribers.

Distribution Channel of GrameenPhone

Info:                    

Info center provides spot solutions. Here subscribers can get subscription. 04 trained and friendly people are serving at Info Center from 8am-6pm. There is also 01 Sales & Logistics Officer who is responsible for providing SIM (Subscribers Identification Module) cards and handsets to the subscribers and distribution of marketing items.

Dealers:

02 persons are responsible in dealing with Dealers at Dhaka and Chittagong each. There are 04 Dealers at present-Flora, Grameen Telecom and Brothers, Butterfly.

Corporate Sales Force:

07 Officers are ready to serve any corporate in Dhaka and 05 persons at Chittagong.

Product & Market Planning of GrameenPhone

Product & Market Planning Department (P & MP) is a vital part of Grameenphone in terms of its importance and role.

The central innovative department of Grameenphone is the P & MP department. This department facilitates communication between the different departments about existing and new products / packages of GrameenPhone. P & MP also manages and co-ordinates information about different products. P & MP evaluate the possibilities and develop new products.

P & PM is responsible for communication with different departments about existing products.

P & MP gets feedback from Sales, Customer Management and Market Communication departments regarding Customer needs and Market requirements. Feedback helps in redefining an existing product.

New ideas are developed after evaluation of market demands. P & MP gives shape and form to berg ideas in the process of developing a new product. P & MP is responsible to co-ordinate with Operation & Maintenance, Information System and Billing departments to get solutions check the functionality of Product features and prices. Bundling and un-Bundling of services to create new packages can be a useful way of satisfying customer needs.

P & MP facilitates launch of the products within Grameenphone. Training and support for a product to all departments within Grameenphone is also the responsibility of this department. P & MP develops the main marketing message for products working closely with Marketing department. P & MP develops the main marketing message for products working closely with Marketing department. P & MP will also support Sales and Customer Care department about new product launch.

Market Communication of GrameenPhone

Functions

The functions of marketing department are manifold. However the main function can be articulated as to develop product and promote.

In order to accomplish this function, some steps have to follow. They are:

• Need determination by market survey through secondary data.
• To develop product within GP’s resources.
• Pricing of the product.
• To obtain necessary approval from the management
• Competitor’s activity analysis
• Concept building for promotional activities. It includes advertisement in the leasing dailies in the most effective manner within a given budget, to arrange out-door advertisement, hoarding, promotions of gift items like dairy, calendar etc.

Besides the above-mentioned functions, this department is also responsible for all kinds of publications of GP. It is the responsibility of the marketing department to design and publish monthly Newsletter of GP.

Marketing department also support various departments in performing their job. After the market survey, for an example, they can suggest Radio Planning department about the approximate no. of probable subscribers of a particular area and the potential of International Roaming.

In the above-mentioned way, marketing department plays an important role in the smooth functioning of GP.

Selling procedure of GrameenPhone

• To build management with the clients, to make a good rapport with them, to acknowledge them about the GP service, its advantages, coverage area, and above all to provide information about GP in a convincing manner.
• all the necessary arrangements to sale the product which includes handout GP application form & brochures
• Help the customer to fill up the application form including the agreement.
• Tell & help the customer to pay the amount for subscription including govt. fee and security deposit in the designated banks in cash.
• Receive the completed application form with bank deposit slip and all the documents, check carefully and ensure the signature with date.
• Make a photocopy of the SIM card with its number, mobile number and ID number.
• Inform the subscriber to contact Customer Care Department on 123 for further inquiry.
• Thanks the customer for choosing GP
• Forward the subscriber’s file to the Billing department for activation.

Customer Management Department (CMD) of Grameenphone

Customer Management Division of GP has different units that are involved in ensuring all post sale services of our valued customers. Following is a brief description of the activities of these divisions:

Call/Image Management:

The Call Management handles all calls made in the hotline by the customers to provide quality post–sales services 24-hour round the clock. Sales department procures the business and Image center keep the business with the company for long period. Once management ship is established Image center is doing the business with the subscribers. It works with the objective to meet all kinds of queries from customer and provide the optimum solutions.

Customer Management Center (CMC):

The CMC handles all the customers face to face to provide quality post–sales services to keep the business with the company for long period. Once management ship is established, like Image center, CMC is doing the business with the subscribers in person. It works with the objective to meet all kinds of queries from customer and provide the optimum solutions.

Grameenphone provides instant services through its six Customer Management Center in  five division. All types of services regarding connection, network, coverage and handset problems are dealt with. The customers can walk in at these centers for solution to any type of problem regarding GP mobiles. The company has different units within the customer management department to support and to take care of instant action regarding, fax, lost phones, payments of bill, activation and any other problem that needs instant solution.

Corporate Customer Service:

This unit is responsible for providing all post-sale services to corporate accounts. This unit doing the business with the corporate subscribers in person, over phone. It works with the objective to meet all kinds of queries from customer and provide the optimum solutions.

The Image Management, the Customer Management Center and the Corporate Customer Service are making the bridge between the customers and company. Besides Sales & Marketing division, this are the CMD’s three departments who deals customers directly. It works to ensure customers satisfaction and also to motivate the people in Grameenphone service. In CMD previously named subscription unit renamed as customer demografic and activation (CDA) unit, communication units are working also,

Table 2.3:  Service offering from the Image Center

The Main Activities of the Image Center

Image Building Activities: The main activities of Corporate Customer Care and the hot lines are to move towards the customer satisfaction. So it will start with the image building activities by welcome call after activation.

Management Building Activities: Customer care will send the letter by mentioning the GP’s contact point and available service agreement. This service is exclusively for the Corporate Customers only.

 Human Resources of Grameenphone

Human Resources (HR) Department, an important of Administration Division plays very vital role in the total functioning of G P.  Employee recruitment, selection, transfer, promotion, training, performance appraisal – all these are conducted by HR division. The informal structure of HR according to its functions can be classified into three main categories they are:

• Human Resource Management  (HRM)
• Human Resource Development (HRD)
• Human Resource management Information system (HR- MIS)

HR Management functions

Manpower planning is an important function of HR management section. Two major activities in this function are:

• Planning and forecasting the organizations short tern and long term human resource requirements.
• Analyzing the jobs in the organization and determining skills and abilities that are needed.

Manpower planning is a lengthy process involving several steps. it   starts from need assessment and ends with recruitment.

At first, all the departments after employee need analysis send their requirement to HRD through their respective divisions. After obtaining necessary approval from the management, HRD sets target, and prepare recruitment planning. According to job specification HR goes for recruitment.

Recruitment Process

• Give advertisement in the daily newspapers
• Receive applications and file them,
• Shortlist of the applicants
• Fix date and time of a preliminary interview
• Contact with the applicants and inform them about the interview over telephone or letter
• Fix further date and time for final interview if it is required and inform the interviewee accordingly
• To prepare appointment letter for the finally selected interviewee
• Give appointment to the person with a detail job description.

Immediately after the recruitment separate employee file is opened comprising all the relevant information of the particular employee.   This personal file is prepared, maintained and updated by HRD.  In fact one of the main responsibilities of HRD is updating of all the personal file of the employee.

Performance appraisal is another main function of HR Management.  Performance appraisal is any personnel decision that influences the status of the employee regarding his confirmation, increment, promotion, and transfer.

GP performance appraisal

• On completion of probation
• On completion of one year of service.

Performance of an employee takes place by following some steps

a)   Job analysis

b)   Set up performance standard and

c)    Appraisal interview.

Leave management

Leave management is an important function. HR has opened a leave management database to obtain current leave status of all the employees of GrameenPhone.  It provides employees about their leave status when it is necessary.

HR Management also deals with some personnel functions like show cause, termination, Dismissal, discharge, and resignation. It also issues circular as & when required, conduct department inquiry, and all other functions related to HR.

Human Resources Development of Grameenphone

An organization’s performance and resulting productivity are directly proportional to the quantity and quality of its human resources.  While employee performance must be evaluated in economic terms of efficiency and effectiveness, it can be best achieved through recognizing and enhancing the human dignity of each employee.  The quality of the human resources can be effectively increased through education, training, and personal development. Human Resources Development functions aim to increase the quality of the human resources especially through training.

GP training involves the following steps

• Assessing training needs
• Selection of the participants
• Conduct training programs.

Different training programs of GP

GP Provides both local and overseas training on the basis of the need analysis of the employee.

Local training

Induction/Orientation training Program falls under inside GP training category.  After joining, it is the responsibility of the HR to conduct induction/orientation training to the newly recruited personnel to provide a general introduction of the company.  To prepare training plan, participant’s list, and training schedule for induction training – HR department does all. Inside GP training will cover Management training will cover Management training and Department training in near future. Out side GP training means to take part in training programs offered by different training institutions/universities on different subjects.  Overseas training: After need assessment employees who need overseas training are sent abroad for overseas training.  Expenses of overseas training are generally borne by GP.  The particular employee who has been selected for training has to sign a surety bond for specific period of time for overseas training.

Besides the above mentioned works, some routine functions of HRD are

• Prepare, maintain and update training related database.
• Prepare career development plan
• Prepare induction training manual/modules
• Evaluate training program
• Make agreement between GP & employees for overseas training
• To communicate with different local training institutions
• To communicate with trainers/instructors.

HR Management Information System of GrameenPhone

HR-MIS Functions involve-

• To maintain & update employee database
• Maintain employee related different statistics
• Any other works which requires updating employee data.

Though job has been classified and assigned according to the nature of the functions of HR Department, the job is accomplished and the responsibility is carried out co-operatively.  HRD plays a very crucial role in the functioning of GP. This is a very flexible and open department, as it always has to gather and store current and exact data and information regarding the employee and the organization.

Administrative Division

The term “Administration” is associated with misconceptions and controversies. Especially in the context of Bangladesh, it represents a bureaucratic organizational set up with typical characteristics of red-tape-ism, centralization of power and authority, favoritism, nepotism and so on. Administration Division of GrameenPhone is set up with a view to break out from the so-called conventional system of bureaucracy and strives to be different in all respects.

Administration Division encourages to:

v  Develop the leadership quality in such a manner that the organization can grow like a disciplined family.

v  Reward for discipline, hard work and efficiency.

v  Maintain a quality, conducive and enjoyable work environment.

v  Maintain congenial and healthy interdepartmental managements to ensure uniformity in objectives.

v  Work with an open system approach to ensure effective communication flow:

 Finance Division of Grameenphone

inance division comprises three departments, namely, Information systems, Finance and Procurement.

Structure of Finance Division

Fig 2.10

Department of finance is an integral part of finance division. The main role of this department is define in under:

• Attends to financial planning and control
• Budget and budgetary control
• Provide management information
• Development of system and method
• Ensure proper internal control over the company
• Analysis of financial statement for future action
• Information flow for inter-department and external using
• Co-ordination with external organization and internal department.

Work force:

Working team of this department consist a total nine (09) members including Executive Manager Finance who is responsible for overall and inter-departmental management of this department.  For overall supervising and proper internal control purpose finance department device in four segments where a several section as required based on work volume and a manager (individuals) is responsible for all activities performed by the sections.  At present there is a managerial position confirmed duly for accounts segment based in Dhaka.  There is also a total Six-(06) accounts officer including Chittagong office and a cashier in the cash office based in Dhaka.

Information Systems (IS) of Grameenphone

Responsibilities:

IS is responsible to manage the following areas-

• NT Server/Workstations
• Alpha Server System
• Mail/Internet System
• PABX Systems.

NT Server serves in the following way:

• All the Desktops and portables while in networks are connected to NT server.
• NT Server is used for –

a)   Data sharing

b)   Centralizing data

c)    Data security

d)   Printing

e)    Electronic mail.

Alpha Server is used for –

a)   Customer activation/deactivation

b)   Adding and barring features to the customers

c)    Customers inquiries

d)   Generation bills

e)    Current and previous status of customer

IS mainly works with Switch, and Customer Care department  IS maintains and manages the server oriented application software which is known as CABS 2000.

Billing and Customer Care use CABS 2000 and in this way they are closely related with IS Department.

Mail/Internet of Grameenphone

All the GP Officials have their own E-mail address, which helps in easy communication and easy data transfer.  IS handles all mail and Internet related issues and problems.

PABX system of GrameenPhone

All the desk telephones are connected to the PABX system which helps in connecting GP officials and the out side world.

In short, the whole GP for its day to day activities like computer application, PABX phone system,  E-mail etc. which is a must to carry out the regular duties, are all managed by IS.

Whenever user face any problem related to the above-mentioned activities, IS members are always active to provide instant help.

 Other Divisions of GrameenPhone

Information

This is a department responsible for information flow both within and outside the organization.  Now 5 persons are working in this department.

GRIP

GRIP represents for- GrameenPhone Railway Integration project. This is a special project to integrate the telecom department of railway (BRTS) and GrameenPhone. This project will end up with a merger with Roll – Out and Operations division.

Regulatory & Legal

This division is responsible for booking after the regulatory obligation and legal finding of the Company. Now only two people are in this division excluding the director.

  Employee Standard of Conduct

The company offers a wonderful and friendly working environment in the office. Grameen hone has conducive and safe working environment. The Company’s intent is to establish a good working management ship through a mutual understanding of expectations. They believe in working in a team and demonstrate team spirit to maximize and excel in standard quality service to their valued subscribers in the area of telecommunication. Employees work in an environment where they feel valued, responsible and supported by the authority as well as by their colleagues.

Grameenphone also takes preventive and safety measures to avoid all sorts of hazardous situation that might take place in some areas of technical functions.

With its present status GP aims to expand and grow at a faster pace by utilizing the best possible opportunities and expansion of Network throughout the whole country. This enormous task requires dedicated, devoted and committed manpower.

 Industry Analysis

Mobile telecommunication industry in Bangladesh is still in growth stage. Only four companies are currently operating in the country. It was a question that whether the market of the country is suitable for this expensive technology or not. But after few years of introduction, it has become one the biggest industries of the country.

In the first half of 90’s City Cell started the journey of mobile industry in Bangladesh. In the first few years it was the only company in the industry. Naturally the price was too high and the general people could not afford mobile phone during that period of time. The company targeted only the higher class of the society. During that time price of mobile was above Tk 50,000/=. Naturally, the growth of the industry was too slow. So, the government decided to bring more companies in the market and break the monopoly.

After careful evaluation the government decided to provide three licenses to Grameen Telephone, TM International (AKTEL), and Sheba Telecom (Banglalink) and Teletalk. City Cell is using AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) technology, all of these rest companies are using GSM (Global System for Mobile) technology. GSM is the most popular mobile telecommunication technology in the world. About 60% of the cell phone users of the world use GSM technology.

I have already mentioned that the mobile telecommunication industry is now in the high growth stage. The number of mobile users in the country is approximately 50,00,000 and among them GP’s subscribers are over 34,00,000.Although the mobile industry in Bangladesh is of four private companies and newly Tele-talk of BTTB is operating , GP is still leading the way with a sharp distance.

 SWOT Analysis of Grameenphone

Strengths:

• Good Owner Structure
• Availability of Backbone Network (Optical fibber)
• Financial Soundness
• Market Leader
• Brand Name / Grameen Image
• Skilled Human Resource
• Largest Geographical Coverage
• Good Human Resource and Infrastructure Installation all over the country through Bangladesh Railway and Grameen Bank
• Access to the widest rural distribution network through Grameen Bank
• High Ethical Standard
• Highest and advanced value added service provider.

Weaknesses:

• Mixture of different cultures is used as an excuse not to solve problems
• Too much inside out thinking in the company.
• Different departments not working together.
• Poor interconnection with BTTB.
• Complicated price structure
• Billing System can’t handle sophisticated billing.
• No long-term Distribution/Channel strategy.

Opportunities:

• Economic growth of Bangladesh.
• New and better interconnection agreement
• Huge need for telecom services
• Increased intentional activities in Bangladesh
• Declining prices for handsets
• Future privatization of the fixed network
• New international gateway
• Demand for inter-city communication
• Growth in other operator will give more connection.

Threats:

• More rigid government regulations.
• More influence of competitors on the fixed network
• Change of government might lead to competitors having more clout
• Devaluation of Taka
• National catastrophes.
• Sabotage of installation.
• Non-co-operation of government and fixed PSTN (Public Service Telephone Network).
• Risk of fire in GP’s Installations.
• Price war.
• Non-availability of funds.
• BTTB has limited capacity for interconnections.
• New Tele-talk; a cheaper mobile phone service is launching which is government owned

CHAPTER 3:Customer Satisfaction & retention through Telemarketing

Introduction

The topic of my internship project is “Customer satisfaction & retention through Tele-marketing”.  I am doing my internship in the largest cellular company of Bangladesh; Grameenphone Ltd. I have been working their in customer demographic and activation; a unit of Customer Management Division. There are 187 manpower is working in the Customer Management Division and in the Tele-marketing total 7 people are working daily and in the Customer Demographic and Activation unit 81 people are working.

As Grameenphone is a service company, it always aims to retain its’ customers through quality customer service. Even though customer loyalty is possible through customer management ship, there is always room for customer dissatisfaction, which hampers customer loyalty. Hence, in order to maintain loyalty it is very important to maintain a good management ship with the customer.

So, here my job is to entry proper way as data from prepaid subscriber form and the next project will be to promote and provide different services to the subscribers over telephone on the basis of the current data entry. That means, my actual job is to satisfy customers by meeting their different queries and promoting and creating the awareness of GP’s different services and also pursue the subscribers to be retained.

 Tele-marketing (The New Concept)

In 1996, Grameenphone started its journey and never stopped in this hard walk way of establishing itself and reaching to the mass people with their quality services. Every time they have tried to bring something new, something good for both the customers and for the company. Their continuous research on market and customers and their willingness to provide better services than before has made them the market leader for a long time. Their Customer Management Centers and the hotline services are the best in the present telecommunication industry. To continue this advancement they have bring a new concept in the telecommunication sector which is – “Tele-marketing”.

The present market demand and business scenario in Bangladesh forced them to bring this new concept to maintain the customer’s satisfaction level. On 14^th February’2005 “Tele-marketing” started its journey. In the beginning it started with promoting the features of their existing products to their existing customers. Tele-marketing concept means the way of marketing the company products and delivering services over phone to the subscribers which is quite new in our country. In this case Grameenphone is the pioneer. Tele-marketing; a sub-division of Customer Management Division of Grameenphone take birth in the head office, Gulshan Dhaka and continuing their activities to enhance the customer service more in future.

 Activities of Tele-marketing

The basic activities of Tele-marketing is to contact the subscribers over phone and get the feed back and side by side promoting their products, the features etc. In Grameenphone tele-marketing working process are listed below-

• Calling subscribers over phone.
• Make a query for their problems.
• Promoting the new features.
• Providing the instant services and information.
• Creating awareness among the customers of their ignored issues, which is very useful for them.
• Giving solutions to the subscribers problem and if necessary informing to the respective persons.
• Collecting the personal information such as occupation, age range etc. from customers.
• Calling back to the customers if needed.
• Generating daily, weekly and monthly report on the working progress and reporting to the respective departments.
• Running special promotional campaigns.
• Running different campaigns like new activation, prepaid users , reconnections etc.

 Establishment Cost and Expenses of Tele-marketing

There is no additional costing for establishing the “tele-marketing” project. The tele-marketing is running on the established infrastructure of Customer Management Division. It does not require any kind of extra equipments and there was enough resource in call center which helped tele-marketing to run on successfully and without any cost.

To run this project, there were some expenses which is very little in amount that was recovered from the revenue generated from call center. The expenses were – hiring people, training and refreshment expenses and the monthly compensation for the tele-marketers.

 Employees (The Marketers)

For tele-marketing 7 part times and internee employees are working in two shifts. These 7 marketers are working under the supervision of an Customer Management Officer who is responsible for all kinds of activities in tele-marketing. Then he will report to the General Manager of CMD. So the tele-marketing structure is –

Fig 3.3: Telemarketing structure

The recruitment for tele-marketing is handled by the Human Resource Division of Grameenphone. And according to their recruiting policies they invites part timers and internee students to work for tele-marketing project. An formal interview and medical test is arranged for the candidates. After their recruitment, CMD arranges training sessions which is usually a four days long training period. In the training sessions, different respective employees from different divisions of GP give lectures and audio visual lessons.  After the training period, the new employees who are actually the marketers started their practical job of tele-marketing.

 Impact of Telemarketing on Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a very important factor for today’s companies. All the successful companies try to match the customer’s expectation with their delivered services. Satisfied customers are very important for the companies because they bring the benefits. Satisfied customers are the customers whose needs are fulfilled and they are very much quality service conscious. They retain with the company for longer times and refer to others about the companies. Through the satisfied customers companies get extra promotion and loyal customer for longer time. Grameenphone is also very much concerned about satisfying customers. The call center of help line, IVR, customer managements centers all are the main factors of customer’s satisfaction for GP. But still customers sometimes don’t like to get these services due to financial factors and sometimes for other issues like availability, time constraints etc. So through tele-marketing Grameenphone reached one step more in raising customer satisfaction than other mobile operators. Cause when tele-marketers calls an subscriber and take care of his/her problems and indirectly sending the message to the subscriber that they are their valuable customer and Grameenphone is always there to help them by knocking customer’s door; then the company image in front of the customer changes and their desired satisfactory issues meets

Impact of Tele-marketing in revenue generation

Tele-marketing activities of Grameenphone are helping them to generate huge revenue. Like-

• Tele-marketers are promoting the new product campaigns over phone. So the customers are directly getting the news from Grameenphone. Then they are buying the new packages and thus GP sales go higher.

• Tele-marketers are promoting the value added services (VAS) provided by GP. So customers are using the services and from VAS huge revenue comes out.

• As tele-marketers works for retaining customers, so GP gets loyal customers and this loyal customer makes repeat usages of the services.

• Though tele-marketing the customers are getting educated about the product features and other services. Then they try these services at least once. So the huge number of customers of GP is generating a huge amount of revenue for the company in the trial period.

• Tele-marketers are motivating customers and then drive their needs to use the GP products and more and more in future. And by assuring the better services, they are satisfying customers. so the satisfied customers are also referring to others. Thus GP is getting more word of mouth communication and the benefit is the company getting more customers and the revenues is on the way.

• Tele-marketing are continuing with Grameenphone’s existing infrastructure and so Grameenphone will earn huge benefit with extra low cost. So for this it has needed its employee salary and maintenance of PC.

CHAPTER-4:Theoretical and Technological Analysis of Telemarketing

GTMS (Tele-marketing Software Tools)

Grameenphone is using an database software named “GTMS” which is custom made and used for preserving the information’s gathered from the customers field by field. By using this software the tele-marketing people can easily generate any report based on the queries. It makes their works very easier and saves time. Two screen shots of GTMS is given below:

Fig 4.1:  GTMS Screen shot: 1

Fig 4.2:  GTMS Screen shot: 2

  Motivation and Retention through Tele-marketing

One of the most important tasks of Tele-marketing is to motivate customers. Grameenphone tele-marketers are also motivating their customers for using the services and other value added services to get the full flavor of the product benefits. This motivation process can be described according to the following model:

Fig 4.3:  Motivation process and customer retention

When a customer has any unfulfilled needs or desired service from Grameenphone then he/she gets tensed and this drives to a specific behavior that he/she needs to fulfill that needs or desire; in the mean time their learning from other sources helps to think about meeting their demands. So the Grameen tele marketers what really do is ; they educate the subscribers and motivates to act in the specific behavior and then in the cognition process subscribers finds that they are learned about their needs with the help of Tele-marketers and now they know how to fulfill their demand and they goes for it. So Tele-marketer are reducing tensions of customers and by educating them motivating to use the services more or approaching to new services.

Motivating customers, tele-marketers also promoting the products and services of Grameenphone, which is more effective than other advertisement media.

Management ship marketing is a philosophy of doing business, a strategic orientation that focuses on keeping and improving current customers, rather than on acquiring new customers. The main benefit of this theory is customers prefer to have an ongoing management ship with one company than to switch continually among other companies. Tele-marketing of Grameenphone is exactly retaining their customers following this management ship marketing philosophy.

Fig 4.4:  Management ship marketing philosophy

By maintaining a management with the customers Grameenphone will get many benefits like when they are providing quality services the customer’s satisfaction will be raised and it will lead to them to be with the company for long time. So Tele-marketers are making an management with the customers and this leading the customers repeat usages of Grameenphone services; so the profits are increased and then all these things are helping indirectly to retains internal employees also. Through Tele-marketing, customer retention is easier than any other media and the cost is lower also.

 Intrerview results and Analysis

Here I have depicted the interview question that I had asked to the employees in Grameenphone; and the some answer samples. In the end of each question I have analyzed the result of the interview.

Question # 1: how Tele-marketing was established?

Employee answer:

• “ Its an outbound service that Grameenphone lacks before; that’s why it was brought up”
• “Marketing Research Division, Customer Management Division and others division combined planned for brining up this new service”.
• “Company perspective was to change the customer’s attitude towards GP”.

Analysis:

My analysis says, very few employees exactly knows how Tele-marketing was established; but to some extent their raised points are right. Tele-marketing was established due to the growing market competition to motivate the existing and new customers of GP and to retain them. It’s a new tool to increase the customer’s satisfaction and to promote with lower costs. Its not only the sub-division of Customer Management Division but other departments are also related to its activities

Question # 2: What are the main objectives of Tele-marketing GP?

Employee Answer:

• “Data collection for market research”.
• “Promoting products and Value added services.”
• Building Company images to the customers that GP care about them”.
• “It’s a part of Call Center, to help them as out bound service”.

Analysis:

The interesting observation from the interviews is most of the employees in Customer Management Division is not aware of the main objectives and activities of Tele-marketing clearly. Many of them failed to list all the objectives. The main objective of Tele-marketing is to educate the subscribers about the products and services, then by providing better instant service retaining the existing customers and to change the customers perception about Grameenphone and its services.

Question # 3: How much was the establishment costing and expenditure of this subdivision?

Employee answer:

• “There is no extra investment for this”.
• “I don’t have any idea”.
• “Extra expenditures are only the training expenses and the compensation for marketers”.

Analysis:

Analysis says and supports the collected data that for Tele-marketing no extra invest was required; because it was established in the call center where all the necessary equipments are available from the beginning.

Question # 4: Do you think Tele-marketing is an effective promotional tool?

Employee answer:

• “At the moment it’s the best tool in tele-communication sector for promoting services”.
• “No, It has a reverse effects during promotion”

Analysis:

According to the employees answer it was found that most of them thinks its an new promotional tool and Grameenphone brings it just because they are the pioneer in telecommunication sector. But its true as a promotional tool it’s very effective but sometimes it has some reverse effects like subscribers might feel disturbed and get bore of it.

Question # 5: What is usage of the preserved data base of Tele-marketing?

Employee answer:

• “It is used for Marketing Research Division”.
• “We can get some useful findings from this data”.
• “This data is need for segmenting the market”.

Analysis:

The preserved data is mainly used for marketing research purpose. From the customer responses MRD can find out their desires and future demands and can come up with new ideas. Besides this, another usage of this data is get the idea of GP’s actual market segment.

Question # 6: Do you think Tele-marketing is helping in generating revenue?

Employee answer:

• “Of course it is , its generating a big amount”.
• “It’s a great weapon to generate revenue”.

Analysis:

Absolutely Tele-marketing is helping Grameenphone to generate huge amount of revenues. Because Tele-marketers are promoting, motivating and retaining customers so the sales and usage of the services is increasing.

Question # 7: Do you think tele-marketing is appropriate for customer retention?

Employee answer:

• “It’s the perfect way of retaining a subscriber and solving his/her problem and offering better service”.
• “Same as helpline services.”

Analysis:

My analysis says, tele-marketing is the best way to retain a customer in tele-communication business. Through the help line services it’s not possible to make them understand that the company really cares about its customers; because customers are paying for the help line service and they don’t give attention in persuasive matters.

Question # 8: what are the future prospects of Tele-marketing in GP?

Employee answer:

• “The future is bright”.
• “There is a great opportunity of expanding GP’s services through tele-marketing and it can be a separate unit”.

Analysis:

Analysis says that the future of Tele-marketing in GP is very bright. Because this section is directly related to customers and they can get the direct feedback from the customers for any other division of Grameenphone. This section can create more employment opportunity in future. There is some argument among the employees of GP that some portion of them thinks Tele-marketing should be stayed in touch with Call Center; and some says it should be an independent section. According to me Tele-marketing should be run under call center cause the working process and all the necessary setup is totally related to the call center.

Question # 9: Is there any lacking in present Tele-marketing activities?

Employee answer:

• “It’s perfect in starting position”.
• “Do not have any idea”.

Analysis:

In regard to this question I have got both negative and positive responses, but the truth is most of the employees of customer managements division are not very familiar with the tele-marketing activities so they think this is the standard format for the moment. But as an employee of Gp, I would say still there are some lacking in Tele-marketing working process.

Question # 10: Why do you think part timer’s and internee employees are suitable for tele-marketing job?

Employee answer:

• “Part timer and internee employees have working flexibility which required in tele-marketing”.
• “Part-timers are most suited for this position, because a full time employee can’t do the repetitive job on daily basis”.

Analysis:

My analysis says, it’s true that a full timer employee is not only responsible for this kind of repetitive job, they have more responsibilities besides their regular duties. So the part timers and the internee students are best suited for this kind of job. But some times in special campaigns some experienced full time employees should be there to assist them.

 CHAPTER – 5:Recommendations

Here are some recommendations for Grameenphone to improve their Tele-marketing services to provide better customer service so that they can raise the customer satisfaction level and retain more.

v  As tele-marketing is a new concept in Grameenphone, it should have a permanent setup for having a good working environment.

v  Tele-marketing employees are facing accommodation problems daily, so the authorities should take care of this fact to arrange a permanent place or corner only for tele-marketing.

v  As the internee students come to GP only for 3 months, so recruiting them in tele-marketing is not an good idea because after their leaving Tele-marketing section will have manpower problem. So its better to recruit more part timers than internee students.

v  The job of tele-marketing is a repetitive one, so the marketers lose their concentration on doing the same job day after day. As the tele-marketers are advanced in all kind of product and service information, they should give support to the hotlines also for some times. this kind of rotation will help them to be enthusiastic.

v  More off the job training should be arranged for the Tele-marketing employees.

v  As the job is totally over phone and each employee is representing the company to the customers so more supervision on handling the conversation is necessary.

v  Tele-marketing should be directly supervised under the Marketing Research Division, because then the employees of both division will have more chance to share ideas.

v  The usage of preserved data should be shown to the marketers so that they can realize the implication of their jobs.

v  There are technical problems in the software of Tele-marketing, it should be bug free and updated one.

To improve customer satisfaction on tele-marketing as well as in the CMD division, there is no other scope remain except ensuring the work through MIS. For this a full implement able suggestion has given below

  Call Registering System:

1. Customer Relations and Management
2. Call Registering System
3. Benefits of a Call Registering System
4. Product Features
5. Call Registering System Modules

  Customer Relations and Management

Customer Contact Center: The customer contact center integrates customer touch-points and provides service through one multi-channel gateway. The customer contact center, whether it is a help desk, a call center, or on-line support via email or chat, is about how your customers experience your organization. Customers leave the customer contact center experience with either a positive or negative impression about your company.

Call Center and Help Desk: The department that handles customer inquiries – typically via the telephone, fax, or email.

Customer Interactive Center (CIC):  Help desks and support environments that are highly interactive. CIC leverages technology, human resources and methodologies to create raving fans while utilizing e-Service and e-Support for outstanding customer satisfaction.

Customer Retention: Processes that identify, prioritize, and improve areas of performance that have the greatest impact on customer loyalty. The objective is to keep as many customers as possible, keep them satisfied, keep them loyal, and keep them for life. Organizations measure their performance over time and against competitors and how they drive customer feedback through the organization to build lasting customer management ships.

Customer Support:  Provides timely, expert support to resolve customer problems and queries sent by email, phone, fax, or in person.

eService system: A sophisticated scripted online help system and/or a knowledge base of technical notes and previously offered customer solutions. eService is a Customer Service Center management system that allows customers to find solutions on their own.

Live Support/Service: Customer service representatives who answer customer questions via the telephone in real time.

On-line Support/Service: On line support from an internal help desk, allows businesses of any size to dramatically improve customer service by providing employees access to problem resolution information through Intranets. An external help desk allows customers to access customer service information through the Web. Both systems enable companies to resolve problems faster, leading to improved service and greater overall customer satisfaction.

Call Registering System

As telecommunications and networking technologies continue to evolve and the availability of capital ebbs and flows, service providers must carefully choose those solutions that will allow them to keep pace with technological change, to offer enhanced services to their customers and to capture significant returns on investment. Next-generation network equipment, with scalability and economics unmatched by legacy equipment, meet all of these requirements. Networks convergence is now considered the “Holy Grail” of the telecom world. This convergence can be categorized in several ways and will have a significant effect within various network domains. At the end of the day, every network operator’s goal will be to provide seamless connectivity between different domains and to carry calls end-to-end — packaged with a suite of services aCMOss those domains.

Despite customer ambivalence, however, venture capital continues to pour into equipment startups and competitive carriers who claim that they’ll be able to capitalize on convergence

Actual example like BPL Telecom LTD believes that Innovation does not have to be a random, unpredictable process. Nor must a company’s ability to innovate depend on chance or other variables that are difficult to control. Once the causal factors are identified and tools are developed to control these factors, the output can be predicted – transforming innovation from an art to a science The system developed by BPL Telecom is a multi-utility Plug-in module that is designed to be operational for both Mobile Operators as well as Internet Service Providers.

The Call Registering System is a complete solution to facilitate Call Center operations. It is a very powerful, flexible and reliable system for domestic and international settlements, offering the functionality and the performance required by today’s dynamic telecommunications market.

Features such as User Administration, Internal Messaging, Complaints Trace ability, Report Generation have been successfully incorporated into the CRS.

Furthermore, the system provides a comprehensive view of the complete Complaint Cycle, the origin of the Complaint by opening it’s status, its routing to the respective concerned department, and the action taken or the delay and the closing of the complaint status.

The system can be fully automated with a Screen Pop Up to provide customer interaction without the need of human intervention.

Your customers are hungry for everything a mobile data-enhanced world promises, and they’d like it now, with specialized devices, naturally, and with superior content. Creating exceptional value and staying ahead of the mobile industry’s metamorphosis is all so vital.

5.1.3   Call Registering System benefits efficiency

The CRS modules have enhanced features that involve faster and easier access to the Database. As it’s a Front-end application, the .exec file is highly portable and can be used with minimum internal and external memory

Ease of Use: The CRS is a product which the people of various backgrounds and qualifications can use and apply to daily business activities.

Flexible User Interface Design: All configurations and basic process are front-end GUIs, which are easy to understand and use.

Extendibility: As this product has been developed with a reusable background, it can hence be customized to the current market trends and  customer requirements.

Product Features

• Provides all the details pertaining to the customer, on the entry of Mobile number or the Username.

• Provides detailed information on subscribers such as customer code, price group, contract status, bill cycle, device details, service details, credit card details, IMEI details, etc.

• It also provides information about invoice details, payment details, bill views, credit details and credit history.

• Information like ticklers generated, air-usage detail, air amount, land charges, roaming charges and a complete list of call details are also provided.

• It also maintains a history of past services availed by customer with a status and description.

• The system also maintains a complaint history.

• Internal messaging to enhance first hand communication between the Call Center and the respective department

• User Administration and grant of User rights

• Routing of the complaints to the concerned departments

• Screen pop-ups to have the latest strategies and business proposals on your finger tips

• Keeps track of the average turn Around Time or TAT between the initiation of a complaint to its response time
• Overview of the complaint history for a given subscriber against his mobile number or his Username in case of Internet Operations

• Report generation on the basis of the Mobile number or the Username of a Subscriber
• Automation of the system for better functionalit

   Call Registering System Modules

The Call Registering system involves following 4 Core modules:

• User Administration
• Complaints’ Configuration
• Customer Complaints’ History
• MIS Reports

By following call registering system technique properly Grameenphone can give better services to its customer.

GIS Use in Telecommunications Growing

To be competitive, telecommunications providers depend on a smoothly functioning workflow process that integrates information for marketing, demand forecasting, engineering, customer management, operations support, and fleet management. Although telecommunications providers generally have the same needs for information, how the work flow is organized can vary significantly from company to company

Fig5.1:  Telecommunications companies are integrating GIS into the overall work flow.

Telecommunications companies are integrating GIS into the overall work flow. Historically telecommunications companies have used an assortment of information systems-some developed in-house, some purchased-that were never designed to work together. When these systems were implemented, there was no perceived requirement for information sharing. Today telecommunications companies operate networks that have equipment from multiple vendors and lease bandwidth and antenna sites from other companies. Mergers with, or acquisition of, other companies require the incorporation of, or at least interaction with, completely foreign networks. The need for information sharing within companies and interoperability between systems has been recognized by the telecommunications industry for a long time. Originally founded in 1865 as International Telegraph Union, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) promotes standards in equipment that guarantee generalized interconnection between communication systems. To improve interoperability, ITU has developed the Telecommunications Management Network (TMN), a method of standardizing business organization. This hierarchy of support systems specifies interoperability through the use of industry-standard protocols. Geospatial applications need to support this same level of interoperability if GIS is to work well within this TMN-structured environment.

Many current applications of GIS in the telecommunications industry began as departmental tools that worked within a well-defined scope. These GIS-based tools have helped automate business processes and increase the efficiency of operations. The following sections describe how telecommunications companies have integrated GIS into the overall work flow.

   Marketing/Market Segmentation

Telecommunications providers are tied to geography more closely than many other types of businesses. They operate within service areas and the infrastructure that delivers services is linked directly to the location of each customer. Telecommunications companies segment the characteristics for both consumer and business customers geographically using GIS. This not only lets them market more effectively but also helps them forecast the demand for services. Both targeting customers and predicting where and when growth will occur involves integrating corporate intelligence, demographic data, and information about the progress of building projects in the area with location data and applying various modeling techniques. The information obtained from this analysis drives network investment budgets and marketing campaigns.

  Operations Support Systems

Operations Support Systems (OSS) make sure that the network functions properly. OSS includes activities such as network monitoring, outage management, billing, and testing. With a shared GIS database, staff members have instant access to customer status and history, existing plant records, and signal quality information to support updates, maintenance and repairs to the network. Intelligent objects modeled in ArcGIS not only have rules that speed the design process but also can reflect the status of network elements. A query can identify features in a network element layer that are at 80 percent of capacity more than half of the time. The switches, base stations, and other features selected by this query would be candidates for capacity enhancements. The ability to anticipate problems and prevent outages before they occur is another tool that enables carriers to be more competitive and reduce costs. This so-called “near real-time” monitoring of networks necessitates integration of several systems using industry standard interoperability protocols.

  Capacity and Capital Planning

Information generated by marketing and market segmentation activities that define current and future communication demands can be used to create a logical network of capacities and estimate the capital spending required to build this capacity. GIS is widely used in decision support for capital planning. Effective capacity planning uses current data describing the existing plant, the demand information from the marketing phase, and network performance information from OSS.

 Wireline Engineering

Wireline engineering systems are GIS applications that work with the design and geographic layout of a company’s outside plant infrastructure. Engineering applications allow for quick review and modeling of network routes, automation of the work order process, and high volume cartographic output to support technicians in the field. ArcGIS can model intelligent objects in the network and associate rules with features. Through the use of industry-specific data models, real-world behavior can be captured in these objects. For example, a fiber cable object can be created with rules that would not allow it to connect to a copper splice. This capability greatly enhances design performance. Because they use an industry-standard development platform, ArcGIS-based engineering systems are interoperable. Third party software that schematically represents networks has been integrated with ArcGIS so that users can toggle between logical and physical views of the network. Engineering applications allow for quick review and modeling of network routes, automation of the work order process, and high volume cartographic output to support technicians in the field.Wireless Engineering Nowhere is competition in the telecommunications industry more intense than in the wireless sector. While most second generation networks have rolled out, new wireless network technologies are forcing carriers to redesign all or parts of their networks. Designing and building a wireless network is a costly process that involves several iterations of planning and testing. Having paid handsomely for third generation (3G) licenses, many carriers are highly motivated to reduce the cost of building new networks.  Performing sophisticated GIS analysis on optimized geographic data can reduce planning and design costs. In some cases, effective use of geographic resources has made the difference between success or failure for a telecommunications company. Preliminary analysis with GIS uses customer, terrain, and landownership information and provides planners with potential antenna sites. The initial network configuration is evaluated using wave propagation modeling that simulates the wireless coverage resulting from a configuration. Once an optimal model is devised, engineers test the configuration in the field. The process is repeated until the configuration provides optimal coverage for the area. Wireless engineering applications illustrate that sharing information and geographic data between phases of the work flow can reduce data redundancy while streamlining processes. Using GIS to limit the number of design iterations and curtail costly field testing provides significant savings for telecommunications providers.

With GIS, call center operators can access all the information on a customer and the associated network based on location.

Customer Relationship Management

In today’s competitive telecommunications market, customer service is the number one differentiator for companies. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications improve the management ship between the company and its customers. Timely service provisioning, response to customer queries, and reporting on network performance are aspects of CRM. With GIS, call center operators can access all the information on a customer and the associated network based on location. Databases containing information on outside plant infrastructure, signal quality, and equipment can be integrated using GIS and made available using a corporate Intranet.

In CRM, Tier 1 handling means the customer’s issue is resolved with the initial call.

Tier 2 calls require initiating a trouble-ticket and obtaining additional information. Carriers who have successfully implemented GIS support for CRM achieve higher Tier 1 handling and customer service is performed more quickly and economically. With CRM contacts at an all-time high, improving CRM operations can make a big impact on the bottom line of a carrier. In the wireless sector, “churn” refers to the rate that customers jump from one service provider to another. For many carriers, customer churn is the single largest cost factor. GIS improves the speed and quality of contact handling, augments customer satisfaction, and reduces churn.

Customer Management ship Management (CRM) is the crucial interface between a telecommunications carrier and its customers and prospects. GIS gives call center operators an instant view of a customer location, nearby facilities, requests for services, and signal quality. GIS dramatically reduces service request turnaround times by integrating historical network and customer data with a Trouble Ticketing system.

 Fleet Management/Dispatch

Communications companies must manage and route service vehicles for outage response and service provisioning. An efficient dispatch process balances drive times, territories, and the skill sets of individual technicians. GIS routing applications can produce itineraries that take each of these factors into account. Optimizing the dispatch and routing of service vehicles results in significant cost and time savings and increased customer satisfaction because technicians can often specify time windows for service calls of two hours or less.

Putting It All Together: Enterprise GIS

When GIS applications servicing various phases of the work flow are interoperable and a networked GIS distributes geographic data to desktops and mobile devices, the value of GIS to the organization moves well beyond that of a departmental tool. For example, a sales representative can make a compelling business case for the sale of bandwidth to a corporate prospect by showing the prospect’s location in management to the telecommunications company’s infrastructure. Network infrastructure provided by AM/FM systems is used for decision support in the provisioning process. Technicians in the field locate the correct manhole, pole, or access point by using the same data. Coverage maps and testing data for wireless networks can be instantly viewed by call center operators dealing with customer complaints. More complex applications include geospatial data in data warehousing systems and are used in conjunction with On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) clients to add a “where” dimension to corporate business intelligence.

The ArcGIS 8.1 suite is a fully scalable GIS that can work in a heterogeneous environment and support the tools, databases, and networks that telecommunications companies require. ESRI is working to integrate GIS applications in the TMN hierarchy. This will improve enterprise deployments and resolve interoperability issues. Field engineering tools and the use of mobile networks making geographic information available through wireless devices to business and consumer users will further increase the value of GIS. Telecommunications executives who make complex decisions will find GIS indispensable for decision support. GIS provides an overview of the company and the work flow. The addition of location services driven by GIS will generate additional revenue for telecommunications carriers and their business partners.

The investment telecommunications companies make in geospatial data and technology will yield benefits in business process automation, improved decision support, and value-added services for years to come.

Chapter – 6:Conclusion

Since 1996 Grameenphone is driving its car on the high way of telecommunication industry of Bangladesh and they have achieved the position of market just because of their quality service, extensive marketing research, and well infrastructure and for an exclusive management team; where the competitors are far behind them. Grameenphone has got the highest number of subscriber, but it does not mean that they have they highest number of satisfied customers. To raise the satisfaction level GP brought the “tele-marketing” concept in the telecommunication industry of our country. They are very much successful in launching this kind of service and from the above discussions of the impacts of tele marketing on customer satisfaction, motivation and retention and revenue generation proves that they are using trying to use this new concept as weapon to get the satisfied customers and to retain them for longer times. But the interview results and other analysis show that still there are some lacking in this section. Grameenphone needs to develop their tele-marketing section more to use it more efficiently and it would be possible on if the required changes were made.

Chapter – 7:Bibliography:

1. GrameenPhone Website: www.grameenphone.com
2. GrameenPhone annual reports
3. Intranet of Grameenphone named: http//Neptune.exchange
4. GrameenPhone News Letter
5. Basic Labor Law of Bangladesh
6. A. A. Khan, Bangladesh Labor and Industrial Law, Pravati Prakashani, New Super Market, Dhaka, 2002.