Single Toll-free Helpline Service Number

[Chirag 5]

Atal dials 1-2-1, AirTel follows suit

The Telegraph : M RAJENDRAN

New Delhi, Feb. 29: One-to-one is the flavour of the season. Be it Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s recorded message or Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly’s straight talk.

Vajpayee spent a full two hours last Tuesday writing and recording a message. The idea was to personally greet more than 46 million fixed-line and 24 million mobile phone users in the country.

The motive: a personalised, one-to-one greeting.

Interestingly, it is not the Congress party that is following suit; rather it is the country’s leading mobile operator AirTel. It has launched what it calls ‘1-2-1’, a single toll-free helpline service number across the country for post-paid customers.

Its competitor, Reliance Infocomm, also announced plans for a similar service for its pre-paid subscribers called 3333. AirTel plans to soon launch a similar service for its pre-paid customers too.

With AirTel’s 1-2-1, a customer registered anywhere in the country with the company will be able to access any information service. This frees the customer from the problem of remembering different customer-care numbers, which are specific to a mobile circle. The 1-2-1 is a single, common number across India.

The company has set up a customer service delivery team (CSD) with a focus to centrally provide strong functional skills to the various customer care initiatives, including those involving strategic and policy decisions.

Over the past year, AirTel has invested close to Rs 200 crore in the area of service delivery. Numerous investments in infrastructure, technology and HR (training and manpower) have been made to provide standard and consistent world-class services to the customers.

About Rs 250 crore has already been invested to create a common billing platform using a software called Kenan System.

Anurag Prashar, group chief service delivery officer of Bharti Tele-Ventures, says, “We would have started earlier, but Calcutta was not brought into this network. Now the subscribers of Calcutta will be able to access this service across the country.”

In 2004-05, the company plans to invest another Rs 82 crore to further revitalise all its customer interface points, including more advanced technology and infrastructure and a number of customer delight initiatives.

In terms of HR investment, AirTel has defined training as one of its key focus areas. All employees interfacing with the customers have to undergo a training programme.

The prime objective of the company is to move from a transactional approach to a relationship approach with its customers.

[Greens 21]

What is it? I Couldn't understand anything.

confusing????????/

[Tushar 0]

I think earlier Airtel had different nos for different services like Orange and now they have made available a single no. ie 121 for all services under one roof. Similar to Reliances *333 for post paid and I thnik 3333 for prepaid. This post just discusses the occurence of 121's this season like Atal callin all reliance subscribers with recorded voice (get it 1 to 1 conversation calls to each individual personally askin each to vote) - didn't u get that call???

[Greens 21]

Even I got a call from Atalji.

Initially I thought he's going to offer a minister post in his cabinet, unfortunately he wants himself elected. Poor man.

[Ashokjp 15]

Atal gi made a lot a promises in his speech to Reliance users