We believe in reaching out to our customers

Globally, an IT customer, is perhaps the most demanding and matured of the
lot. He knows his priorities and the hot competition makes him all the more
demanding. CIOL Bureau spoke to Compaq vice president, global services — Asia
Pacific Pathy Pathmanabhan on the challenges in keeping new economy customers
satisfied. Excerpts from the interview:

What is the profile of a Compaq customer globally?

If you look at the way Compaq as an organization is positioned, we have three
market segments. One is the mass consumer, then the small and medium businesses
and the third the enterprise segment. The reason we have this segmentation is
consumers always accept technology much quicker than corporates. For the
consumers, there is always a feeling of ‘it’s my money and I will learn’.
So, the consumers first take up the technology and learn about it and then they
go to the corporations and say ‘I have used this technology or appliance and
it works very well. Why don’t you use this.’ And, then it gets accepted by
the corporations. Very much like how Excel was adopted by corporations.

With people becoming more conscious of their lifestyle, we have decided to
devote a significant amount of attention to consumer electronics. Soon we will
be launching MPEG related audio and video devices, because that is what the end
consumer wants. The links between voice, media and communication are becoming
borderless.

On the other hand, the needs of small and medium businesses are different,
because the scope of the scale they have is much lower and they want, to a large
extent, ready-made applications at a smaller scale. They cannot initially make
significant investments. So, what we are saying is that let’s come together,
work out and see how we can finance the business with operational expenditure as
opposed to capital expenditure.

In the enterprise segment, we focus on vertical markets. We focus on
organizations in banking and finance, telecommunications, manufacturing and
stock exchanges. Because, these are the organizations that require significant
infrastructure and they use information and move data across various places. It
makes sense for us to understand how they play in each of these markets.

Internally, we also look at the products and plan what products should be
taken to which market and how we go about handling that.

Since the profiles of your customers vary so widely, does this require
different customer service strategies?

In some instances, yes. For argument sake, if you look at the needs of the
consumers, their expectation is that we should be able to come to their home and
service their equipment between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. On the
other hand, the corporate customer will say that you should come between 9 a.m.
and 6 p.m. Yet, some others may require a 24-hour support.

So, internally we look at various organizations with respect to the
technology and skills that we need to cater to.

How do you classify your customers? Is it based on the business they bring
in?

It is based on opportunity and the industry. Industry focus is more predominant
because we work very closely with the application providers to package the
products to serve the needs of players in every industry. However, there could
be times when a heavy manufacturing organization could approach us for a
particular type of package. We would take that on the basis of opportunity.

Are customer loyalty and customer satisfaction two different concepts?

Absolutely. Customer loyalty takes predominance. It is measured by three
components. It comprises of three things: that the customer will feel satisfied,
he/she will repurchase and lastly, the customer will recommend. It is very
similar to employee loyalty. That is what I keep telling my employees. In any
case, getting a new customer will cost ten times more than keeping the existing
one. So, why not retain? Loyalty is paramount. Customer satisfaction is the
foundation.

What is the role of Internet in providing customer satisfaction?

Internet can be used in two different ways. It is evolving with respect to how
the customers are using it to their advantage today. I do not think the maturity
is there. If you take the system manager as the focal point in a customer
organization, they do not have the time to surf the Net and find out the
information as a customer. The customers are aware that it is there, but are not
mature enough to use the Internet. It will take some time. Also because
organizations have been secretive with respect to the information they have.

How much does the implementation of CRM solutions help enhance customer
service in an organization?

CRM, I would say is the pivotal point with respect to customer satisfaction. The
reason is that it helps an organization identify the company that understands
the customers’ needs. It provides details and other customer information. The
difficult part of CRM is that it has to keep abreast of the change that takes
place in the organization. It is difficult because it is time consuming. From
the customers’ viewpoint, they have no vested interest in keeping us updated
on what is going on. However, from our point of view, it is very important. We
are yet to find out what incentives could make the customers come and update us
about them.

Do you think vendors will have to enter the data about their customers
themselves?

It’s either that or we will have to provide the customers an incentive to do
the same for us. They are ready to do it if we provide them access to our
system. But, we have to see how comfortable we are in giving access to our
databases. And, moreover, it is not a one-to-one relationship.

What is your advice to organizations that have a CRM system in place but
still have not been able to get their act together?

One, they need to get acceptability from the customer. Two, they need to make
them understand the relationship they will maintain so that the customer keeps
them updated. Thirdly, it is the question of timeliness.

How is the Indian customer different from the global customer?

I do not think they are any different. People, at the end of the day, look for
value. Value is something that we as an organization have to generate, whether
the customer is in Sydney or Mumbai. Each country has a return on investment
criteria that they apply, which is based on the local economy and environment
and based on the maturity of the organization.

But, from a customer expectation viewpoint, I would say that an Indian
customer is as demanding as, let’s say, an Australian customer.

Is it true across all levels of customers?

No, I was primarily talking from an enterprise’s viewpoint. From the consumer
point of view, an American or an Australian customer would be far more
aggressive. They will come to the table and say that I paid for this and
therefore I expect this. The Indian customer is willing to accept and say that
‘OK, I know you have a problem. I could wait for one week till you give me a
solution.’

But, is it a good sign?

That is the culture of the people, I guess. They are not aggressive by nature.
We are far more subdued because we understand that someone is not doing it
intentionally.

Are the Indian consumers willing to pay a premium for the quality service
that comes along with the products?

I believe so. A few weeks ago we announced the Extra Mile program, which
involves going to the consumer’s home to provide support. It is not easy to
drag a PC to our support center. So, when we go to their homes, it makes it that
much easier for them. People have started acknowledging that there is a price
they have got to pay, as long as it is reasonable.

Compaq is one of the few vendors who have entered non-metro cities in
India on their own and put up shops. How are the upcountry customers different
from their metro counterparts?

The upcountry customers may require extra services, because they are pretty
remote and do not have access to many things. We believe that our services will
get well accepted in the upcountry market rather than in the metros. I believe
that for us to serve the customers better, we have to go where the customers
are.

But, for Compaq to be present in these cities by itself, the volumes may not
do justice.

This is where as an organization we have to weigh the balance and say we are
making the investment for a longer term, because, they are the people who are
going to take up technology much faster. This is a way of entering the
marketplace, because we need to help consumers to educate themselves. It is a
chicken and egg situation.

How is the modern Web consumer different from the traditional consumer?

The traditional consumer is more calculating with respect to the return on
investment. The Web customer is more innovative, adventurous and risk taking. I
think there is a different measuring system. The one that exist for the
traditional, or old economy organization and the other for the new economy. At
the same time, the customer expectations and requirements are very different.
This requires separate levels of investment.