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Summer Internship Project

Study of Customer Usage & Retention Strategies at T24 (A Joint Venture of Tata

Teleservices Limited and Future Group) in 18 Circles of India

Submitted in partial fulfillment of PGDM program

2015-17

Submitted by

Bhanu Sharma

23/135

Corporate Mentor Faculty Mentor

Mr. Gaurav Kapoor Ms.Shalini Virmani

Senior Manager, T24 Alliance Associate Professor

Apeejay School of Management

New Delhi

June 2016

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that I Bhanu Sharma Roll No. 23/135 have carried out my Summer internship

in TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED in the area Marketing. It is also certified that the work

done by me is original with due references of sources, and has not been submitted elsewhere for

the award of any diploma or degree.

_____________________

Signature

Bhanu Sharma

Date: _________________________

Countersigned by Faculty Mentor

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work done on ―Study of Customer Usage & Retention

Strategies at T24 (A Joint Venture of Tata Teleservices Limited and Future Group)

in 18 Circles of India ―Submitted to Apeejay School of Management, Dwarka by Bhanu

Sharma in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of PG Diploma in

Management, is to the best of my knowledge a bonafide work carried out by him/her

under my supervision and guidance. This work has not been submitted anywhere else for

any other degree/diploma. The original work was carried out during 11th

April 2016 to

20th June 2016 in TATA TELERSERVICES LIMITED.

Date:

Seal/Stamp of the Organization

Name of the Corporate Mentor

Signature

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LIST OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

NO.

TOPIC

PAGE NO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

5

EXECTUIVE SUMMARY

6 - 7

1

AREA OF INTERNSHIP AND LEARNING

OBJECTIVE

8 - 12

2

THE COMPANY PROFILE

13 - 26

3

JOB DESCRIPTION AND

FUNCTIONAL PROFILE

27 - 29

4

LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND THE

INSIGHTS GAINED

30- 44

5

CONCLUSIONS

45 – 53

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

54

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The internship opportunity I had with TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED was a great chance

for learning and professional development. Therefore, I consider myself as a very lucky

individual as I was provided with an opportunity to be a part of it. I am also grateful for having a

chance to meet so many wonderful people and professionals who led me though this internship

period.

Bearing in mind previous I am using this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and special

thanks to the Mr. Gaurav Kapoor (Senior Manager - Alliances T24) who in spite of being

extraordinarily busy with her/his duties, took time out to hear, guide and keep me on the correct

path and allowing me to carry out my project at their esteemed organization and extending

during the training.

It is my radiant sentiment to place on record my best regards, deepest sense of gratitude to Mr.

Ashish V Singh, (Deputy Manager - Alliances T24) for careful and precious guidance which

were extremely valuable for my study both in terms of theoretically as well as practically and

giving necessary advices and guidance and arranged all facilities to make life easier for me. I

choose this moment to acknowledge his contribution gratefully.

I perceive as this opportunity as a big milestone in my career development. I will strive to use

gained skills and knowledge in the best possible way, and I will continue to work on their

improvement, in order to attain desired career objectives. Hope to continue cooperation with all

of you in the future,

Also, I would like to thank Associate Prof. Shalini Virmani, and Apeejay School of

Management who as my Faculty Guide has always motivated me to put my best foot forward by

setting high standards for me.

Lastly, I would like to thank the Almighty and My Parents for their moral support and my Life

Mentor, my cousin Himanshu Sharma with whom I shared my day-to-day experiences and

received lots of suggestions that improved my quality of work.

Sincerely,

Bhanu Sharma

Place: New Delhi

Date:

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Executive Summary

The two months of my summer internship project with TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED gave

me a platform to understand how usage of Customers are analyzed and about implementation of

Retention strategies in T24 (A Joint Venture of Future Group and Tata Teleservices). The best

part of this company i.e. why I choose only this Company is that, this company holds a very

good reputation in the Corporate World and is a part of TATA Group which is well known Blue

Chip Company in India and furthermore it gave me an immense corporate exposure that I

require. Furthermore, T24 is a kind of new business model in India, so I believe that the

experience that I will get here will help in shaping my career.

Coming to my work and my Position in this Company, I was working in a Marketing

Department of T24, which is managed by TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED. In T24 the

product is being sold at the retail outlets of Future Group like Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Ezone

etc and the marketing as well as the technological infrastructure is provided by TATA

TELESERVICES i.e. by TATA DOCOMO. Since TATA DOCOMO is presently operated in 18

Circles in India, so T24 is only available in those geographical areas. An interesting thing that I

came to know both T24 and TATA DOCOMO is not operated in Delhi circle.

In Fact I came to know that ―TATA DOCOMO PROVIDES NETWORK TO T24 BUT T24

TAKES TATA DOCOMO AS ITS COMPETITOR”. My Corporate Mentor along with

Deputy Manager at T24 taught me about Benchmarking and assigned me to do benchmarking for

T24 for the month of April, May, and June 2016. I was assigned to do benchmarking for 5

Circles i.e. Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and Mumbai in various

different products of T24 i.e. 2G, 3G, STD Packs, Local Packs, Combo‘s, ISD, FRC‘s etc.

As it was a part of usage and retention strategy the next task assigned to me was Data Mining.

As per the guidelines of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) that if a customer is not

using his/her simcard for more than 150 Days then the Network Provider Company has the right

to disconnect the services from the customer and also have the right to forfeit the remaining

balance from the simcard, so in this my work was to find out the numbers who hasn‘t used their

numbers for more than 150 Days. Also, I have learnt how a company makes new policies and

run new campaigns and launch new plans and implement them into Market. I learnt about the

determinants and KPI‘s on the basis of which a company make plans and implement them into

the Market and how they communicate the implemented plan among the employees (to each

circle managers). The next task assigned to me to make verbiages which had to be sent to T24

customers in PAN India.

Apart from this I learnt and made MIS report for the month of June, 2016 and did data analysis,

data mining on the basis of studying usage consumption done by the Customers for the month of

March, April, May, June 2016.

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I did Data Analyst Part i.e. Out of the dump which we got from out Network Team, I did Data

Mining of around 8,02,588 Numbers and sorting them into 3G and 2G and then as per our

Retention Strategy segmenting them into different Predefined Category In this week General

Manager of T24 assigned the target to the entire team of T24 for Development of another

Business Model similar to T24 model and searching for new alliances with other companies. I

was assigned with ecommerce as well as agriculture industry for this. In the entire week I pitched

some of companies like McDonalds, Dabur India, Catapooolt.com, IFFCO etc. The Corporate

talks with these companies are in process. Indeed I gave an idea and developed a business model

with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and GM Sir, appreciated for this but due to our limitation

of spectrum licensing in Delhi Circle this model can‘t be implemented. This Business model is

known as MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). This is a new concept in India and we

in TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED enjoy the first mover Advantage. In this Process I learnt

“Concept Selling” and how to do Business development for Blue Chip Companies and about

how to pitch new clients.

At the end, I would say happily that I have accomplished all my objectives for which I did my

internship here in TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED.

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Chapter - 1

Area of Internship

The domain that I have chosen for summer internship is marketing in Telecom Sector and more

specifically in one of the new business model i.e. T24 because I firmly believe that the exposure

I will get here will definitely help me in improving my Marketing Skills as well as in my

Analytics Skills and will be helpful in framing my career. Below is the primary reason for my

Internship in Telecom Industry.

Introduction:

India is currently the world‘s second-largest telecommunications market and has registered

strong growth in the past decade and half. The Indian mobile economy is growing rapidly and

will contribute substantially to India‘s gross domestic product (GDP), according to report

prepared by GSM Association (GSMA) in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group

(BCG).

The liberal and reformist policies of the Government of India have been instrumental along with

strong consumer demand in the rapid growth in the Indian telecom sector. The government has

enabled easy market access to telecom equipment and a fair and proactive regulatory framework

that has ensured availability of telecom services to consumer at affordable prices. The

deregulation of foreign direct investment (FDI) norms has made the sector one of the fastest

growing and a top five employment opportunity generator in the country.

Market Size:

Driven by strong adoption of data consumption on handheld devices, the total mobile services

market revenue in India is expected to touch US$ 37 billion in 2017, registering a Compound

Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.2 per cent between 2014 and 2017, according to research firm

IDC. According to a study by GSMA, smart phones are expected to account for two out of every three

mobile connections globally by 2020 making India the fourth largest Smartphone market.

The broadband services user-base in India is expected to grow to 250 million connections by

2017, according to GSMA.

India added the highest number of net mobile phone subscriptions of 13 million during the third

quarter of 2015.

International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts India to overtake US as the second-largest

Smartphone market globally by 2017 and to maintain high growth rate over the next few years as

people switch to smart phones and gradually upgrade to 4G.

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In spite of only 5 per cent increase in mobile connections in 2015, overall expenditure on mobile

services in India is expected to increase to US$ 21.4 billion in 2015, led by 15 per cent growth in

data services expenditure, as per research firm Gartner.

The Indian telecom sector is expected to generate four million direct and indirect jobs over the

next five years according to estimates by Randstad India. The employment opportunities are

expected to be created due to combination of government‘s efforts to increase penetration in

rural areas and the rapid increase in Smartphone sales and rising internet usage.

Government Initiatives:

The government has fast-tracked reforms in the telecom sector and continues to be proactive in

providing room for growth for telecom companies. Some of the other major initiatives taken by

the government are as follows:

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed the telecom companies

or mobile operators to compensate the consumers in the event of dropped calls with a

view to reduce the increasing number of dropped calls.

With a view to encourage consolidation in the telecom sector, the Government of India

has approved the rules for spectrum trading that will allow telecom companies to buy and

sell rights to unused spectrum among themselves. The Union Cabinet chaired by the

Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, gave its approval to the guidelines on spectrum

sharing, aimed to improve spectral efficiency and quality of service, based on the

recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The Central Government‘s several initiatives to promote manufacturing in the country,

such as ‗Make in India‘ campaign appears to have had a positive impact on mobile

handsets manufacturing in the country. Companies like Samsung, Micromax and Spice

had been assembling handsets in the country already. Xiaomi and Motorola, along with

Lenovo have also started assembly of smart phones in India. Firms like HTC, Asus and

Gionee too have shown interest in setting up a manufacturing base in the country.

The Government of India plans to roll out free high-speed Wi-Fi in 2,500 cities and

towns across the country over the next three years. The program entails an investment of

up to Rs 7,000 crore (US$ 1.06 billion) and will be implemented by state-owned Bharat

Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

Road Ahead: India will emerge as a leading player in the virtual world by having 700 million

internet users of the 4.7 billion global users by 2025, as per a Microsoft report. With the

government‘s favorable regulation policies and 4G services hitting the market, the Indian

telecommunication sector is expected to witness fast growth in the next few years.

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Objectives of the Study:

The main objective of the Study is to analyze the customer Usage and Retention strategies used

in T24. The sub-objectives of the study are stated as follows:

To study the usage pattern of Customers in T24.

To analyze the key determinants of customer retention in T24.

To identify management practices associated with excelling at customer retention in T24.

To assess the level of perceived quality of services offered by T24.

To study the customer response on various marketing mix strategies adopted by T24.

To work out on the growing challenges facing by T24.

To study the Operational working style in Telecom Sector.

Literature Review

Developing retention strategies based on customer profitability in

telecommunications: An empirical study by Xevelonakis, Evangelos

Research evidence shows that telecommunications companies fail to make their CRM efforts pay

off. This is probably due to a lack of capability to develop effective customer strategies based on

customer profitability. Reducing the churn rate in the industry is not enough. Companies must be

able to plan and execute profitable campaigns, taking into account both customer risk and

customer profitability. Controlling and evaluating the campaign's results is a crucial factor. In

this paper, this deficiency is addressed by proposing a framework for building effective customer

strategies based on customer behavior, customer profitability and customer risk. Empirical

results are analyzed and discussed.

A marketing approach for customer retention by Larry J.

Rosenberg (Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Massachusetts

at Amherst),John A. Czepiel (Associate Professor of Marketing at the

Graduate School of Business Administration, New York University)

Consumer marketing companies have lavished more resources on attracting new

customers than on satisfying old customers. In today's low growth and highly competitive

marketplace, however, customer retention increasingly joins customer getting as an

important area of analysis and planning. Marketers can better cultivate relationships with

existing customers in these ways: designing an optimal customer portfolio, formulating a

special marketing mix, and modifying the marketing organization. The balancing of

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marketing efforts between winning new customers and holding onto old ones will prove

instrumental in pursuing sales and profit growth in the 1980s.

An exploratory investigation of customer loyalty and retention in

cellular mobile communication by Seth, Anita Momaya, KiranGupta,

H. M.

Cellular mobile industry has undergone rapid changes as a result of liberalization and

globalization. In such a ever changing scenario, expansion and maintaining the loyal customer

base seems to be a great challenge for the mobile service providers. As a result of increased

competition, customer loyalty and retention have become important goals for mobile service

operators. Reacting to the pressures, most of the cellular mobile service providers are trying to

attract subscribers by not only reducing their tariff rates but also giving attention to the quality of

services delivered. In this context the present paper focuses on the customer loyalty and retention

in cellular mobile communication. Literature review was carried out covering the theoretical and

empirical work on the subject and exploring the relations with service quality. Exploratory

interviews were conducted in order to gain practical insights of the subject. Based on the

literature review and findings from the interviews, this paper presents a rich research agenda for

further research.

Assessing customer retention strategies in mobile telecommunications:

Hybrid MCDM approach by Don Jyh‐Fu Jeng (Institute of International

Management, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City,

Taiwan),Thomas Bailey (Canada China Business Council, Institute of

International Management, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan

City, Taiwan)

As wireless penetration continues to increase worldwide, competitors in the mobile

telecommunication industry are changing their strategies from a growth model to a value‐added

one. The companies that can attract and retain customers in this highly competitive and

increasingly saturated market stand poised to make considerable gains, and thus customer

retention is an important field of study in this maturing market. Using the Canadian mobile

phone market as an example, this work aims to study the major motivators of customer retention

and their interrelationships, and assess the value that customers perceive with regard to the

related advertising.

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Design/methodology/approach

– Based on a literature review and expert validation, the motivators of customer retention are

divided into three dimensions and eight criteria. A systematic hybrid multiple criteria

decision‐making (MCDM) method that combines the decision making trial and evaluation

laboratory (DEMATEL) technique and the analytic network process (ANP) is used to examine

the customer retention framework and to evaluate the promotional strategies used by various

market players.

Findings

– The interdependence relation shows that phone service quality, customer service quality, and

phone plan quality are three major motivators in terms of causality with regard to brand image,

customer service quality, and complaint management, while phone service quality has become a

hygiene factor with regard to customer satisfaction and retention. The findings from an

assessment of the promotional strategies used by the major players in the Canadian mobile

telecoms industry suggest that well‐financed foreign entrants pose a risk to the major domestic

carriers, and that successful promotional strategies will require strong leverage of their existing

price and quality advantages.

Originality/value

– This work adopted a hybrid MCDM approach to examine a major strategic issue in mobile

telecoms, – i.e. customer retention – and demonstrated the strengths of using this method to

investigate rapidly changing markets. The relative importance of the motivators of satisfaction

and retention is investigated, and a strategy for customer retention in the mobile telecoms

industry is provided to managers.

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Chapter 2

Profile of the Organization

Tata Teleservices Limited spearheads the Tata Group‘s presence in the Telecom Sector. The Tata

Group includes over 100 companies, over 450,000 employees worldwide and more than 3.8

million shareholders.

Incorporated in 1996, Tata Teleservices Limited was the pioneer of the CDMA 1x technology

platform in India, embarking on a growth path after the acquisition of Hughes Tele.com (India)

Ltd [renamed Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited] by the Tata Group in 2002. Over the last

few years, the company has launched significant services CDMA mobile operations in January

2005 under the brand name Tata Indicom, market-defining wireless mobile broadband services

under the brand name Tata Photon in 2008 and 2G GSM services under the brand name Tata

DOCOMO in 2009.

Tata Teleservices Limited also has a significant presence in the 2G GSM space, through its joint

venture with NTT DOCOMO of Japan, and offers differentiated products and services. Tata

DOCOMO was born after Tata Group‘s strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT

DOCOMO in November 2008. Tata DOCOMO received a pan-India license to operate GSM

telecom services and rolled out GSM services in all the 18 telecom Circles where it received

spectrum from the Government of India in the quick span of just over a year.

One of the key milestones in October 2011 was the brand integration exercise at TTL, which saw

the Company‘s many brands being consolidated under its single flagship brand, Tata DOCOMO.

This helped TTL leverage the benefits of brand synergies and capitalize on its vast retail and

distribution network, which is the largest amongst all private telecom operators in the country.

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Tata DOCOMO marks a significant milestone in the Indian telecom landscape, and has already

redefined the very face of telecoms in India, being the first to pioneer the per-second tariff option

part of its ‗Pay for What You Use‘ pricing paradigm.

Tata Teleservices Limited also became the first Indian private telecom operator to launch 3G

services in India under with the launch of services in November 2010 in all nine telecom Circles

where the company bagged the 3G license. In association with its partner NTT DOCOMO, the

Company finds itself favorably positioned to leverage this first-mover advantage. With 3G, Tata

DOCOMO has begun to redefine the very face of telecoms in India. Tokyo-based NTT

DOCOMO is one of the world‘s leading mobile operators in Japan, the company is the clear

market leader, used by nearly 55 per cent of the country‘s mobile phone users.

TTL entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Indian retail giant Future Group to offer

mobile telephony services under a new brand name T24, on the GSM platform. Tata Teleservices

also has a strategic tie up with Virgin Mobile that primarily caters to youth segment offering

mobility services on GSM platform.

Tata Teleservices is the undisputed market leader in the fixed wireless telephony market amongst

private operators. In the wireless mobility space, the company in the past has been rated as the

‗Least Congested Network‘ in India for eight consecutive quarters by the Telecom Regulatory

Authority of India through independent surveys.

Today, Tata Teleservices, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited, has a reach in

more than 450,000 towns and villages across the country, with a bouquet of telephony services

encompassing Mobile Services, Wireless Desktop Phones, Public Booth Telephony and Wireline

Services.

In December 2008, Tata Teleservices announced a unique reverse equity swap strategic

agreement between its telecom tower subsidiary, Wireless TT Info-Services Limited, and Quippo

Telecom Infrastructure Limited with the combined entity kicking off operations with 18,000

towers, thereby becoming the largest independent entity in this space and with the highest

tenancy ratios in the industry. Today, the combined entity which has been re-christened as VIOM

Networks has a portfolio of nearly 60,000 towers.

Vision

Be one of India‘s Top 3 Telecom Companies by 2015.

Mission

Customer Centricity is Intrinsic to our Culture.

To Develop Deep Understanding of the unique needs of our customers.

Deliver pioneering Products and Services of outstanding quality and values.

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Delight our Customers with great experiences at every Touch Point.

Values:

Integrity: Fair, Honest and Transparent in all dealings.

Excellence: Highest possible standards in quality of goods and services

Understanding: Care, Respect and compassion for customers and colleagues.

Unity: Build strong relationship with partners and customers worldwide.

Responsibility: What comes from the people goes back to the people many times over.

Brands in TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED:

TATA DOCOMO: Tata DOCOMO is an Indian cellular service provider on

the GSM, CDMA and platform-arising out of the strategic joint venture between Tata

Teleservices and NTT Docomo in November 2008. DOCOMO stands for Do

Communications over Mobile Network. It is the country's seventh largest operator in

terms of subscribers (including both GSM and CDMA) and is the fastest growing

network in India. Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid cellular

phone services. It has become very popular with its one-second pulse especially in semi-

urban and rural areas.

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Future Group, led by its founder and Group CEO, Mr.Kishore Biyani, isan Indian

private conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. While retail forms the core business activity of

Future Group, group subsidiaries are present in consumer finance, capital, insurance, leisure and

entertainment, brand development, retail real estate development, retail media and logistics.The

company is known for having a significant prominence in Indian retail and fashion sectors, with

popular supermarket chains like Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, lifestyle stores like Brand Factory,

Central etc. Future Retail (initially Pantaloons Retail India Ltd (PRIL)) and Future Lifestyle

Fashions are the two operating companies of Future Group, are among the top retail companies

listed in BSE with respect to asset and in NSE with respect to market capitalization.

Led by its flagship enterprise, Pantaloons Retail, the group operates over 16 million square feet

of retail space in 73 cities and towns and 65 rural locations across India. Headquartered in

Mumbai (Bombay), Pantaloons Retail employs around 30,000 people. The company follows a

multi-format retail strategy that captures almost the entire consumption basket of Indian

customers. In the lifestyle segment, the group operates Pantaloons, a fashion retail chain and

Central, a chain of seamless malls. In the value segment, its marquee brand, Big Bazaar is a

hypermarket format that combines the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with the choice and

convenience of modern retail. In 2008, Big Bazaar opened its 100th store, marking the fastest

ever organic expansion of a hypermarket. The first set of Big Bazaar stores opened in 2001 in

Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The group‘s speciality retail formats include supermarket chain – Food Bazaar, sportswear

retailer - Planet Sports, electronics retailer - Ezone, home improvement chain - Home Town and

rural retail chain, Aadhaar, among others.

Future Capital Holdings, the group‘s financial arm provides investment advisory to assets worth

over $1 Billion that are being invested in consumer brands and companies, real estate, hotels and

logistics. It also operates a consumer finance arm with branches in 150 locations.

Other group companies include, Future Generali, the group‘s insurance venture in partnership

with Italy‘s Generali Group, Future Brands, a brand development and IPR company, Future

Logistics, providing logistics and distribution solutions to group companies and business partners

and Future Media, a retail media initiative.

The group‘s presence in Leisure & Entertainment segment is led through, Mumbai-based listed

company Galaxy Entertainment Limited. Galaxy leading leisure chains, Sports Bar and Bowling

Co. and family entertainment centres, F123. Through its partner company, Blue Foods the group

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operates around 100 restaurants and food courts through brands like Bombay Blues, Spaghetti

Kitchen, Noodle Bar, The Spoon, Copper Chimney and Gelato.

Future Group‘s joint venture partners include, US-based stationery products retailer,

Staples and Middle East-based Axiom Communications.

Future Group believes in developing strong insights on Indian consumers and building

businesses based on Indian ideas, as espoused in the group‘s core value of ‗Indianness.‘ The

group‘s corporate credo is, ‗Rewrite rules, Retain value

Rewrite Rules, retain Values

Vision

―Future Group shall deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time for Every Indian consumer in

the most profitable manner.‖

Mission

1. We share the vision and belief that our customers and stakeholders shall be served only

by creating and executing future scenarios in the consumption space leading to economic

development.

2. We will be the trendsetters in evolving delivery formats, creating retail realty, making

consumption affordable for all customer segment- for classes and for masses.

3. We shall infuse Indian brand with confidence and renewed ambition.

4. We shall be efficient, cost- conscious and committed to quality in whatever we do.

5. We shall ensure that our positive attitude, sincerity, humility and united determination

shall be the driving force to make us successful.

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Core Values

Indianness: confidence in ourselves.

Leadership: to be a leader, both in thought and business.

Respect & Humility: to respect every individual and be humble in our conduct.

Introspection: Leading to purposeful thinking.

Openness: to be open and respective to new ideas, knowledge and information.

Valuing and nurturing relationship: to build long term relationships.

Simplicity & positivity: Simplicity and positivity in our thought, business and action.

Adaptability: to be Flexible and adaptable, to meet challenges.

Brands in Future Group

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About the Brand:

T24 is an Indian cellular service provider formed in February 2010 on the GSM platform-arising

out of a joint venture between Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and Future Group. T24

Mobile offers 3G services via Tata DoCoMo HSPA+ network. Tata Teleservices and Future

Group took forward this insight and launched T24, a unique telecom service in 2010. T24 allows

you to shop-till-you-drop and get free talktime along with it. Over 3 million users are already on

a shopping spree with T24. And more than 136 Cr worth of free talktime has already been given

out to a million shoppers.

T24 is a kind of a business model called MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) launched

first time in India. It is a loyalty Program of Future Group and is exclusively only for the

Customers of Future Group. In T24 the sales Part is managed by Future Group on their outlets

i.e. on Big Bazaar, Ezone, Food Bazaar, Central Zone etc and the Marketing and Technological

Infrastructure is managed by Tata Teleservices Limited. Since Tata DoCoMo (Subsidiary of

TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED) has its network of operation in 18 Circles, So T24 is

operational in those 18 Circles. The Profit from this Business is shared between these two

companies on the predefined agreed Memorandum of Understanding.

Why T24?

T24 is one network that helps customers of Future Group to do much more than just stay

connected with your loved ones. With this network customers get to talk as well as shop with

their heart out! The Customers gets the best talk time packs with T24 as compared to any other

network, which acts as an USP for T24.

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For Customers:

Customers of Future Group enjoys the maximum benefit from this T24. As Every time they

made Purchase at any Outlet of Future Group anywhere in India (where Tata Docomo is

operational), they get instant Recharges in their T24 Sim Card which also justifies the wording of

T24 “Talk More, Shop More” or “Shop More, Talk More”. Apart from Shopping Recharges,

when customer recharges from T24 app they get amazing deals, Shopping Discounted Coupons

and these coupons they can redeem at any leading Future Group Outlets. Also the USP of T24 is

that ―The Products of T24 are designed in such a way that none of competitors (Airtel,

Vodafone, Idea, Aircel etc) can compete with it. Infact T24 uses the network of Tata DoCoMo

but still the offers of T24 is the much lower than Tata DoCoMo. So in telecom industry T24

offers the Best Products in the entire India.

For Tata Teleservices Limited:

On the other side Tata Teleservices Limited Enjoys a new segment of Business and first mover

advantage over the competitors. Having purchased the excess of Spectrum License in 18 Circles

of India, Tata Teleservices Limited has the capacity to run new ventures or Brand under their

name. With T24, Tata Teleservices Limited doesnot have to spend anything on their

Technological Infrastructure and for Marketing Department, Tata Teleservices have one of the

best pools of Expertise Human Resources who are capable of managing any project. In Short,

This is a win win situation for Tata Teleservices Limited as they have everything in their favor

and enjoys extra revenue with the same resources.

For Future Group:

While Considering from Future Group Point of view, they enjoys a new concept for Customer

Loyalty Program. Indeed Future Group enjoys First Mover Advantage over their competitors to

run this type of Loyalty Program. With the help of Technological Infrastructure which is

Provides by Tata Teleservices Limited they can easily track their customers and retain them by

providing Shopping Offers accordingly. This Loyalty Program also helps Future Group to earn

extra source of revenue and creation of a new Brand under their name. As compared with other

Loyalty Program (Payback Loyalty Program, Future Bazaar Club), this Loyalty Program results

into most effective and profitable one for them. Also an interesting point to note that, Future

Group also have not to invest much on this because they also have their Retail setup and this T24

Business model is compatible with their Infrastructure as it requires only desk for its operations.

Network Coverage:

T24 mobile services are available in the following telecom circles:

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State 2G 3G

Andhra Pradesh & Telangana

Assam

Bihar & Jharkhand

Delhi

Uttar Pradesh (East)

Gujarat

Haryana

Himachal Pradesh

Jammu and Kashmir

Karnataka

Kerala

Kolkata

22

State 2G 3G

Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh

Maharashtra & Goa

Mumbai

North-East

Orissa

Punjab

Rajasthan

Tamil Nadu

West Bengal

Uttar Pradesh (West)

23

Fig.1 Network Coverage Area of T24

24

Products of T24:

1) STD Packs

2) Local Packs

3) Minutes Packs

4) GRPS Packs

5) SMS Packs

6) ISD Packs

7) Roaming Packs

8) VAS (Value Added Services)

9) 2G Packs

10) 3G Packs

11) Night Calling Packs

Current Challenges:

Retaining the T24 Customers.

On boarding the Competitors Consumers to T24 Network.

Increasing the usage of T24 by customers.

Making the current customers loyal towards T24.

Spreading awareness among T24 customers about T24 Products and offers.

Widening the network of Retailers.

Acquisition of Customers.

Future Prospects:

Mission to achieve 50 Lac Active users of T24.

Making T24 one of the best Mobile Operator in Telecom Industry.

Location Based offerings in near Future.

More Convenience of shopping for T24 Customers.

25

Organization Structure in T24:

CEO

Sales Head

Usage and Revenue

Head

Brand Head

Customer Care Head

General Manager

Senior Manager

Deputy Manager

Deputy Manager

26

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

New Concept in the Indian market.

First Mover Advantage.

Aggressive Pricing of Products.

Small Organization Structure enables Quick Decisions.

Free Talktime on every shopping.

Instant Gratification of Talktime.

Weakness:

No Postpaid Service offering.

Less awareness to Customers as a Brand.

Advertisement Restricted to Future Group Stores only.

No Network Coverage in 5 Circles including Delhi/NCR.

No 3G Network in 8 Circles.

Opportunities:

More Ease of shopping for T24 Customers.

Large Customer Base of Future Group.

Launching 4G Network Coverage in near future.

Location Based offerings in near Future.

Threats:

New entrants in MVNO sector.

27

Chapter – 3

JOB DESCRIPTION AND FUNCTIONAL PROFILE

JOB DESCRIPTION

To Help and Support Marketing Team in TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED in their day

to day work.

To Perform Base Management activity for T24 Customers.

To Capture VOC, Skills to Perform Data Analysis, Data Mining, Preparation of MIS.

To build the seeding database from internal and external data sources.

Team Coordination Skills, interpersonal skills.

Ability to multi tasks and switch gears while maintaining priorities.

To share and innovate ideas to streamline operational challenges.

Will be responsible for analyse the Data.

Have a strong hold on MS Office and on Google Analytics.

Comfortable with working on Campaign management tool like SAS.

Have a tendency to bring niche Marketing Concepts which could be applied to business.

To Perform Alliance building Activity.

28

FUNCTIONAL PROFILE

TASK ASSIGNED TO ME

To capture V.O.C (Voice of Customer) in the Circles of West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana,

Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West in order to know about Customers

Perception towards T24 and making reports thereafter.

To do Benchmarking in Top 5 Revenue Earning Circles of T24 Mobile for the Month of

April May.

To make Verbiages for Pan India T24 Customers for the Month of April, May, June.

To Do Data Analytics and Data Mining on T24 Customers in order to know about their

usage and making Reports for the Month of April May.

To Edit/ Renew Old Campaigns on SAS Platform for the Month of April, May, June.

To Prepare MIS in the Month of June.

To Search out the Current Trend in India for Design of Verbiages for the Month of April,

May.

To Do Data Mining and Analytics on T24 Customers and finding out the customers who

are not using T24 services for more than 150 Days in order to forfeit their Balance.

To make Calendar for the Month of May/June which contains the Schedule of Sending

Verbiages to T24 Customers in Pan India on Daily Basis.

To Make Calendar for the Month of June which contains Schedule of Sending Verbiages

to Retailers in all the Circles of T24.

To make use of SAS and update Products/offers of T24 as according to New Service Tax

w.e.f 1 June 2016.

To make use of Google Analytics in order to Track our Customers on the basis of

Verbiages Sent for the month of April, May.

To Do Data Analytics and Data Mining on T24 Customers in order to Perform Retention

Strategy for the Month of April, May, June.

To Segment the Customers of T24 into different Categories and carry out Count for

Further Process as a Part of Retention Strategy for the Month of April, May, June.

To Do VOC (Voice of Customers) as a Part of Retention Strategy on Segmented

Customers of T24 in order to find out the reason for not using Internet Packs of T24 in

the month of June.

To Search for New Alliance Partners for TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED and

pitching the Prospective Clients on the basis of Concept Selling.

29

My Reporting Structure:

In Tata Teleservices Limited my Reporting was directly inline to Mr. Gaurav Kapoor (Senior

Manager – T24 Alliance) and dotted line to Mr. Ashish V Singh (Deputy Manager – T24

Alliance) and to Mr. Anil Kumar (Deputy Manager – T24 Alliance).

Senior

Manager

Deputy

Manager

Deputy

Manager Summer

Intern (Me)

30

Chapter - 4

LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND THE INSIGHTS GAINED

The functional areas are often measured differently and perhaps have differing priorities. For

example, marketing department focuses on average revenue per unit (ARPU), Sales is focused

on new customer acquisition, and service is focused on reducing churn and increasing retention.

These are certainly all key activities that most of the Telecom Companies in India performs.

Importance of Usage and Retention:

The Indian telecom sector has grown enormously in last few years. The number of players as

well as the level of competition is continuously increasing. Therefore, it has become necessary to

understand the expectations of customers and provide the best of the services to them. This is not

only important for attracting new customers but also helps in retaining them. The players are

required to understand the customer retention strategies for Indian mobile telecommunication

sector. The mobile telecommunication industry being a service oriented industry has to sustain

on the quality of customer service. The survival and growth of a mobile service provider not only

depend upon its ability to provide qualitative services to its customers on a sustained basis, but

also on the basis of building a long-term mutually beneficial and trust-worthy relationship with

its customers.

Usage Definition:

The Term usage refers to the act, manner, pattern or the amount of consumption done by the

customers in using of the services.

Importance of Understanding Customer Usage:

Customer Usage helps in understanding the pattern of consumption done by customer.

Customer Usage helps in knowing about the expectation of the Consumer.

It helps in making plans and policies regarding making product and offering services.

Usage helps in framing Retention Strategy for the consumers.

Usage helps in making strategies for consumers.

Process of Understanding Customer Usage in T24:

In T24, Customer Usage is determined by the amount of usage done by the consumers which is

collected and recorded by IN in the form of CDR reports as well as REC reports. These reports

contain all the records of transactions done by consumer. Also these reports are generated on

daily basis and are clubbed either at the end of a month or on weekly basis depending upon the

configuration done by the company. The CDR Report indicates Call Detail Record which

31

contains history of all the transaction done by the consumer while REC contains the sum of all

the transaction done by the consumer which is divided into different categories like M.O.U, SMS

Count, Circle ID, Total Outgoing Calls, Total Incoming Calls, Data Usage, Closing Balance,

Total Incoming Roaming usage, Total Outgoing Roaming Usage etc. These two file forms the

base on the basis of which further planning of action is done that can be in the form of Designing

of Product and Services, Implementation of Retention Strategies, upgrading, up selling and cross

selling of Products to consumers etc. Below is the screenshot of REC Report of 400,000

Customers in all the 18 Circles of India for the month of May 2016.

Figure 1 REC Report for the Month of May

On the basis of understanding of usage pattern of consumers, the following strategies are

initiated:

Upselling/ Upgrading: Upselling is marketing technique whereby a seller induces

the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades or other add-ons in an attempt

to make a more profitable sale. While it usually involves marketing more

32

profitable services or products, it can be simply exposing the customer to other options

that were perhaps not considered.

For Instance: In T24, as according to analysis of usage consumption of a customer, If a

customer uses 1 GB of 3G Data Pack of Rs 199 on a monthly basis, so in order to upgrading

his/her usage, a manager can pitch him with 1.25 GB of 3G Data Pack @ Rs 215.

Cross Selling: Cross-selling is the action or practice of selling an additional product or

service to an existing customer. In practice, businesses define cross-selling in many

different ways. Elements that might influence the definition might include the size of the

business, the industry sector it operates within and the financial motivations of those

required to define the term.

The objectives of cross-selling can be either to increase the income derived from the client or

clients or to protect the relationship with the client or clients. The approach to the process of

cross-selling can be varied.

Unlike the acquiring of new business, cross-selling involves an element of risk that existing

relationships with the client could be disrupted. For that reason, it is important to ensure that the

additional product or service being sold to the client or clients enhances the value the client or

clients get from the organization. In practice, large businesses usually combine cross-selling

and up-selling techniques to increase revenue.

For Example: In T24, as per the usage consumption pattern observed if a customer uses more of

Data Pack on monthly basis and less amount of Calling Packs, so by the use of Cross Selling

Technique, a manager can pitch customer a combo pack which contains both Data Pack as well

as Calling Pack.

Open Market Products/Offers: Open Market products/offers are those products which

are available for all the users irrespective of the group in which they lie.

For Example: On the basis of usage consumption pattern, a new product can be made

and offered in open market for the consumers.

Segmented Products/Offers: Segmented Products/ offers are those which are

exclusively available for selected customer group who have similar attributes.

For Example: As per the usage pattern studied, a manager can divide the similar set of

customers having same usage consumption pattern into one segment and on the basis of

each segments offers can be pitched to every customer.

33

Retention Definition:

Customer retention refers to the activities and actions companies and organizations take to

reduce the number of customer defections. The goal of customer retention programs is to help

companies retain as many customers as possible, often through customer loyalty and brand

loyalty initiatives. It is important to remember that customer retention begins with the first

contact a customer has with a company and continues throughout the entire lifetime of the

relationship. Customer retention is a simple concept—happy customers who feel important and

are regularly communicated with in the right way will keep coming back. It is a major

contributing factor in the net growth rate of businesses.

Why Customer Retention is Important: Retaining the customer is very important for a

business as

Acquiring new customers can cost as much as five times more than satisfying and retain-

ing current customers.

Customer Retention plays a major contribution in the growth of Company.

A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%.

Depending on the industry, reducing your customer defection rate by 5% can increase

your profitability by 25 to 125%.

Customer profitability tends to increase over the life of a retained customer.

Satisfied customers are most likely to share their experiences with other people to the

order of perhaps five or six people. Equally well, dissatisfied customers are more likely to

tell another ten people of their unfortunate experience.

Customer Retention helps in knowing about the future needs of the customers.

Customer Retention holds true the 80-20 rule for a company.

Ways by which Customer Retention can be done:

Set customer expectations – Set customer expectations early and a little lower than you

can provide to eliminate uncertainty about the level of your service and ensure you always

deliver on your promises.

Becomes the customers’ trusted advisor – You need to be the expert in your particular

field, so that you can gain customers‘ trust and build customer loyalty.

Use relationships to build trust – Build relationships with customers in a way that fosters

trust. Do this through shared values and fostering customer relationships.

Take a proactive approach to customer service – Implement anticipatory service so that

you can eliminate problems before they occur.

34

Use social media to build relationships – Use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Face book to

connect and communicate with customers and give them a space for sharing experiences

with your company, so they can become brand ambassadors.

Go the extra mile – Going above and beyond will build strong relationships with

customers and build long-term loyalty by paying attention to their needs and issues.

Make it personal – Personalized service improves customer experience and is something

customers are expecting and demanding. Make their experience personal to strengthen the

bond with your brand.

Customer Retention Strategies used in T24:

There are many different kinds of Retention Strategies (Model) that are being used by T24

(Tata Teleservices Limited) but in my internship Period I came across with two main Retention

Strategies that are being implemented by Marketing Team of T24. Interestingly, I learnt that

these Strategies are designed and implemented as according to Market Scenario, On the basis

of Customer Behavior, Organization Goal etc. The First Retention (Model) Strategy that I

observed is

Panic Model: This Model is sometimes also known as Pro Active Retention Strategy

in T24 (Tata Teleservices Limited). Panic Model is commonly used in Telecom Industry

and different companies term it with different names. In T24, the logic behind calling this

as Panic Model is because Panic is a situation or a state of sudden sensation

of fear that produces uncontrollable events or irrational behavior and that often spread

quickly through a group of people. In simple lay man term ―Panic is state of Alarm for an

organization‖

Panic Model is a high level of business strategy logically designed which includes very complex

algorithms and matrices to predict customer behavior. The main objective of Panic Model is to

retain the customer before they falls into churn state or change their existing category into a new

category which is designed on the basis of usage pattern studied.

There are certain Key Performance Indicators on the basis of which this panic Model is

designed and implemented. The Following are the KPI‘s:

Usage Days

Non Usage Days

R.E.C

Non R.E.C

Data Usage

M.O.U

Voice Usage

35

Non Voice Usage

Vas Usage

Non Vas Usage

Incoming Call Usage

Roaming Usage

SMS Usage

On Net Usage

Off Net Usage

Targeted Customers / Circles

Churn Rate

First Calling Date rolling 30 days

In T24 (Tata Teleservices Limited) based on the current market scenario, customers usage

behavior and on the basis of certain KPI‘s the panic model is defined as:

Panic Model Conditions GSM REC (Rolling 30 Days) Definition:

For Voice Products and FCD > 30 Days:

REC PRR for voice products >=10 Rs And

(MOU >= 1 Mints (60 Seconds) i.e. voice or SMS Count >= 5 (i.e. SMS) or Usage in KB >= 50

KB)

For Voice Products and FCD <= 30 Days:

REC PRR for voice products >=10 Rs And

(MOU >= 5 Mints (60 Seconds) i.e. voice or SMS Count >= 5 (i.e. SMS) or Usage in KB >= 50

KB)

For Data Products (CDMA Photon/GSM Dongle):

REC PRR for Data Products >= 10 Rs.

36

Figure 2 Panic Model

Based upon the logic mentioned above the Panic Model or Panic State is made for the month of

April, May, June, July. In this Panic Model/Panic State below is the abbreviation used:

AD = Activity Days

LVC = Low Value Customers

GVC = Mid Value Customers

HVC = High Value Customers

P1 = Panic One

P2 = Panic Two

P3 = Panic Three

While P1 is the least Critical Stage, Whereas P3 is high Critical Stage. These P1, P2 and P3

are the categories where all the targeted customers are segmented according to their usage.

37

Process of Panic Model: Once this model is designed on the basis of Usage done by the

Customers, which have been studied earlier, the Marketing Team seeks for the plans/offers that

can be offered to these customers. From here Product Development Lifecycle comes into the

light.

Product Life Cycle: A Product Life Cycle is a process by which a

new product progresses through a sequence of stages from introduction to growth,

maturity, and decline. This sequence is known as the product life cycle and is associated

with changes in the marketing situation, thus impacting the marketing strategy and the

marketing mix. In T24 a Product Life Cycle is made on the basis of 4 main objectives:

1. For Cost Saving: In this a Product is made with the main objective to save the

cost for a company. For Instance: In T24 once there was an offer that For Rs.199

get 1 GB of 3G and 10% off on shopping more than Rs.2000. But by applying

Cost Saving Product now a customer will get 1 GB of Data Rs.199 and 5% off on

shopping more than Rs.2000. In this case that 5% is a cost saving for the

company.

2. For Retention: In this a product is designed as per the usage of the group of

customers. It is also known as Customized Product. For Instance if in an Open

Market a product is offered as Get Rs85/- talktime on Recharge of Rs100 then for

Retention the same product can be offered as Get Rs100 talktime on every

Recharge of Rs 100 (only for you).

3. For Increasing Revenue: In this Product design the life cycle or validity of the

product is decreased in order to gain incremental Revenue from the Product. For

Instance Get 1 GB of 3G Data for 30 Days in Just Rs.199 but after applying

Increasing Revenue Design the same product will be offered as Get 1 GB of 3G

Data for 28 Days in Just Rs.199.

4. Open Market: This type of product is designed for all the customers.

Stages for Product Life Cycle:

There are certain stages that a Manager in T24 has to undergone in order to launch a product into

Market. As described above out of 4 objectives, for Panic Model a manager has to launch a

product with keeping Retention objective in mind. Following are the steps or stages involved in

Launching of a Product/Life Cycle of a Product.

38

Figure 3 Product Life Cycle in T24

Explanation of Product Life Cycle:

Stage I: Product Concept: This is the First Stage in which a manager comes up an idea about

Concept of a Product. It includes all the process like Benchmarking, ARPU from Product,

feasible studies and cost to company etc.

Stage II: Discussion with Top Management: In this Second Stage a manager present his

Product Concept in front of Top Management (General Manager, Senior Manager in case of

T24). The Manager here justifies his idea and if any improvement makes changes into his idea

and Planning is done for the product, Budget for Development of Product is decided and finally

making a blue print for a product.

Concept Of Product

Discussion with Top

Management

Finance and Other

Departments Approval

Product Configure

Target Customer

Channel of Promotion

Launching of Product

Review of Product

39

Stage III: Finance and Other Department Approvals: Then in this Stage, a manager has to

raise an e-process which is firstly being approved by Top Management then send to Finance

Department where a manager while raising e-process justifies about the Return on Investment

from the product and about how much in terms of Percentage customer will be retained. Then

after Finance approval, this proposal is sent to Legal Department where they do TRAI (Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India) filling.

Stage IV: Product Configuration: After all these approval, the product is configured into

various Departments and Teams like in IT Department, Web Channels, TIPPS, Intelligence

Network, EVD, USSD, RA Assurance Team, IVR etc.

Stage V: Target Customers: This is the Fifth Stage wherein manager identifies the Group of

Customers to whom he has to target for this product which is done with the help of Panic Model.

Stage VI: Channel of Promotion: In this stage, the manager decides the Channel of Promotion

i.e. by which the product will be promoted into market or among the customers. There are

multiple of ways by which promotion can be done like Sending Verbiages, use of Social Media,

T.V advertisement, Digital Advertisement/Marketing, Banners, Posters, Retailers etc. The

Manager uses combination of all the channels as according to the budget as predefined.

Stage VII: Launching of Product: Finally in this stage a product is launched into the market

among the customers with the help of various Campaign Tools like SAS, Cordiant, Netxcell etc.

Stage VIII: Review of Product: After launching of a product, there will be review of Product is

done on timely basis that may be depending upon company to company basis. With the help of

Review it is decided whether the product has incurred the targeted Rate of Return or not and

accordingly action is taken.

Once the Products to be offered are launched for use and with the help of Panic Model to be

designed in SAS the customers will be segmented on the basis of their usage into three main

categories P1, P2, and P3. Most aggressive offering is for P3 Category of Customer, who lies in

most critical stage because P3 stage indicates the customers has high propensity to churn in near

future, while a slightly less aggressive offer is chosen for P2 and so on for P1 because Customers

in these two categories have less propensity to churn.

On these Segmented Customers now the campaign will be made with the help of Campaign Tool

known as SAS. Although there are many different campaign tools but in T24 (Tata Teleservices

Limited) uses SAS for making Campaigns.

40

SAS (Statistical Analysis System) is a software suite developed by SAS Institute for advanced

analytics, multivariate analyses, business intelligence, data management, and predictive

analytics.SAS is a software suite that can mine, alter, manage and retrieve data from a variety of

sources and perform statistical analysis on it. SAS provides a graphical point-and-click user

interface for non-technical users and more advanced options through the SAS programming

language. In order to use Statistical Analysis System, Data should be in an Excel table format or

SAS format.SAS programs have a DATA step, which retrieves and manipulates data, usually

creating a SAS data set, and a PROC step, which analyzes the data.

The SAS software suite has more than 200 components. Some of the SAS components include:

Base SAS – Basic procedures and data management

SAS/STAT – Statistical analysis

SAS/GRAPH – Graphics and presentation

SAS/OR – Operations research

SAS/ETS – Econometrics and Time Series Analysis

SAS/IML – Interactive matrix language

SAS/AF – Applications facility

SAS/QC – Quality control

SAS/INSIGHT – Data mining

SAS/PH – Clinical trial analysis

Enterprise Miner – data mining

Enterprise Guide - GUI based code editor & project manager

SAS EBI - Suite of Business Intelligence Applications

SAS Grid Manager - Manager of SAS grid computing environment

41

Analysis of PANIC MODEL:

After implementation of Panic Model, now here comes the analysis part in which the

performance of panic model is carried out. Interestingly, the review of this model can be done

either once after 7 Days of Implementation or on the multiple of 7 Days depending upon the of

decision of Management. In T24, a review is done on monthly basis. With the help of this model,

the management finds the whether the Panic Model is successful or not and if not then corrective

actions are taken. Below is the review of screenshot of Panic Model for the month of June 2016.

Row Labels Sum of Camp Targets Sum of Delivery Successful Sum of Camp Takers

1-6-16 139542 15753 74

2-6-16 171666 19476 116

3-6-16 170724 18992 104

4-6-16 169689 18511 132

5-6-16 80811 7879 57

6-6-16 163098 17281 101

7-6-16 167214 18440 98

8-6-16 147882 13763 55

9-6-16 179604 13635 62

10-6-16 164946 16308 96

11-6-16 145998 13286 58

12-6-16 154281 8958 50

Figure 4 Report of Panic Model

In the above Report of Panic Model implemented in the Month of June which is generated by

SAS Campaign tool, The Row Labels shows the Date, while Sum of Camp Targets shows the

targeted customers; Sum of Delivery Successful indicates the successful SMS sent to these

targeted customers and the sum of Camp Takers shows the conversion of customers who have

opted for the offers which has been sent to them via text message. These Sum of Camp Takers

are taken into consideration by totaling then at the end of week, Month against total of the sum

of Camp Targets for that week, month then on the basis of which it is estimated how much our

panic model is successful and how much of our customers falls into Churn Stage and then follow

up action is taken for the same by the management.

42

Seeding Model:

A Seeding Model is a form of marketing, designed to target product sampling towards selected

targeted consumers. Seeding is the process of allocating marketing to specific customers, or

groups of customers, in order to stimulate and encourage them to make use of the product and

services. To create loyalty and advocacy towards a brand, seeding trials is used. In a marketing

seeding program, a company offers some sort of promotion (free product, discounts, service

trials, etc.) to a niche group of people with the intention that this would stimulate WOM. Seeding

is a great way for new companies to create a buzz around their products and services, if done

correctly. While not always guaranteed, this type of marketing can be extremely powerful and

useful; to create interest in something before it hits the market. Companies that have used

seeding trials include Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Hasbro, Google, Unilever, Pepsi, Coke,

Ford, DreamWorks SKG, EMI, Sony and Siemens.

There are two of the main managerial decisions revolving around seeding

Focus on seeding of advertising in a multinational market.

The process of seeding the product itself.

Determining how many and which consumers within a particular network should be seeded to

maximize adoption is a challenging task for the management of the company.

Process of Seeding Model in T24:

With the help of Seeding Model on the basis of usage pattern, in T24 a manager targets those

customers who have not done any usage in terms of Data, SMS or any other packs from a certain

time Period. In order to make them use the service they provide them with free offer benefits.

For Example if customers have not used any Data Pack from a longer time, so in order to retain

him/her towards Data Packs, T24 offers certain amount of free Data usage.

43

Below is process of seeding model implemented in T24 in the month of May.

Figure 5 Database of Non Data Users

Explanation: The above data has been taken as a screenshot from the REC Report that is

generated from IN. As we can see there are certain set of numbers from different Circles of India

who has done usage in terms of SMS and Total MOU but have not used Data Packs in the entire

Month. So here Seeding Model will be implemented as:

These set of customers will firstly put together in one cluster.

Then on that particular cluster, a certain amount of data usage benefit will be fixed for a

certain validity Period.

This Data usage Benefits will be credited to these numbers within 24 Hours and a text

SMS will be sent on these numbers which contain information for the same.

After this, all the activity of data usage will be tracked with the help of IN.

With the help of next REC Report then follow up action is taken.

Hence this is how seeding model is implemented.

44

Loyalty Model:

This Model is also known as Value adding Program which includes loyalty schemes in which

customers are rewarded with benefits for their patronage. The more the customer spends the

higher the rewards. The main objective of this loyalty Model is delighting the customer and gives

him an experience of Personal Touch because delighted customers are the ones who will retain with the

company for a longer time period. Firms or organizations should meet or exceed customer expectations

on important attributes such as quality, service, price stability, and style.

In T24 Value derived is done in many ways:

Free Local/STD Minutes

Free Night Packs

Free VAS (Call me tunes, Cricket Alerts, Miss Call Alerts etc)

Freebies in form of T-shirts, Cap, Bag etc.

Free Data Packs or SMS Pack on Birthday, anniversary etc.

Professional Skills Learnt

Analytical Skills.

Digital Marketing Skills (Google Analytical Tools)

Team Coordination

Communication Skills

Advance MS Office

Content Writing Skills

IT Skills

Marketing Skills

Tele Sales Skills

Customer Service Skills

45

Chapter - 5

Recommendations and Conclusion

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This Research work was done through telephonic V.O.C.

Market Research

Problem Statement:

Irrespective of Customers being provided with Free Talktime benefits on Shopping at

Future Group outlets we observed usage of customers is too low. Customers are reluctant

towards the use of services.

Explanation: In our analysis in the month of February among T24 Customers in the

Circle of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra we came to

know that customers are paying money for purchasing the Simcard of T24 along with

FRC‘s of their choices of plans from T24 Sales Executive present at the retail outlets of

Future Group but they are not using the services of T24 irrespective they activate the

number after going through a tele-verification process. This has been a loss for both for

the customers and for the company as well.

For customers: If we talk about customers if they are not using itwe can see the loss for

them in terms of money, which they are paying for purchasing the simcard and also the

benefits that they would be getting from the T24 like Talktime, Data, Sms, Call Rates,

Recharge options at Shopping on retail outlets etc.

For Company: On the other hand if we look from the Company‘s point of view then we

can see that company is investing a lot on the resources like manpower, money, time,

infrastructure etc and if the customers are not using their services than it will be a huge

loss for the company in terms of its revenue, market share, relationship with the

customers, on the goodwill of the company and on the resources on which the company

has invested. Basically if we talk about the loss for a company that will be more in terms

46

of the return on investment that has been expected by the company and moreover on the

brand value of the company.

Solution Improvised: On the basis of the problem mentioned above we came onto

the conclusion that we will capture VOC of the customers who are not using the services

of T24 and did their tele-verification. We have a database of around 136 Customers in 5

Circles (Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh) out of which we

have an alternate number of 60 odd customers which we got through CAF. We prepared a

questionnaire which will be used to gain insights from the customers in order to know

about their point of view regarding why they are not using the services of T24 or what are

the problems they are facing. Initially we made calls to T24 customers who have not

performed their first call. Since their original T24 number cannot be contacted as they

were found to be in switched off mode, so we contacted them on their alternative

numbers and out of that following results has been taken out:

47

Inference: From the above data we can infer that out of 60 Calls made to the

customers around 24% of the customers (i.e. 14) were those who have not attended the

calls, the reasons was either their alternate number was switched off which constitutes to

about 58% (i.e. 8) or either the Mobile Numbers were incorrect or might be Out of

Coverage Area who were 21, 21% respectively.

Not

Attended

Calls=14

Attended Calls = 46

Total Calls

60

Switch

Off = 8

Incorrect

Number

= 3

Out Of

Network

= 3

No

Awareness

= 21

Network Problem =

6

Casual Attitude =

8

Sim Card

Lost = 3

Already Two

Simcards= 7

48

From the Customers who attended the calls which contributes to about 73%

(i.e. 46) the following were the observations

57%22%

21%

Not Attended Calls

Switch Off

Incorrect Number

Out of Coverage Area

47%

15%

13%

18%

7%

Attended Calls

No Awareness

Already Two Simcards

Network Problem

Casual Attitude

Sim Card Lost

49

We got to know that more than 45% (i.e. 21) of the customers are not aware about T24,

the reasons behind this was they were not been provided with full information by the

sales executives of T24, infact they were forced to purchase the connection of T24, most

of the customers were saying that they are not even aware about the plans and benefits

that they would be getting by using T24 and while some customers were complaining that

after they did their tele-verification process they did not received the balance for which

they paid money. An interesting thing that has been observed while having a word with

these customers was that majority of customers were saying that they have not seen any

kind of advertisement of T24 except in Big Bazaar or in any other retail outlets of Future

Group. Infact they were also saying that they have not seen any retail outlet of T24 in and

around their city and the retailers to whom they approach do not keep recharges for T24.

Feedback No.1 Feedback No. 2 Feedback No.3

Solution: To Increase the awareness about T24 in the customers, our team can run

certain advertisement campaigns like Hoardings, Bill Boards, Posters, and Sponsorships in

Social Activities that are prevailing in the city. Also we can advertise T24 on Radio, Television

as well as on Internet through emails, Google ad words etc. Furthermore we need to motivate and

have to provide training to our Sales Executives so that they will provide proper details to each

and every customers regarding T24 and also our team can plan for opening up of new retail

outlets of T24 in cities where T24 is in operations.

No Awareness= 21

No Proper

Information from the

Sales Executive of

T24

No dedicated Outlets

of T24 except in

Future Group Stores

No Advertisement of

T24 in and around the

City

50

Apart from that about 16% (i.e. 7) of the customers were saying that they are already

using two Simcards and they don‘t want to change their old network into the new one just

because of no awareness about the brand T24, furthermore it was observed that these

customers were loyal towards the brand which they are using currently. Even after they

have been provided the details regarding the benefits of using T24 they don‘t want to

switch their number to T24.

Feedback No.1 Feedback No. 2

Solution: For these section of Customers all we can do is sending them text messages and emails

on a regular basis so that they will remember T24 because these are loyal customers and might

be our customers in future.

Whereas 13%(i.e. 6) of the customers were saying, the very reason of not using T24 is

the network problem that they are facing especially in Circle of Uttar Pradesh West

mostly in the remote areas. The customers were complaining that they are not even

getting network of T24 in their own houses. Also, about the connectivity issues they got

to know it from other people as well.

Already Two

Simcards = 7

Don‘t want to switch to

T24 as No Awareness

about T24.

Loyal towards their

current Brands

51

Feedback No.1 Feedback No.2

Solution: For Network issues, since this is a genuine problem and is from our side so we need to

have a word with Network department of Tata DoCoMo on how to improve and strengthen the

network in order to deliver the pioneer services to delight our customers.

While it was observed that about 18%(i.e. 8)of the customers in which the majority was

mainly of the youth, they were having a casual attitude towards T24, either they did not

stated any reason for not using T24 when asked about the reason or it was observed that

they will use T24 in order to empty the talktime balance in near future.An interesting

thing that has been observed in this section of people was they are not having a good

perception about T24 and even they are also not regular customers of Future Group.

Network Problem = 6

No Network

especially in

Uttar Pradesh

West

Heard about Poor

Network from

others as well

52

No

Feedback No.1 Feedba

Solution: Dealing with this type of problem, the best solution would be providing training to

our sales executive to only sell the simcards to those customers who are interested in T24 and not

to every customer in order to fulfill their targets.

Whereas on the other hand about 6% (i.e. 3) of the customers were saying that they lost

their sim card and they are not having enough time to get issue a duplicate one. After

being told about the benefits of using T24 they said that they will buy a duplicate simcard

next time when they will go for shopping in Big Bazaar.

Solution: In order to deal with this problem, we need to guide and aware the customers about

the procedure of getting issues a duplicate simcard and what are the documents they have to

carry for getting a new simcard.

Casual Attitude = 8

No Reason for not

using and does not

have a good perception

about T24

Not Regular

Customer of

Future Group

53

Scope of Improvement:

On the basis of VOC we made, we came to know Possibilities to increase Network usage

can be probed on below points:

Network Penetration

No need

For New

Connection

Casual Attitude

No Awareness

Of Services

Sim Card Lost

Network Problem

Unattractive

Plans

Conclusion: There has been a lot of Problems in our operations that has been observed via

VOC. Our Team has to give a proper attention towards all these problems and have to come up

with the relevant and feasible solutions asap in order to capture a great amount of market share.

In order to deal with all these problems our team need to give a close look on our strengths and

the opportunities and have to make strategies and have to work hard on our weakness and the

possible threats that will be arising in the near future in order to minimize the risk of

uncertainties

54

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.ibef.org/industry/telecommunications.aspx

http://www.tatateleservices.com/t-aboutus-ttsl-organization.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Teleservices

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Group

http://t24mobile.com/about.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T24_Mobile

http://www.futuregroup.in/about-us/about-group.html

http://www.ngdata.com/what-is-customer-retention/

http://www.impactlearning.com/resources/metrics/customer-retention/

http://www.gainsight.com/your-success/importance-of-customer-retention-strategy/