Consumer Focused B2C

My Airtel Landline broadband connection has been de-activated because of non-payment of dues.

I am sure this happens to a lot of us – we don’t pay up because of various reasons. In my case, the reason was that I wasn’t around in the city around the time of the due date/ bill payment date ( I was traveling on business.)

So when I was back home, I realized that the broadband connection is not available and I will have to go to the bill payment center to pay the bill. An exercise that will make me have to take time out of hectic/ busy schedules. Also, an exercise that I dread because at most times, paying the bill like this means that you have to stand in a line for more than 10-15 mins.

I was wondering if Airtel has ever gone about thinking about this consumer problem and ways of resolving it.

There are 2 things that a consumer who has ‘non-payment of dues’ against his name would want to do.

1. Pay the bill and restart the connection

2. Pay only the remaining outstanding amount and request complete de-activation because he/she wants to discontinue services of Airtel.

My simple solution to this:

When the due date passes, if a consumer tries to log-on to any website, he should be re-directed to an Airtel bill payment website. The website will probably ask for User ID/ password, and then proceed to accept 2 things :

1. Credit card payments for those who want to re-activate connections.

2. Requests to discontinue services.

I am sure they do this for connections that are active. Consumers who want to pay online can pay online while their connections are still active. It won’t cost much to extend this to de-activated consumers.

I am sure it will bring consumer goodwill(or delight!) since lazy bones like me(who fall in number 1 above) will be able to pay from home, and wont have to show their faces again at a bill payment center!!

And people in the number 2 category (above) will not have to go through the frustrations of being called by Airtel executives every 2^nd day for bill payments!!

The BIG NIKE Sale

Big NIKE sale in Gurgaon! 50% off on everything!

Date :20th to 23rd September.
Time:11 am to 9 pm.
Venue:Apparel House,Near Gold Souk Mall,Opp. Powergrid Apartments, Sector-44,Gurgaon.

Go buy!

Just noticed..

Just noticed....

Borivali, a suburb in Mumbai has 7000 odd members in its orkut community, the same as Gurgaon, which is an entire city(supposedly one of India's IT hotspots)!!

Bureaucratic Reactions

As with most other bureaucratic,monopolistic set-ups, the BCCI is another one which is 'reactive'.

Rewind 15 years,when India opened its doors to liberalisation and globalisation.Back then, Fiat and Ambassador were the only 2 available cars. Car monopoly was such that there were black bookings of cars 6-7 months in advance. Enter liberalisation, enter Maruti-Suzuki, and the Fiat monopoly fell flat on its face in less than 10 years.Whatever Fiat did in those 10 years, was reactive - done because of existence of competition. You cannot be a market leader by being reactive.

The folks in the BCCI are feeling something similar right now.Competition has come out of nowhere.And the BCCI is reacting.

Check out this,this and this.

By signing on the initial basket of domestic and international players, the ICL has sent out a clear message -that it means business.And this is what the ICC has to say about the whole thing. The ICC has learnt from the Kerry Packer breakaway of yore, and knows what happened to Australian cricket after that. The ICC, I'm sure,will be more than ready to wait and watch on what happens in the ICL v/s BCCI battle. It is in the ICC's interest to have a more professionally managed Indian cricket control body and a more competitive Indian domestic cricket scene.


My take - one,unless the ICL can sign on someone really big/experienced from the current Indian Cricket Team,it will not get the kind of mileage/importance which it is really looking for.Maybe someone like a Tendulkar/VVS Laxman/Sehwag/Ganguly etc.This will be a big coup and will need lot of money, but it will be worth it. Two, getting the right infrastructure(grounds,coaches,academies,practice facilities) will be key to their success.Three,they will have to rope in the 2 key Ms of today's entertainment business - money and media.

Will be interesting to see how this battle pans out.

Money is a 3 letter word.

And the word is OIL.

The whole world wants a share.

And guess what,Bush wants it too!:)

Patilanchi Sarkar!

India has its first woman president.And she made her first address to the nation today.

So now we have a remote controlled prime-minister and a remote-controlled president! Wow. And to think remote-controlled governments were the bane of Maharashtra alone! :)

I look forward to her tenure as president. I'm expecting some hilarious quotes from her in the next few years,especially in situations where she has to respond extempore to questions from the media.

Mrs Patil,here's wishing you all the best.I'm sure you'll keep us entertained. Amen.

Losing My Religion.

Oh, life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight, I'm
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I'm
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up
Consider this
Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I've said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

But that was just a dream
Try, cry, why try?
That was just a dream
Just a dream, just a dream
Dream

P.S.: Didn't know someone could make me feel as miserable as I'm feeling right now.In 10(?) days.No more dreaming,thank you.

Update on previous post : I don't want to be in Bombay anytime soon!

8th thing.

The 8th thing playing on my mind:

Move to Bombay a.s.a.p.

Some people know why!

7 things..

7 things playing on my mind right now:

1. Need to get back to serious running. Need to get out of my comfort zone of 2-3 km.

2. Find a salsa class and keep learning.Salsa is addictive!

3. Learn to swim.

4. Learn MS Excel well.If needed,take a course.

5. What will my salary hike look like? :) Can't keep turning down good opportunities!!

6. Download more country music.

7. Find better things to blog about! :)

Current Mood : Jovial

Current Song : Tim McGraw -Just to see you smile.

Movie Review:Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

If you think you're going to get a review,think again.

Shitty movie.Watch it when you're totally ,completely bored of your life and feel like you should end it. JBJ will give you enough reason to do so.

R.I.P.

Slow Coach.

So the BCCI has been slow and dumb in appointing the new coach.

Result - we don't have a coach for the England tour.

We have Chandu Borde,team manager, who will:

a) have zero accountability for the team during/after the tour.Believe me, Rahul Dravid will face the brickbats - Borde is a seasoned administrator and will know how to get out if the team does badly.
b) have zero background on training methods/discipline instilled by Chappell/John Wright.
c) become a puppet in the hands of senior players.
d) become a fatherly figure who provides advice at net practice and not much else(he's 72.)
e) do lots of shopping in England.

I wont be surprised if :

a) India fare badly in England.
b) Dravid faces tremendous pressure if we fare badly. After all, if the team screws up, Borde will get absolved of all responsibility ,saying that 'he was too new to the job'.
c) India takes a step back in the quality of cricket( its already pretty low!)
d) Fielding standards go down.
e) Players start playing for themselves(including the captain and the senior players)

Overall, Indian cricket will be worse off after this tour than it is,right now. As I say this, I'm also wishing that they make me eat my words. But I know its highly unlikely.

The BIG Nike Sale.

Big NIKE sale in Bangalore! 50% off on everything!

Date :7th to 10th June.
Time:11 am to 9 pm.
Venue:St Joseph's School,Museum Road

Go buy!

Still Applies.

I posted this onto my MBA e-group last August.Applies even today.

"6 months into a job and there have been a few realisations:

1.salary packages are misleading.sure,the money comes into ur bank account at
the beginnning of the month - only to mysteriously dissappear into some
unknown blackhole by the month-end.

2.the pretence of work does not work.u REALLY have to work.it takes some time
to realise dat.

3.however hard u work - ur manager's times were always a lot harder.the sun
shone harder on their heads when they were on the streets and the people they
dealt with were tougher to deal with.u and ur peers have it too easy.this is a
fact to be accepted,never to be challenged.

4.u cannot be orkutting when the boss sits right behind u.and u definitely
cannot be checking out dat cute babe's album when he's standing right behind
u,staring at ur laptop screen!!!

5.Five-day weeks are a myth.

6.on friday nights, all the good chicks come out of their hiding places and
can be found at select pubs - hanging out with the nerdy guys wearing IIT/IIM
tshirts.gee,do they sell these IIT-IIM tshirts somewhere?

7.when someone-u-know is in town, they will get hold of ur number.from
somewhere.and they will let u know dat they are here by calling bang in the
middle of the monday morning meeting.

8."i work at nike" can be a successful pick-up line :-)

I am thinking about compiling a list of tidbits of information/learnings from my professional and personal life.Maybe one day I might make it into a book(Hah..what a thought!)

Made in India.

This was bound to happen.With India's growing manufacturing prowess,and the way global corporations are setting up huge manufacturing units in India,this was a logical conclusion.Only that it is not a conclusion.It is a beginning.

Think about this -

4,maybe 5 years from now, you might be successful/rich enough to buy something with 'superior german engineering' - only that its made in India by Indian engineers!!!

As I see it,we are on the way to breaking long standing perceptions/pre-liberalisation baggage that comes with the term 'made in India'.


Now,if only the government could formulate strong SEZ policies and people rehabilitation policies quickly.Otherwise,we would be facing many Singurs in the coming years.

Is work personal?

After putting in a lot of work for an important presentation, I got rammed for not doing a good job at it.My boss and my colleagues maintained that it was great work, but my boss' boss rammed it based on one wrong assumption(which he made,by the way). A clarification was issued by my boss in a separate e-mail,clearly defending me and my plan.

The whole experience was quite shattering for me, but I guess its part of professional life.You take the crests with the troughs and ride along.

The question that the whole experience left in my mind was - "Is work personal?"

People tell me - " Its work. Its business.Its not personal." But for me, work is my time away from my family,my home and hearth and its the sole reason for me being here in a different city away from my folks.How can it not be personal?

Are we supposed to be totally rational and not have any emotion while working?Is that even possible?