India’s enterprise sector is depicting an interesting growth chart in the past 10 years. The SME enterprise business services segment has been growing at a rate of 10%. It currently contributes around 45% of the entire industrial output of the country. At this juncture, Tata Teleservices bets high on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) solutions and predicts a growth rate of 25-30% in the coming years.
In an interview given to The Hindu during September 2016, Tata Teleservices clearly delineated its plan to expand in the market through partnerships, digital medium, and also by transitioning from a connectivity solution provider to business application provider.
Here, in this conversation with Mr. Joyjeet Bose, Vice President, SME Operations, Enterprise Business, South - Tata Teleservices Ltd, Telecom Talk finds out how far the company has attained its targets. Mr. Bose spoke about the products and services the company offers to enterprises, and also about the technological advancements happened in the sector.
Q: What kind of products/services does Tata Teleservices offer to enterprises?
Ans: Tata Docomo Business Services (TDBS), an enterprise division of Tata Teleservices, provides comprehensive suites of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions to enterprises in India. The company has its focus across sectors such as IT/ITEs, manufacturing, start-ups, e-commerce, automobile, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, etc. TDBS provides technology-based offerings across the following service categories –
- Enterprise Collaboration: Conferencing
- Enterprise Connectivity: Data Solutions, Managed Solutions, Voice Solutions
- IoT Solutions: Asset Tracking, Fleet Tracking, Workforce Tracking, School Bus Tracking
- Marketing Solutions: Call Register Services, Hosted IVR, SMS Solutions, Toll Free Services
- Mobility Solutions: Collection Application, Mobile Device Management, Research Application, Sales Application, Service Application
Q: Which business segments are your focus areas?
Ans: TDBS offers end-to-end ICT solutions to enterprises of all sizes and across business verticals. The company has its focus across sectors such as IT/ITEs, BFSI, manufacturing, start-ups, e-commerce, automobile, healthcare, logistics, media, services, etc.
Q: What benefits do your solutions bring to the customer?
Ans: The ICT solutions offered by TDBS help enterprises in achieving operational efficiency, improve customer reach and experience, and earn better returns on investment. We are in a position to cater to every ICT need of the customer and their ecosystem by engaging closely with prospective customers in form of consultative workshops.
Through our vast network of channel partners, we reach out to millions of enterprises spread across the country. We have close to 1,200 channel partners to offer ICT solutions to customers in over 60 cities across India. The company has set up a robust infrastructure which includes the largest fibre optic backbone in the country covering over 1, 25, 000 km covering major cities in India.
Q: Any customer case study that you can share?
Ans: BYJU’s-The Learning App – India’s largest Education Technology (Learning), commenced in 2011 as an offline test prep provider for exams like CAT, GRE, GMAT and the Civil Services. The company went digital when it launched its app, born out of the need for high quality, engaging and accessible education. Today BYJU’s has become India’s largest Education Technology (Learning) company that is reinventing how students learn, through its learning app. In the first year of its commencement, the learning app saw a phenomenal engagement of 3.5 million students.
Today, BYJU’s has a 500-member strong R&D team working closely with three specialized verticals:
- Content creation team
- Skilled media production house, and
- Technology team that build an adaptive platform to give each learner a personalized experience
BYJU’s required support for a solution to connect their prospective students to the Business Development Associates (BDA) on their Mobile no’s. (Enabled the BDA’s to be on the move) across locations. They also wanted to capture the lead generated with recording of the calls for future quality and regulatory purpose.
Students who views the BYJU’s advertisements in Digital / Print media would downloads the APP and could watch the demo. On satisfaction they could provide their name and contact details in the APP against which an OTP is provided. As the student authenticates, he is prompted to provide a suitable time to be called back by the BDA.
TDBS provided them highly scalable SIP trunk channels which connected to the call server. The Student Information is now stored in the CRM of BYJU’s, which would trigger the call from call server based on the schedule. The Call Server would initiate a call to both Student and BDA at the scheduled time and patch the call.
BYJU’s can now fetch reports from the call server (to enable monitoring of lead closures) with details on number of calls received by each executive, and duration of calls. TDBS also provided an automatic call recording facility on the call server for regulatory purposes.
The SIP trunk solution helps BYJU’s in cost savings with no need for multiple physical lines. It provides scalability with up to 1500 voice, data and video sessions on a single line and lastly it provides flexible Direct Inward Dialing (DID) range to meet scalability requirements.
Tata Docomo has helped BYJU’s to achieve scalability and reliability through enhanced voice solutions. BYJU’s now manages its operations more efficiently by employing an accessible workforce model, which allows prospects to reach executives at any time; while giving executives the freedom of movement. All regulatory requirements are met through automated processes, with records becoming available whenever they are required.
Q: How significant is the SME segment in terms of adoption of technology?
Ans: According to SME Chamber, India is home to 36 million SMEs employing close to 80 million people across the country. The SME segment is growing rapidly and is fast adopting technology, as businesses realize that technology not only cuts cost but is an integral part of operations. Technology enables them to reach their customers faster, service them better and to manage the organization more efficiently by connecting offices, partners, and the larger ecosystem for closer collaboration and proactive servicing. There is huge potential for future growth in the SME space, as only a fraction of SMEs have adopted technology.
