'If after 3-9 weeks we don't have fresh content, then there
is a problem.'

Tata
Sky, one of India's largest DTH operators with 18 million subscribers, is
battling the restrictions of a lockdown with a surge in television consumption.
"A
bunch of field service guys were identified to look after repairs only for
older people. They have to wear gloves, foot covers, mask and carry a
disinfectant with them. We are still managing 700 to 800 repairs a day only for
senior citizens," Harit
Nagpal, managing director and CEO, Tata Sky, tells Vanita Kohli-Khandekar
How are you dealing with
this crisis?
On March 7 we had discussed
the possibility of a lockdown and how would we ensure continuity of service to
18 million subscribers.
The daily sales and the
4,000 to 5,000 repairs we do every day are not as important as the continuity
of service to our subscribers. Therefore, we identified a few people who will
be locked into offices just to maintain operations.
Over two days, we identified
72 people primarily from information technology. They have been there since the
night of the Janata Curfew, 35 people have been living and sleeping at the
uplink centre in Chhatarpur (New Delhi) and 15 at our IT hub in
Bengaluru.
Our call centres are shut.
But we identified agents who can attend the diverted calls from home on their
laptop. Currently, we can attend to only 30 per cent of the calls. (The Tata
Sky call centre gets about a lakh calls every day). The aim is to take this
to 50 to 60 per cent.
We have added 14 services
like choosing or dropping a channel to those which can be managed via WhatsApp.
A bunch of field service
guys were identified to look after repairs only for older people. They have to
wear gloves, foot covers, mask and carry a disinfectant with them.
We are still managing 700
to 800 repairs a day only for senior citizens.
A few days ago we started
offering 11 of our services, education, fitness, cooking, free for a month.
They are usually priced at Rs 60 a month.
You are a large company and
can, therefore, weather this one better.
We are fortunate because
our goods and services are virtual and we can be paid virtually.
If we physically delivered
products, things would have been difficult.
Since many partners may not
be able to send bills, we are paying them according to the February bill.
These are our security
suppliers, the 2,500 repairs and installation partners we have who in turn have
25,000 people on their rolls. So they can pay their people.
What is the short and long
term impact this could have?
The best processes are
created when your back is against the wall. Now for every new process, we are
asking 'What if this happens?' and we design an even more efficient and
reliable process.
We are moving things as
much online as possible. We have 3 to 4 months of stock of set-top-boxes and we
are not acquiring any new customers because we cannot install.
The topline will be flat,
but we will cut costs to maintain bottom-line.
What is your learning from
managing this situation?
If I can work under these
circumstances, then why not during a normal situation?
My home office is fine, I
can work from there and can go to the office for two days instead of five.
Why do I need to travel to
Bengaluru and Delhi for half-hour meetings? This is a paradigm shift. It will
reduce costs and wastage of time.
Any challenges you might
face?
In the short-term, there is
no problem. If after 3-9 weeks we don't have fresh content, then there is a
problem.
Studios are shut, the
content pipeline is dry.
After re-runs why would a
customer want to watch the same stuff again? How long will you do that?
No comments:
Post a Comment