Telkomsel focuses on customer services
Telkomsel focuses on customer services
Amid increasingly various mobile telecommunications services, what else can a cellular operator offer to users? Telkomsel said that it has improved customer care services to stay in the lead of keen rivalry in Indonesia's cellular business.
Telkomsel's director of operations, Laurens Bulters, said that nowadays, cellular operators were mostly known as cellular service providers.
"We are working constantly on improving our services. This starts with communications between the front and back offices. The front office must know what kind of programs effect the service are running in the back office. While the back office must know the appreciation of our customer," said Bulters.
"We are always thinking about, doing and controlling the integration. Of course, yes today we have not yet reached 100 percent of our standard," he said.
He said Telkomsel is committed to constant improvement in the quality of its coverage area throughout Indonesia.
Telkomsel is committed to strive to be a World Class Operator, achieving the status of an international standard GSM operator in Indonesia by combining strong, reliable service and professionalism, technology, marketing and efficient business management, he said.
"We are committed to operating throughout Indonesia's 27 provinces. We were the first operator to reach this goal already in 1997, and we are the only one to have been able to maintain this." he said.
Telkomsel has also enhanced its image as the number one telecom company in Indonesia by promoting customer satisfaction through fast, reliable and friendly service, in line with the company motto leading in quality and service, he said.
Indonesia has seven cellular operators. Three are Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators: Satelindo, Telkomsel and Excelcomindo, while the others are Advanced Mobile Phone System and Nordic Mobile Telecommunications operators.
Telkomsel is the first operator to provide GSM coverage in all Indonesia's provinces, in more than 330 cities. Over 1,050 Base Transceiver Stations and 22 Mobile Switching Centers support this.
Telkomsel has signed international roaming agreements with some 45 countries in all continents of the world for users' convenience when abroad as well as foreigners visiting Indonesia.
It also has a mission to make the cell phone or handset not just an instrument for the urban rich, but rather a public utility allowing people from all levels of society to benefit from and use the services. To achieve this, the company has issued two major products: postpaid kartuHALO, and prepaid simPATI cards, which offer less features but users can control their usage.
KartuHALO, the company's Subscriber Identity Module card (SIM), is guaranteed to give users the full range of GSM advantages like security (free from tapping, multiplexing and cloning), accessibility, affordability, high quality and wide coverage area. Besides the "standard" facility of being able to make and receive calls anywhere and anytime, kartuHALO offers value-added services at no or very limited added cost.
"With kartuHALO, users can put the world into their hands. This card also offers a wide range of services including voice mail service and Short Message Service, international roaming and online billing information. Fax messaging can be stored and retrieved by any fax machine. This is another exclusive Telkomsel innovation," Bulters said.
Bulters said an element of success for a service company, particularly in the tight competition of cellular communications industry, is the quality of customer services.
"We must be able to respond to all the needs and problems of the customers; any time, anywhere; fast, correctly and sympathetically.
"To provide 24-hour customer service, Telkomsel has introduced the Call Center and Caroline (Customer Care On-Line) and a nationwide call center network to answer and solve our customers' needs and problems."
He said personal services needed integrated infrastructure, which would make operators easily reached by customers. Representative offices, particularly for services, were important for the customers, he added.
"As a market leader, Telkomsel operates 57 representative offices called GraPARI (Grha Pari Sraya). As service centers and operational offices, GraPARI is Telkomsel's daily activity motor in giving the best service to customers, company operational activities and also product sales counter," he said.
He added that although one of its functions is as Telkomsel's product sales counter for kartuHALO, simPATI and rechargeable vouchers, GraPARI plays more roles as customer service centers.
"GraPARI is prepared to bring Telkomsel closer to its customers. All kinds of customer problems will be solved and receive the best solution at GraPARIs because GraPARI has complete facilities to support the best service to the customers," he said.
Among these services are: meeting our frontline staff, 24-hour customer telephone service and billing status information by dialing 333.
To serve simPATI users, users can know the latest status of their credit in rupiah by dialing *888#. Information is immediately displayed on the handsets.
"By using the GraPARI name for Telkomsel's operational and service center offices, TELKOMSEL has, again, another unique characteristic that proves it the most innovative operator in Indonesia." Bulters said, adding that GraPARIs are operational in all major cities throughout the Indonesian Archipelago.
For kartuHALO users, Telkomsel also provides easy choice of payment by collaborating with several banks allowing them to pay by cash, auto-debit or via Automated Teller Machines. People who buy simPATI cards or vouchers can go to a Fuji Image Plaza, authorized dealer, phone shop, GraPARI or use BCA bank ATMs. SimPATI users can buy a voucher and recharge their credits through ATMs.
Bulters said that the best way to win the whole competition among cellular operators was to give customers the best service day by day better than the others do.