Published on November 16, 2021
Tata Power’s roof-top solar business is transitioning from a B2B to B2C model and has an aspirational growth target of 10x. In this process, the company is facing a challenge in handling customer and channel partner complaints. With an aim to learn and understand similar processes across other B2C Tata companies, Tata Power – Rooftop Solar Division approached Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG). In turn, TBExG facilitated best practice sharing sessions on complaint management systems between Tata Power – Rooftop Solar Division and three group companies — Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Voltas.
In the first session with Tata Motors on February 4, 2021, Gunjesh Kumar, Deputy General Manager, Tata Motors, shared his company’s practices around dealer complaints/feedback received on SAP and how it is mapped in the system. Further, based on feedback/complaints received, how projects are taken up, bucketed, evaluated, and monitored was also demonstrated.
On February 11, 2021, in the second session with Tata Steel, N Nagaraj, Senior Manager - Consumer Experience, Tata Steel, discussed his company’s practices pertaining to customer mapping, planning and warranty in the system, booking an appointment by the call centre and stock order bifurcation.
The third session took place on February 13, 2021, in which Girish Shah, Customer Service Head, Voltas - UPBG, gave a detailed explanation around the company’s warranty process, voice bot and customer support using WhatsApp.
Following these discussions, in September 2021, the Tata Power Rooftop Solar division had follow-up discussions on ‘Customer Complaint Platform @ Call Centre and Call Centre for Dealers’ at Tata Motors and demonstration of warranty processes (booking an appointment by the call centre for channel partners, stock order bifurcation, Einstein Bot and Business WhatsApp) with Tata Steel.
Post these interactions, the Tata Power Solar roof-top division has incorporated following improvements to its customer complaint processes:
01. Automation of post installation customer feedback via CRM platform
The company sent a post installation feedback survey to 1,328 customers till date and has received responses from 205 customers. This has enabled them to listen to the voice of the customer and improve on their OFIs.
02. Automation of channel partner feedback and monitoring the feedback till closure via CRM platform
The company received 18 points of valuable feedback from channel partners in the areas of product range extension, marketing collaterals and digitalisation initiatives. This has led to improvements and the company is taking steps in areas that matter to the channel partners.
03. Escalation management systems on the requirements
Escalation process mapping has led to significant reduction on manual efforts at call centres. Escalations are flowing directly from the system without any human intervention. This has helped to focus on other priority areas at the centre.
04. Chatbot integration on the website. Back-end integration via CRM platform for live update to the customer on the requirement
The company has received 791 leads from the chat bot till date. The chat bot was operational in Feb 21.
The following initiatives are on the roadmap for the business:
01. WhatsApp to communicate with the customers
02. Computer telephony integration – predictive dialling via call centre
03. Automating warranty processes
Participant speak
These knowledge-sharing sessions have really helped us to visualise the changes and implement them in a short time thus supporting us immensely in our journey to become a B2C company
Rajneesh Sabharwal, Head - Operations, TATA Power - Rooftop Solar