Leveraging Customer Service as Competitive Advantage

With the globalization of the business world, competition is more fierce than ever before. Companies lose deals to competitors located half way around the world and are always looking for ways to win new business. One of the ways companies are looking to one-up their competition is by highlighting their excellent customer service. In fact, the customer service as a whole is not something many companies excel at, which makes companies that truly shine at the very end of the experience process more appealing to prospects or customers.

Discussion Points

  • Since the time Covid has hit the world, we hear from the Industry leaders that Customer Service is a big differentiator. How is Customer Service an integral part of your business strategy? Could you please share your thoughts.
  • When it comes to Customer Service, it’s important to be agile & innovative as the Competition is also evolving it’s own strategy. How does technology play a role in this process and what are your expectations from platform providers like ServiceNow?
  • Philip Kotler – widely regarded as the Father of Modern Marketing – popularized the idea of 4Ps – Product, Price, Place & Promotion. In this modern times, how does Customer Service compliment these 4Ps and bring in that “Wow” factor for your Customers. What are your views?
  • “Voice of the customer” or “Customer Feedback” is what the Industry leaders clearly call out as an effective tool to include the Customer in the entire Customer experience journey. What are some of the ways, you incorporate the Customer feedback in your product & solutions offering and how critical it is to the success of your organization.
  • Last question / Rapid fire – : Which company or brand according to you is the epitome of “Leveraging Customer Service as a competitive advantage” and why?

Panelists

  • Atanu Pramanic, CIO, Hindalco
  • Rohit Kilam, CTO, CMS Info Systems
  • Saher Williams, Head – Customer Centricity, Piramal
  • Preeti Singh, Head Customer Service and Customer experience management, Axis Finance
  • Monish B Vohra , Executive Vice President & Head Customer Services, SBI Payment Services
  • Anuradha Singh, Chief – Experience Design, Future Group India
  • Hari Shankar, Sr. Vice President Customer Experience, Future Generali India Insurance
  • Birendra Sen, Business Leader, Tech Mahindra BPS

Speakers

Anuradha Singh
Chief – Experience Design
Future Group India

Anirvan Saha
Technology Head
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Ltd

Atanu Pramanic
CIO
Hindalco

Birendra Sen
Business Leader
Tech Mahindra BPS

Hari Shankar
Sr. Vice President Customer Experience
Future Generali India Insurance

Paul Baptist
Senior Director, Solution Consulting, Customer Workflows
APJ

Preeti Singh
Head Customer Service and Customer experience management
Axis Finance

Rohit Kilam
CTO
CMS Info Systems

Saher Williams
Head – Customer Centricity
Piramal

Anuradha Singh, Chief – Experience Design, Future Group India

A retail professional with more than 20 years of work experience in fields of customer experience design, shopper marketing, retail operations and brand activation in the categories of Food and FMCG, Apparel and Home.
Work on understanding customers and their journeys at retail and develop communication and strategies for retail to make customer experiences better.

An exciting space has been working on making retail spaces inclusive for People with Disabilities and senior citizens.
Currently heading the Operations function for Big Bazaar and fbb stores. Earlier experience includes organizations like Revlon cosmetics, Timex watches and Shoppers Stop.

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Atanu Pramanic, CIO, Hindalco

30 years industry experience with 20 years in Technology Solutions Currently, CIO for HINDALCO INDUSTRIES LTD, responsible for IT Strategy & Operations, IT Security & Architecture, New Technology ingestion, Oracle ERP re-implementation, supporting Digital business enablement using latest technology. Previously, CIO for L&T Construction, Head for IT Strategy and Global Operations @ Petrofac, Global Leader – Professional Services (IT Products & Tools) @ Genpact Technology evangelist, ever green learner, favourite of Business Leaders, challenges status quo, facilitates innovative but seamless business disruption SMP from IIM – Calcutta, Masters in Engineering (BITS-Pilani), MIE, BME, Chartered Engineer, Oracle Masters, Green Belt in Six Sigma Speaker in various national and international industrial forums
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Birendra Sen , Business Leader, Tech Mahindra BPS

BirendraleadsTechMahindraBusinessServices(TechMBS),awhollyownedsubsidiaryofTech MahindraprovidingCustomerManagementServicestoFortune-100companies.HealsoleadsMarketing, Technology,AnalyticsandServicelineslikeCX,ServiceDesk&TACfortheBPSbusinessofTech Mahindra.Hehasspent17yearsintheorganization,managingmultipleportfolios.

Birendraispassionateaboutpushingthelimitsindrivingfantasticpeople,customerandshareholder experiences.Hehasledlargetransformationprogrammesforcustomersthathaveledtosignificant improvementinCustomerExperience,ReducedCostsandIncreasedProfitabilityforourclients.

Birendra is passionate about driving digital transformation in the customer world and making TechMBS a great place to work. He incubated Carexa, Tech M’s proprietary Customer Management Framework which is loved by our customers. Under his stewardship, the organization has been recognized as one of the world’s greatest places to work by Gallup.

For his outstanding contribution to the overall business, Birendra has been awarded the Tech Mahindra Associate of the year in 2015.
He has 21 years of work experience spanning industries like Financial Institutions, IT, ITeS and Telecom. He is a Bachelor in Engineering from NIT, Bhopal, MBA in Marketing and Strategy from IIM Lucknow and has undergone and exec development programme from Harvard University.

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Hari Shankar, Vice President Customer Experience, Future Generali India Insurance

Hari heads the Customer Experience function at Future Generali India Insurance. He has set up the Service Structure and the Customer-Culture of the organization, which is recognized by customers and partners alike. He has close to two decades of experience in the domain and was earlier associated with Wipro BPS and its clients like Dell and Capital One.

With his Service Leadership, Future Generali has received various national and international recognitions like the ‘Medallia Expy Awards’, ‘Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service’, ‘Impresa Award for Fair Business’, ‘CCW Asia Awards’ and many others. Hari has been recognized as 50 Most Influential Customer Service Professionals by CXELA.

Some of the key engagements that Hari is responsible for:

• Curating and driving the ongoing delivery of the Hallmarks that make the Organization a Lifetime Partner to its customers and Business Partners.
• Customer insights management and deployment of the Net Promoter System across policy lifecycle, engaging the frontline and management alike. Service-recovery through real-time close-loop and rootcause analysis to drive structural improvement and innovation projects.
• Setup and management of the centralized Customer Service Operations (along with CRM & contact centre platforms), as well as managing the customer experience across locations and throughout the policy lifecycle.
• Foster the Service culture through structured learning platforms and engagement & recognition programs – ‘Every Employee a CEO (Customer Experience Officer), Claim Guru, JOSH (Joy of Service Heroes), Service weeks, Insurance Awareness Weeks etc.
• Driving Insurance-Awareness & Customer-Education and Protection of Policy Holders Interests as the designated GRO (Grievance Redressal Officer) & Nodal Officer for Insurance Awareness.

Education & Certifications

Hari holds a Bachelors in Tourism Studies and a Diploma in Hotel Management. He is a Certified Black Belt in Six Sigma and Change Management (GenX program of Generali Asia), OCEM – level-2 (Operational Customer Experience Management) certified from Medallia Institute, Forrester CX Pro Certified from Forrester Research Inc., B1 Simple Language Program Certified from Bureautaal (Netherlands) and holds a Licentiate Certificate from Insurance Institute of India.

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Paul Baptist, Senior Director, Solution Consulting, Customer Workflows, APJ

The saying “jack of all trades” is usually followed up with “master of none”. I prefer to say I am a “master of some”. With over 15 years’ experience in CRM, the majority of those focused on customer experience technologies, I have been working with companies large and small across the globe to put their customers at the centre of their businesses.

As a leader in solution consulting team, I am in the rare position of being both tech- and business-savvy. Through my experience I have learnt to be multi-lingual, proficient in geek, sales, marketing, service, implementation and, most importantly, “plain and simple”.

In my current role at ServiceNow, I lead a team of solution consultants specialising in customer workflow tools across the APJ region. My objective is to help businesses transform, meeting their challenges with innovative solutions.

When I’m not working I spend my time walking the dogs, snowboarding and hiking. I am also pretty handy with a hammer, building homes in Cambodia each year.

Professional

With over 20 years’ experience in IT industry, the majority of those focused on customer experience technologies, Paul Baptist as been working with companies, large and small, across the globe to put their customers at the centre of their businesses.

As a leader in solution consulting team, Paul in the rare position of being both tech- and business-savvy. Through my experience Paul has learnt to be multi-lingual, proficient in sales methodologies, marketing strategies, service best practices, and, most importantly, “plain and simple”.

Paul has had the opportunity to present his thoughts on how customer experience has evolved at events across the Asia Pacific region.

In his current role at ServiceNow, Paul leads a team of solution consultants specialising in customer workflow tools across the Asia Pacific region. His teams’ objectives are to help businesses transform, meeting their business challenges with innovative solutions.

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