Saturday, December 12, 2009

Loopholes in PTCL’s Selling Strategy for New Connections


There was a time, when you had to search for internal contacts in PTCL for getting a landline connection. There was a term called “Demand Note”, which was necessary to be paid at the time of application and then you were given with a landline facility in weeks, months or even years, depending on authority of your contact.
If you remember, Fifty Fifty (a comedy show on PTV) made various parodies on PTCL, showing how lengthy and difficult was the process of getting a landline phone.
Couple of years back, PTCL changed its style by revamping its strategies; and came forward with a tagline of “Feel the Difference”. Company reformatted its policies for S&D (Sales & Distribution), Advertisement, Customer Services, Human Resources and many more.
If we talk about today, we see PTCL’s adverts on TV, newspaper saying “To get your new phone connection, dial 0800xxxxx and get new phone connection at your door step”, That is much appreciated selling technique that they have molded from the previous “Demand NOTE” culture to this new sort of connection acquiring.
BUT…
PTCL has failed to deliver what it claims. No doubt that it has attracted the customer, but who is going to live with promises and no actions? We come across so many stories on daily basis, people asking us about their pending landline connection application for months.
Loopholes in PTCL’s Selling Strategy for New LandLine Connection
Contact Relevant Exchange adviseConfession of communication GAP
Some one is going to sell you connection on phone by acquiring your details but in the last minute of  conversation, representative will advise you to keep connected with your “RELEVENT AREA Telephone EXCHANGE” to get your connection as early as possible. This is a joke with customer infect this is confession regarding “Lack of communication” among departments and many other customer service faults.
Deadlines are Missed
The time given for a new telephone connection is 2 weeks, this is for almost the same for every service that you want to acquire, like PTCL LAND LINE PHONE, DSL and Smart TV.
The time they give to customer is not at all a promise from the company. This 2 week’s deadline can and cannot be met with equal probability, where as in competitive industry people are habitual to prepaid SIMS on time DSL connections.
Contact Center has no update on new telephone connection status – (Lack of centralized Information Management)
The contact center has no update regarding the current status of new phone connection application. They can just inform you that “Sir, it is actually due to some technical fault we are still not providing you telephone connection” soon, we will install you new phone connection and this “soon” come not so easily.
Though they might offer you some other product sale offers, like EVO and Vfone etc. You know this “LOLz” because what would be customer’s reaction? Not getting the current deal and being offered for another one – that’s wow.
Conclusion:
All in all, the service being offered by PTCL is commendable, but deliveries of these services are irrationally designed and ill managed. PTCL management should think about the image they are creating in the mind of new customers and must not forget, these were those customers who were reluctant to get PTCL connection because of DEMAND NOTE dilemmas.
With “Feel the difference” tag line, lame excuses like “DP has no pair available in your area to provide you connection” are unbearable statements that you would have listen from PTCL Customer service representatives.
PTCL has to feel and realize the difference and dynamics of current market and should change its vision according to current standard of service delivery and service recovery.

Intel Works with Pre-STEP to Promote Technology for Faculty Members

Intel Pakistan recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a consortium partner in Pre-STEP (the Pre-service Teacher Education Program). The agreement has been made to launch a technology program in Government colleges of Pakistan with a vision to improve the basic education by strengthening teacher training institutes.

Pre-STEP is a five-year, national program led by the Academy for Educational Development (AED), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The program is designed to improve the quality of basic education in Pakistan by improving teacher preparation practices and strengthening the capacity of up to 75 teacher training institutes and 15 universities. This program will also provide an opportunity for teacher educators to learn about, practice and make plans to use active teaching approaches.

Under this agreement, Intel Pakistan and Pre-STEP will develop and pilot a technology course, with the objective that trainee teachers receive hands on experience with technology aided teaching methodologies during their coursework at the college or university where they are enrolled.

“Intel aims to support trainee teachers to learn about key 21st century skills through the implementation of the Intel Teach Program,” said Ashar H. Zaidi, Country Manager, Intel Pakistan. “With the help of Pre-STEP & USAID, Intel aspires to help student teachers to gain first-hand experience with technology. This will not only breed creativity in a more productive learning environment, but also endorse their careers as teachers in the future.”

The Intel Teach program is designed to enable teachers to effectively use technology to enhance student learning in the digital world. It has evolved into a laudable venture that has achieved many milestones. Launched in the year 2002, the program has won much acclaim in Pakistan as well as the international market.

Intel to date has trained 220,000 teachers in Pakistan, reaching out to over 60 cities and districts of Pakistan. Intel Education also conducts forums and workshops, and so far has reached out to over 28,000 teachers and principals, focusing on integrating technology and modern teaching methods in the teaching and learning process in Pakistan.

Business Tariff Planner on Qubee WiMAX – Limitations!

Business Tariff Planner on Qubee WiMAX – Limitations!


Qubee, a wimax broadband operator based in Karachi, has offered a service TARIFF PLANNER on its website for business people.
By incorporating this service, Qubee wants to give business class people some suggestions and recommendations according to their needs. They just need to select the type of business and online presence frequency, and there you go. You will get recommended tariff by Qubee after three clicks.
Here is the link: http://www.qubee.com.pk/get-qubee/business
 Business Tariff Planner on Qubee WiMAX   Limitations!
But what if someone has more than 20 people who wants to remain online, like  Call Center Business. Qubee has its limitations in offering services for more than 20 people. The planner just plans for staff of maximum 20 people. That’s probably a confession that WiMAX technology is not suitable for large sized businesses. This glitch is hard to admit, but it happens to be a fact that if you need more than 1 MB link than WiMAX is not the best of the option you have in hands.
 Business Tariff Planner on Qubee WiMAX   Limitations!
What are they offering for my office who has got about 100 users online all the time? Digging further down, I found that we can only have 1MB connection with 30GB storage. That’s it – They are offering a 1MB for an office who has got up to 20 personnel. Isn’t it too low?
 Business Tariff Planner on Qubee WiMAX   Limitations!
Well, its better than other wimax operators who are not offering anything like that. But it needs to be flexible. They need to incorporate more bandwidth for businesses.

Get Same Number for PTCL and Ufone

PTCL Ufone Get Same Number for PTCL and Ufone

PTCL is still trying to capture more and more landline customers and as a result after, the recent discount promotion PTCL once again has come up with another innovative and appealing offer which is a part of ongoing Synergy Projects with its sister concern company UFONE .

Through this offer any customer who wants to acquire a new telephone connection (NTC) can also get UFONE SIM with the same number (03xx-7 digit) as of PTCL Landline.

What’s the deal?

* No special charges for PTCL number/UFONE SIM
* Same installation fee and line rent charges for PTCL Landline.
* SIM will be sent to the customer through TCS (Courier Service). Customer just needs to pay ordinary UFONE charges (Rs 150 and a balance of Rs 100 will be available)

How to get this?

This service can be acquired by calling 0800 80 800 helpline or through walk-in channels.

Note:

* This service would be applicable on only new telephone connection requests.
* Existing customers can opt for secondary PTCL landline in order to avail this service.
* This is a PTCL NTC promotion, so UFONE customers cannot apply for this service for their existing numbers.
* You cannot suggest your own numbersNumbers are already matched in both networks which are not assigned to any customer yet.
* Every new telephone request in PTCL under goes a resource confirmation/ feasibility process, if that is clear then you will surely get the desired number which is selected at the time of order taking.
* Process takes at least seven days. Its depends on the area customer is in and the feasibility report.
* UFONE will send the SIM to customer premises through TCS. TCS Rep will collect Rs 150 from the customer as SIM charges.
* Identical numbers have been reserved Exchange wise in three main cities. Neighbor number is very important in order to indentify the right exchange for the requesting customer to avoid ambiguity at our end.
* There are no other special features except having Identical Number UFONE SIM as well.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

EZY Launches Slim and Affordable PCs in Pakistan

EZY Infotech Pvt. Ltd. (part of EZY Group Holding) launched the Atom based Slim Top PC (new range of personal computers) in Pakistan just for Rs. 21,500 with LCD.

The EZY Slim Top PC is both Slim in price and Slim in Size. The Launching Ceremony held today at a local hotel in Karachi. Present on the occasion, Mr. Saeed Sheikh, CEO and Country Manager eSys Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd. and EZY Infotech (Pvt.) Ltd. and Mr. Ashar Zaidi, Country Manager Intel Pakistan.

Mr. Ziadi said, “The importance of basic computing using Intel Atom Technology will provide benefits for consumers of Pakistan.” He added that EZY Slim Top is such a vehicle that would benefit the user.

“EZY Infotech introduced the Slim Top with an objective to offer affordable computers with high quality Computing. We believe that this will benefit the domestic and student segment as well as corporate sector,” said Saeed Sheikh.

Speaking on the need of the market and consumers, Mr. Saeed Sheikh said that beside EZY Slim Top PC, it would also offer wide range of EZY Notebook and Desktop PC in near future.

“Today we are proud to bring a uniquely designed and uniquely packed computer to Pakistan at the most affordable price. Now you can get a branded computer for only

Rs. 21,500 with one year limited warranty. Moreover, it comes with a 15.6″ LCD monitor, space saving designs and most importantly, a unique packaging system,” Mr. Saeed added.

This Computer is powered by Intel Atom technology, with increased energy efficiency and advanced thermal control solution.

EZY Infotech believes that the EZY Slim Top is a perfect start to its endeavor of providing a computer for every Pakistani. The EZY Slim Top that is just 11 inches in height, 3 inches in width and just 1400 grams in weight, is the slimmest desktop computer in the market. Its unique colors make it more appealing than other traditional computers and would make the owner proud to own a Slim Top. “Those days are gone when you had to hide the computer under a desk and it acquired too much of your desk space. The EZY Slim Top provides you with three different placement options to optimize your desk space, making it more smart and stylish to use,” said Mr. Sheikh.

The Slim Top is now available for the Pakistani consumers with the retail price of Rs. 21,500 with Open source OS (Linux Ubuntu 2.6) and option to bundle with Microsoft Win 7 Starter OEM at Rs. 3,000 only.

EZY Infotech has appointed two distributors for Pakistani market ‘Decent Computers’ for Northern region and ‘Optimum Technology’ for Southern Region. Besides that 100 different retail outlets will have the product on display throughout Pakistan.

Send Emails in Urdu with Gmail Tranliteration

Google have integrated Urdu Transliteration into Gmail. NScreenshot1 Send Emails in Urdu with Gmail Tranliterationow it is more fun while writing emails to friends. Posting blog Urdu posts, Writing Urdu news, sending gossips to friends in Urdu is fun now with Gmail.

It is easy to use and enable Gmail Urdu transliteration. Changing Gmail interface language is not necessary to use Urdu transliteration.

To enable Urdu transliteration, go to your Gmail settings and select the Enable transliteration option. Set Urdu as default transliteration language. And below to these options choose Right-to-Left editing support on

Screenshot3 300x187 Send Emails in Urdu with Gmail Tranliteration

Save settings by click Save changing button of your Gmail settings page. Your Gmail will reload.

Next go to compose option, this is the option which you use to write new email. Here you will see Urdu transliteration button, make sure Urdu is selected.

Screenshot 300x132 Send Emails in Urdu with Gmail Tranliteration

Whenever you want to write using Urdu transliteration switch typing left-to-right to right-to-left, If you have followed my first step, then you will see left to right or right to left writing changing options too like in the screenshot below

Screenshot2 300x131 Send Emails in Urdu with Gmail Tranliteration

That is all :)

have fun using your country language.

My Wi-Tribe – Not Working

Wi-Tribe today gave a link on its website for its customers to check the amount of data they are consuming. Its called My Wi-Tribe. We thought to give it a try and see what they got in store for us. Here is what we found in-return.

wi tribe 021 My Wi Tribe Not Working

We thought that it must be us that we are not able to browse. So, we gave Jordan Link a try and we got in. See for yourself. Great service for customers indeed.

wi tribe 011 My Wi Tribe Not Working

It was much needed service, as Wi-Tribe is offering limited bandwidth, so it is extremely important to keep an eye on what limit you have consumed – let’s hope it will start working sometime soon.

Note: Wi-Tribe has removed this link for now – maybe they are still working on it.