WITH A DESIRE TO STAY A STEP AHEAD, WE RELY ON OUR INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL TO SHOWCASE OUR DIGITAL CAPABILITIES – TO INNOVATE AND DELIVER EXCEPTIONAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ATTUNED TO THE INHERENT STRENGTH OF BRAND AIRTEL AS A LEADING PLAYER IN THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM.
Brand Airtel – Most Admired Globally
The constant zeal to innovate and ideate new-age processes and the desire to consistently deliver superior experiences drives affinity for Brand 'Airtel'. An ideal combination of superior network connectivity and improved customer experience enables us to achieve all-time high consideration scores, reiterating our position as a preferred brand.
Salience
0.5%
Y-o-Y increase as per March 2020 exit scores
Consideration
11.7%
Y-o-Y increase as per March 2020 exit scores
Brand Airtel facilitating enhanced lifestyle offerings
At the core of Airtel’s brand philosophy lies its keen focus on delivering personalized services that are designed to offer differentiated experiences. From an industry-first rewards program like airtelThanks to offering new propositions around Wi-Fi Calling, HDFC insurance recharge, Airtel Family Plan, Hello Tunes on Wynk Music and much more, we have continued to revamp the benefits and privileges available on the Airtel platform.
Further, we took steps towards transitioning our digital application from a ‘Telco App’ to a ‘Lifestyle App’. MyAirtel app was transformed into airtelThanks app, driving customer delight across three tier customer categories.
We introduced Airtel Xstream services in FY 2019-20 for our broadband and DTH customers with a 360o campaign ‘Don’t just watch TV on your TV’.
With customers seeking better experiences and superior network quality, we launched a new campaign ‘Sahi Chuno. Quality Chuno’. The campaign was highly appreciated and awarded, running across TV, OOH and digital platforms, leveraging on our competence as the best network for playing uninterrupted videos.
Did you know?
Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to win "BEST VIDEO EXPERIENCE" & "FASTEST DOWNLOAD SPEED" as per Open Signal Awards – India: Mobile Network Experience Report October 2019.
Startup Accelerator Program
Airtel aims to support the creation of a vibrant start-up ecosystem that contributes to "Digital India" with the advent of Startup Accelerator Program. Through Airtel's Startup Accelerator, early startups get access to Airtel's online and offline distribution network, deep market understanding and its ecosystem of global strategic partners. In addition, Airtel has also developed strong in-house capabilities around machine learning and artificial intelligence which could be leveraged to aid the growth of startups.
The induction of Bengaluru based tech startup 'Vahan' into its Startup Accelerator Program marks a significant milestone for Airtel, wherein it has acquired a stake in Vahan and partnered with them to build scale and achieve its vision of enabling jobs for the next billion internet users.
Airtel’s strategic acquisition into Spectacom Global Private Limited (Spectacom) marks a significant step towards building a digitally connected India. Spectacom has conceptualized to produce path breaking digital content around health and fitness for people across languages and geographies. Airtel will work closely with Spectacom to help increase awareness and adoption of its cutting age Health & Fitness platform and encourage individuals to overcome mental barriers and achieve their full potential.
(L-R) Madhav Krishna, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vahan with Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Airtel.
(L-R) Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Airtel with Zeba Zaidi and Adnan Adeeb, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Spectacom.
Digital Innovation
Airtel X Labs
Airtel X Labs is the team transforming Airtel into an industry-leading digital force.
We have relentlessly rallied to break communication barriers and deliver products that go beyond telecom. Today, our products are informative, contemporary and with a high quotient of entertainment, while enabling secure connectivity.
During FY 2019-20, Airtel X Labs, pioneered our intuitive digital products to drive customer experiences and bring efficiency in operations. The team has made significant progress in the areas of Machine Learning including Vernacular Voice AI, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Imaging Solution for Automated Network Planning, Complex AI algorithms for recommendation engines, customer personalization, acquisition and churn models among others.
The team comprises of scientists, mathematicians, engineers and AI experts from globally renowned institutes like NASA, Indian Institute of Science, Indian Statistical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Facebook, Microsoft etc.
Did you know?
Airtel was one of the top finalists of the coveted 10TH AEGIS GRAHAM BELL AWARDS, under 'Innovation in Consumer Tech' Category.
Assuring Customer Delight
Airtel VoWiFi
In an industry first initiative, Airtel Voice over Wi-Fi was successfully launched and adopted during the FY 2019-20. We have also collaborated with multiple brands over the last year, providing Wi-Fi Calling capability to over 200+ handsets, covering over 37.89 Mn user base. Initial results have shown an increase of 73% of Average Call Duration for VoWiFi Customers and a reduction of call attempts by 42% (both indicative of improved indoor experience).
airtelThanks
AirtelThanks app is a one-stop source to claim rewards, get recharges, make payments and manage Airtel connections from anywhere, anytime, at the click of a button. It is a unique loyalty platform, that feeds on real-time events in a customer’s lifecycle. Airtel has built this platform on two fundamental innovations - customer 360° view and partnerships to provide value added services. It enables real-time mapping of customer profiles, backed by an Open API that is tied to third party service providers. The platform is integrated with a scalable model of own subscription engine and provisional billing engine for prompt activation of any service.
Airtel Xstream
Airtel TV was transformed into Airtel Xstream in FY 2019-20, offering enriched content and entertainment. The introduction of large screen hardware intervention Airtel Xstream Box, Smart Stick and its desktop / mobile versions powered by Airtel Xstream Fiber broadband has helped to engage a larger user base. The FY 2019-20 saw significant traction on our web platform www.airtelxstream. in and Airtel Xstream Smart Stick. Our strategic partnerships and integration with Video on Demand (VoD) content providers have resulted in a deep understanding of consumer preferences and has led to an increase in content consumption, year on year.
Airtel Xstream app downloads
Wynk Music
Wynk Music continues to be #1 music app in the industry with highest active user base*. The launch of Hello Tunes in collaboration with Wynk Music app has improved user experiences. In FY 2019-20, we introduced a personalized layout engine powered by machine learning for real-time user segmentation. Further, with amplification of the search engine to enable discovery of regional and long tail content, the app has facilitated a significant improvement in user engagement.
Installs till date
Total monthly song plays
* App Annie Data.
Airtel IoT (Internet of Things)
Our IoT solutions are in compliance with regulatory norms and are well-suited to improve efficiency of various businesses by enabling realtime monitoring, data analytics and consumer behaviour tracking with ease. Our IoT offerings and its impact during FY 2019-20 are as follows:
Did you know?
Airtel Business was awarded BEST CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER AND BEST IoT INITIATIVE for Connectivity Management Platform at the Carriers World Awards 2019.
Mobile based location tracking, allowing businesses to enable real time visibility of their resources.
Our Smart Transport fleet management solution has helped enterprises operate their logistics with real-time vehicle tracking based on advanced analytics to reduce inefficiencies and enhance security during transportation.
The asset tracking solution helps businesses gain visibility in their supply chain, offering actionable insights through tracking of asset KPIs like location, temperature, vibration, humidity, etc. Using sensors, it provides predictive alerts, ensures better monitoring, lowers service cost and improves asset security.
A leading hospital chain is using this tool to efficiently manage its remote health centre operations along with automating the attendance of its staff.
A global car maker introduced India’s first connected car with advanced telematics and infotainment features such as vehicle tracking, emergency calling, real time diagnostics, music streaming etc. using Airtel's IoT solution.
A leading security solution provider company trusts Airtel for its in-car security solution aimed to ensure vehicle monitoring and passenger safety. Further, a leading Dairy & Foods company uses Airtel's asset tracking solution to efficiently manage and keep track of its ice cream carts operating across the city.
Airtel Connectivity Management Platform
Airtel’s Connectivity Management Platform (CMP) allows business customers to control and manage their IoT SIMs deployed on the field. Further, Airtel CMP is completely integrated with all operations and business support systems, thus, giving customers complete control on all aspects of SIM lifecycle – provisioning, billing, network configuration, issue management and support.
Airtel Enterprises Hub
We introduced a one-stop shop for enterprises of all sizes to discover, procure, and manage Airtel Business services. Today, via Airtel Enterprises Hub (AEH), our mobility and data customers can pay their bills, activate services like Gsuite, and perform actions like plan upgrade, SIM swap, view progress of service requests in real time and much more.
AEH users
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The digital team at Airtel further strengthened its operations and customer experience driven by efficient Artificial Intelligence. Our in-house virtual assistant facilitates AI speech-to-text, to-intent and intent-to-decision technologies to provide a customized experience to vernacular Indian audience. Our conversational AI helps build a completely automated quality management system capturing voice-based customer sentiment and using natural language processing. The conversational AI is also empowered with real-time assessment of all call interactions to provide continuous feedbacks to agents and improve customer experience.
Cost reduction achieved through Virtual assistant based AI
My Circle App
An innovative, user-friendly and carrier agnostic safety app, My Circle was launched in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Ladies Organization. An app designed to empower women in any distress or panic situation, it sends an SOS alert with user’s location over SMS to specific contacts with compatibility in 13 different languages.
Strategic partnerships
Airtel Business
- Airtel has entered into a strategic partnership with Nokia to provide LTE based industry 4.0 applications to enterprises and large businesses. This partnership will enable the delivery of an extensive wireless portfolio with intrinsic security, mission-critical reliability and vast coverage to meet the growing demands of a network that can support high data volumes with low latency rates.
- G Suite from Google Inc. is an intelligent, cloud-based productivity suite that enables teams to collaborate, iterate, and innovate together, from anywhere, in real time. Airtel users were given access to G Suite under a bundled package with a host of other benefits.
- We secured high-end security for our enterprise customers with Palo Alto Networks, a global cybersecurity company.
- We partnered with Cisco, a multinational technology company to offer Cisco solutions to our enterprise and business customers.
- Our alliance with Forcepoint, a global human-centric cybersecurity company, widens our service offerings to data protection solutions for our customers.
- We have partnered with Radware, a market leader in continuous adaptive real-time DDoS service to provide on premise and cloud protection service against advanced DDoS attacks.
Mobile Services
-
We continued to expand our
strategic partnerships with leading
digital entertainment players such
as Amazon Prime, Zee5 and Netflix
and handset makers to offer more
exclusive benefits to our customers
under our flagship digital platform of
airtelThanks.
- In an industry first initiative, we partnered with HDFC Life and Bharti Axa Life for our users at the bottom of the pyramid to offer mobile services bundled with life insurance packages.
- We ventured into the world of education through partnerships with leading global institutes like EdTech and Shaw Academy to offer comprehensive online courses for our users.
- We also tied-up with leading handset makers and mobile handset insurance / antivirus solution providers to offer free screen replacement benefits in the instance of accidental and liquid damage.
Data Security
We have implemented leading security technologies to ensure safety and confidentiality of customers' personal information, round the clock. We have framed Bharti Airtel Information Security Policy (BISP) to ensure maximum protection of personal information. Our BISP policy, Airtel Centre and all circle offices are benchmarked with ISO 27001 and ISO 22301 standards.
Did you know?
Chief Information Security Officer of Airtel was recognized as ‘SECURITY LEADER OF THE YEAR’ under DSCI Excellence Award for Industry leaders in 2019.
Dynamic Processes to support seamless Customer Service
Social Command Centre
Built with the goals to develop a deeper consumer understanding and content marketing, Social Command Centre (SCC) continues to provide actionable intelligence on dynamic changes in the market. With direct feedbacks from the consumers, the SCC now operates as a central hub for performance and insights. These insights have helped drive advocacy program (tracking daily negative sentiment), launch new products and services (identifying key brand advocates) and manage crisis (Delhi riots and COVID 19) by tracking customer pain points and prioritizing resolution, thereby building a comprehensive learning culture.
Technical incubations
We have further strengthened our technical incubations including speech analytics and virtual assistants, to automate the existing channels. The voice and chatbots (empowered with virtual assistant tool) have been deployed over AirtelThanks App and IVR to digitally receive and resolve customer complaints with speed and accuracy, thereby reducing operational overheads.
Global Business Voice Portal
An innovative, scalable platform that covers end-to-end transformation of Wholesale Voice Business - this online platform is designed to develop next generation voice business models through digital transformation and automation. With paperless sign-up facility, live connectivity within 24 hours, access to best call quality, direct routing and 100% Caller Line Identification (CLI), it offers multiple benefits to B2B customers.
Digitising our workforce
The use of digital technology within our operations has opened up exponential benefits, both for our customers and us. With digital transformation permeating the internal operations, we developed solutions that were best suited and aligned to external and internal stakeholders.
Front end workforce
We digitized operations of our retail outlet partners with the ‘Mitra’ application. We have over 1.1 Mn retailers transacting and making payments every day on our Mitra App. The complete digital solution and assistance has empowered more than 1 Mn retailers and our 25k field force enabling a completely paperless module.
Network field force
Our digital platform ‘Airtel Work’ empowers the entire network field force, allowing them to complete their tasks at customer site with multiple automated functionalities. The realtime tracking facilities, delay alerts, notifications for new tasks, follow-ups opportunities and leads have enabled paperless work and faster resolution of on-site projects.
Call centre executives
Our advanced ‘Decision Tree’ tool backed by powerful AI models and machine learning has helped redress customer queries in quick time. The tool has helped to seamlessly integrate information and 99% of queries from all systems, CRMs, billing platforms, payments etc to enable faster resolution of issues.
Our response to COVID-19
Being an essential service provider, we ensured uninterrupted network connectivity at all times. We launched large scale digital campaigns, educating the customers about the risks of stepping out. Our proactive messaging service on alternate mediums, across vernacular languages, helped to reach out to a wider audience.
Spreading Knowledge
Juggernaut Books’ is among India’s leading digital publishing companies with e-books and novels across genres. During the unprecedented times of COVID-19, Airtel partnered with Juggernaut to encourage people to stay home and observe social distancing by providing its users free access to thousands of e-books on its integrated on its AirtelThanks application.
