B2X India manages around 300 service centres and serves more than 15 big players in the mobile industry such as Apple, Microsoft, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Lenovo. In an interview with Mobility India Mr. Max Grabmayr talked about how they are resolving issues through its SMARTCARE technology for service network monitoring with real-time data.
Tell us about B2X India and its inception and how it all started
B2X is the leading global provider of end to end customer care solutions for smartphone and IoT devices to manufacturers, insurers, carriers, and retailers. We help our clients to deliver the most seamless customer care experience as B2X has its own technologies and software. We provide special training to technicians according to manufacturer guidelines in order to deliver a consistent experience.
B2X India came into existence after acquiring the majority of stakes in TSS India in October 2014. Today, B2X India manages around 300 service centers and serves more than 15 big players in the mobile industry such as Apple, Microsoft, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Lenovo. B2X India has 28 Authorized Apple Service Centres, out of these, 22 are Premium Centres with over 90% customer satisfaction rates. With 14 service centres in 2014, we are now managing over 260 locations. Our employee strength is now standing at 900+.
Do you feel the companies are really serious about the after sales service or it is just a gimmick?
Yes, companies take service very seriously because high customer service drives loyalty and repeat purchase. It’s a central part of the product strategy and brand overall satisfaction. We at B2X are very thoughtful about after sales service. We use the SMARTCARE technology platform which is the best-in-class enterprise architecture.
After sales services specially in Mobiles have seen a tremendous downfall of after sales services experience, can you explain it?
- Consumers are more educated and expect more, accordingly, but don’t always get more
- MOBILE devices are becoming more complex, and more difficult to understand so they might think it does not work and at the same time technicians need more knowledge to fix the devices
- India has higher support needs especially owing to the fact there are many new users, and from a cultural perspective are more curious and seek help more often than in many other markets
What are the key trends in after sales services these days? How the less turnaround time is key?
- Channel integration: No matter which channel people use they should get the same answer and have the same experience – seamless customer care
- Improving convenience and experience via pickup and drop service, exclusive service centres such as Samsung, Apple and OnePlus
- Seeking higher quality and reliability: Service is not obligation, but essential and required for high customer service.
- Improved turnaround time (TAT): Quicker service, providing more parts to ensure faster repairs. Many of our OEM clients expect a TAT of 1 hour for 90% of the repairs. They measure in hours instead of days
The customer care service industry is transitioning fast these days. With more and more matured professional key players are moving towards measuring customer satisfaction strongly and improving processes to avoid escalations. Increase of available bandwidth will further digitalize service and the related processes, which makes it more crucial to respond to customers quickly in all available support channels. This will put the service network under genuine pressure to improve further.
What all new implementation B2X is doing to enhance the customer experience?
Ongoing enhancement of our SMARTCARE Technology which improves visibility and real-time action taking
- Creating our own consumer portal to help customers
- Offering pick up and drop service
- More soft skill training to staff
Due to competitive pricing the shelf life of smartphones has reduced a lot, how that affect the after sales service?
OEMs often have to manage multiple service partners with unreliable performance and unclear costs. B2X resolves these issues through its SMARTCARE technology for service network monitoring with real-time data. Customer experience is actively managed with generated insights while ad hoc cost savings opportunities are identified and implemented.
Current after sales scenario in India
- There are more than 30 brands each with several models to support making the situation challenging
- There are around 6 big players in the after sales and the rest are managed by small local players and the grey market. The big players have around 50% market share and the rest is from the local players
- Grey market tends to serve the out of warranty repairs and low-quality devices. However, the repairs are performed with basic tools and mostly copied/duplicate parts. This can lead to dissatisfaction as such repairs can impact other functions of the devices and will for sure void any remaining manufacturer warranty. With devices becoming more sophisticated, especially this portion of the market will need to fight for its existence in the long run.
