Advancing telecommunications for consumers and businesses.

Growing connectedness

With the rollout of 5G in India, Vodafone Idea Limited, known as Vi, is understandably optimistic about the growth potential in the country’s telecommunications sector. Among India’s population of more than 1.4 billion people, smartphones are the norm in both urban and rural areas. Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which account for one-third of the country’s economy, increasingly see high-speed wireless as an imperative.

Noting these opportunities and the boom in data usage by wireless phone subscribers, Vi is fully embracing a shift from ‘telco to techco.’ Formed by the merger of Indian telecommunications leaders Vodafone India and Idea Cellular in 2018, the company offers an ever-growing array of products and services supported by its high-speed mobility and broadband services.

Sandeep Bhat, Vice President, Digital Capabilities for Vi, joined the company at the start of his career and held a number or roles before landing in the digital team. Today he oversees the company’s digital ecosystem for customer acquisition, including its distinct websites for consumers and businesses. Following the merger, his team led a website revamp and content management system (CMS) consolidation onto Adobe Experience Manager Sites.

“The pandemic accelerated Vi’s move from physical sales and service to more digital services, as remote work, ecommerce, and home delivery became more popular,” says Bhat. As a result, Bhat and his team set out to improve Vi’s core consumer website, adding features to make it easier for people to pay bills, add international roaming packs, request services, and recharge prepaid mobile plans.

A streamlined lead funnel

Bhat’s team worked with IBM, an Adobe Platinum Partner, to deploy several new websites that also use Adobe Target and Adobe Analytics for testing, personalisation, and actionable insights. Among them is a consumer acquisition microsite that improves lead-to-order processes, as well as delivery-to-activation processes for customers buying new mobile phones and other devices.

After running A/B tests to better assess the onboarding journey, the team pinpointed places where customers commonly dropped off. “Customers previously entered 12 pieces of information in three stages. Our funnel reports showed the more steps, the more the drop off,” says Akash Mishra, Program Manager, IBM.

The team simplified processes, eliminating five required information fields on digital onboarding forms and creating a single-page scrolling experience. “With a smoother mobile device onboarding experience, we ramped up our average monthly online activations from 3,000 to more than 35,000,” Bhat says.

To further improve convenience and expand Vi’s reach across India, the team also took on the challenge of pioneering a self-KYC (know your customer) process for mobile device buyers needing a new SIM card. India’s Department of Telecommunications identity regulations require that all SIM card customers in the country participate in an in-person verification, such as by visiting a Vi retail store. In collaboration with IBM, Vi successfully digitised the process to make it part of its acquisition website experience, integrating Aadhaar authentication on the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) website.

Banners on microsites highlight the self-KYC process for faster activation and an improved customer experience.

Depending on a customer’s location, Vi can deliver the new SIM card by courier to the customer’s doorstep within a few hours or a couple of days. Vi is already working on integrating e-SIM with the KYC process for an end-to-end digital acquisition journey.

“There has been a paradigm shift in the customer experience, thanks to multiple digital transformation initiatives launched for Vi, with the strong collaboration between IBM and Adobe. The digital acquisition platform, now gives the customer the benefits of, anytime, anywhere ordering of new connections without having to go to any stores, a sea change from the previous process,” says Harish Pani, Head, Digital Delivery, IBM Consulting.

“I totally appreciate the teamwork to get key digital opportunities live quickly. I feel so confident in the partnership and collaboration we are having. It personally motivates me to advocate for team capabilities and passion to do things,” says Aneesh Kumar, Head, Digital Delivery, Vodafone Idea Limited.

Attention to MSME business needs

Vi is not just leading mobility service innovations in the consumer market. When Vi decided to pursue a new strategy targeting MSME business customers, Bhat’s team responded quickly. By using the consumer website’s architecture, including reusable templates and components, the team rapidly launched Vi’s website for business customers.

“Using the same CMS environment, we benefited from the cost and time savings of shorter development cycles. With reusability, we can better leverage the high performance of our integrated Adobe deployment,” says Bhat.

The team uses Experience Manager Sites to build personalised experiences for acquiring business customers and creating cross-sell opportunities. Its “Ready For Next” digital experiences help businesses assess their digital maturity and benchmark against other companies in their industry.

Banners on the website for business customers encourage MSMEs to participate in a digital maturity assessment to help grow their businesses.

At the end of the assessment, the company receives customised recommendations to improve its digital maturity along with special offers through Vi Business, such as for digital advertising, email security, and device protection services. In the first week after launching, Vi captured more than 5,000 MSME leads. Within a year, nearly 100,000 small businesses participated.

“Vi, IBM, and Adobe have partnered on multiple digital transformation initiatives, which have ensured major process digitisation, leading to customer experience enhancements and productivity improvements. Various new digital assets and platforms being created, like the MSME-Ready For Next Platform, have helped Vi improve top revenue as well,” says Abhishek Mathur, Account Partner, IBM Consulting.

For larger enterprises, the team developed the Vi Business Mobility (VBM) site, the first of its kind in India, enabling authorised administrators to log in and manage their company’s footprint with Vi. The administrators can oversee permissions and requests for Vi services by their company’s staff, view usage, review billing details, and pay invoices. “Previously, administrators had to do all this work manually, so the business mobility portal makes their job easier,” Bhat says.

Enhanced services add value

IBM continues to collaborate with Vi to introduce more features on the websites that drive customer adoption, self-service efficiencies, and sales. With many customers adding extra services like Norton security, Sun NXT movie and TV entertainment, and Hungama music subscriptions, Vi’s blended average revenue per user (ARPU) is up 8.4% year-over-year as of September 2023.

Streamlined content management capabilities made it easy for Bhat’s team to quickly prepare a digital experience for VIPs and customers visiting the Vi booth at the India Mobile Congress 2023 trade show. “In just one week we delivered a high-quality experience for India Mobile Congress with the same look and feel that people see online, further enhancing the Vi brand,” says Bhat.

Vi’s robust digital presence is achieving the goal of driving more sales for the company. “With the help of Adobe and IBM, we can reimagine how we go to market. From Indian firms that need communications, connectivity, and cloud services to grow their businesses to consumers seeking connection and entertainment, Vi provides greater value for our customers through richer experiences and services,” Bhat says.

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