The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked the world. Nobody was prepared, and the lockdown in India has made things very difficult for the economy to function properly. At a time like this, the telecom sector in India had a major challenge ahead of it to ensure that mobile networks were ready to support the growing demand for data as people started working from their homes. For entertainment, people are starting to rely on OTT (over-the-top) platforms. There were more video conferencing and voice calls. The average time a user spends on the Internet on the Internet in India has risen.
During that period, just like every other telecom operator, Vodafone Idea (Vi), the country’s third largest telecom operator, has been working hard to ensure its customers are always connected to fast mobile networks. In a conversation with TelecomTalk’s Tanay Watarun, Abhijit Kishore, COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Vodafone Idea, spoke about the change in customer engagement trends after the pandemic.
“There is no denying the fact that telecommunications as an industry has been a lifeline during the pandemic. It wasn’t just about keeping the network infrastructure up and running during those times; it was also important to make sure that we were in touch with our customer partners; that we were learning along the way, that we We provide information to clients’ needs,” Kishore said.
Customer interaction trends that changed after the pandemic as shared by Vodafone Idea COO
“I think we’ve seen a very, very big shift in a couple of things, and I’m sure that was also going to happen across industries. Digital payments, digital recharge, and the kind of digital solutions that customers are looking for now whether it’s in the consumer space or in the enterprise space. The interaction was digital and digital content consumption is significant,” Kishore shared.
“There has also been a shift in peak hours. Normally in the telecommunications world, peak hours were in the evening. During the pandemic, that shifted when people were working from home. Some consumer behavior that we’ve seen change has been one person recharging the family for everyone else, while Multiple recharges were happening earlier. Retailers who want to rely on the entire digital ecosystem, you know, whether it’s automatic payments or UPI payments.”
Abhijit said these things and consumer behavior after the pandemic have become the new normal. If you’d like to watch the full conversation, check out the YouTube video above or go to TelecomTalk’s YouTube channel.
