USING OF SMS IN KURNOOL REGION

What is SMS?

Short Message Service popularly known as SMS is a communication service allowing interchange of short text messages. Though originally the service was designed for GSM mobile telephone devices the same was extended subsequently to other networks. In view of its cost effectiveness SMS is emerging as a powerful tool for reaching massive number of audiences in no time. It is known that in the recent elections in US and India, SMS was used very effectively by certain individuals/political parties. In India, around 45 Crores customers are using mobile phones as on date. It is estimated that at least 70 percent of them are sending/receiving short messages.

As Telephone tariff is slashed day-by-day many service providers including BSNL are providing SMS services at very nominal cost per message. Smelling the popularity for SMS, certain websites also entered the market for providing free of cost SMS service. These websites make their money through advertisements and thus are able to provide free of cost SMS service. www.way2sms.com is one such website.

Why SMS in Post office?

Department of posts has launched a prestigious project called Project Arrow in the year 2008. The Project inter alia aims at effecting hundred percent delivery/payment of ordinary/Registered/Speed Post/Money Orders on the day of receipt itself. It was noticed in certain offices that despite the best efforts by the postmen this target could not be achieved due to non-availability of Addressees/Payees. To overcome this problem Kurnool Region has experimented by informing the addressees over phone about receipt of articles for them. These initiatives culminated in using SMS service through website effectively.

Short messages can be sent to the mobile phone of the customers informing them about receipt of Letters/Money Orders. As already explained above it involves no expenditure. Coming to the time factor, it is observed that thousands of messages can be sent in one go which takes very little time. Thus sending messages from Post Offices does not result any extra strain on our resources. On the other side the advantages are tremendous as huge number of customers can be contacted by the post office for various purposes. Though Kurnool Region has started the service initially only for intimating the addressees of undelivered articles, the same was subsequently expanded to Product Promotion and Customer Relation Management.

How to use way2sms?

1. One should register with www.way2sms.com using one’s mobile number.
2. Login the website using User ID [Registered Mobile Number] and Password [Communicated by the website].
3. Type the message and mobile number of the recipient in the respective boxes. By clicking the send option, the message will reach the intended customer.
4. There is provision for group SMS also wherein certain mobile numbers can be grouped and a common message can be sent to all such numbers in one go.
5. There is provision for viewing the sent messages subsequently.
6. Provision is also made available for the customers to block messages from certain mobile numbers.

How we implemented in Kurnool Region?

Information pertaining to customers was collected through the postmen of Project Arrow Offices in the following format.

Sl.No.
Name of the Customers
Occupation
Address
Cell No.
Phone No.

The information was fed in Excel format. Relevant portion of the data base was copied to way2sms website. Postmaster/Dealing Assistant/Postman get themselves registered in way2sms website. In the initial days of experimentation messages were sent to those customers whose letters/money orders were returned undelivered. Subsequently before the postmen leaving for delivery itself messages were sent to the customers requesting them to be available at their location so that the article can be delivered. A Standardised message is used for this purpose. “ Dear Customer, u have received an article. Pl b available.” Our experience is that many a time after sending the message customer himself comes to the post office or meet the postman in between and take delivery. Thus the system of SMS helped Kurnool Region in improving delivery performance.

So far, we experienced SMS is very encouraging and positive. Hence it is proposed to utilize the service for product promotion and better customer relation management. Messages can be sent to the customers by using group SMS option informing them about availability of various products and services in Post offices. In order to build better relationships with the customers they can be thanked for using Post office services. Messages like “Happy New Year, Happy Sankranti “may also be sent enmasse. The status of their grievances if any may also be communicated to them in this mode. Information about transfer of Accounts, status of claims/cheques, information about PLI/RPLI maturity dates etc., may also be conveyed to the customers in this mode.

This service can also be effectively used for prevention of frauds. It is noticed that on many occasions messengers/agents cheat the depositors by withdrawing/closing the accounts without the knowledge of the depositors. It is proposed to send SMS to the depositors whenever huge amounts are withdrawn from their respective accounts. For instance all the withdrawals above Rs.50000.00 are conveyed to the depositor’s mobile numbers using SMS. In case of fraud the depositor comes to know about the same immediately and further damage can be curtailed.
Response from the staff:

Initially Post office staff felt that contacting each individual customer is more time consuming and thus they will be further burdened. Intensive training sessions were organised to educate the staff especially the postmen about using way2sms web site. Divisional Heads were also trained at RO, Kurnool and personally made to use the web site on various occasions so that they are in a better position to appreciate the service and guide the staff suitably. With reasonable amount of exposure to the initiative now all the staff is aware that sending SMS doesn’t take much time, they are positive about using the service. Since receiving SMS is also a new experience to the customers they are also very happy and appreciate the staff for the extra efforts taken by them for providing better services.

CONCLUSION:

There is no denying that organizations vie with each other in attracting the customers by providing better and better services in order to retain the existing customers and acquire new customers. The players in logistics and financial services are way ahead in adopting such technologies as email, SMS, IVRS, Touch Screen based Kiosks etc., It is high time Department of Posts adopted a service like SMS for its cost effectiveness and ease of use.