Partnership Activities in Marketing Department of Banglalink

Evaluation of Loyalty and Partnership Activities in Marketing Department of Banglalink Digital Communications

Since banglalink‟s launch in February 2005, its impact was felt immediately overnight mobile telephony became an affordable option for customers across a wide range of market segments. Currently, Banglalink is the second largest telecom operator in Bangladesh in terms of market share. This enormous achievement would not have been possible without the satisfaction and retention of the loyal Banglalink subscribers. Highlighting the previous statement, this report solely focuses on the activities of the loyalty and partnership division of Bnaglalink. The report begins off by revealing insight into the organization profile including Banglalink’s history, their vision, mission and strategy, products and services, activities and performances. It also describes the existing competitors and their competitiveness in response to economic condition. This piece of the report demonstrates the inner ability which is influencing in the execution with respect to fulfilling the clients‟ wants and needs from the organization. The accompanying section of the report is an appraisal of the exercises of the company‟s customer retention division. It also describes the activities and the process of the team. Elaborating what I have learned and understood comes the perception and discovering that have been assembled along the three month program. The following fragment discusses the findings and scope of the loyalty and partnership team according to my understanding. It also talks about the processes that are not for the customers‟ eyes and how the team functions. The report closes with the proposal on how the can enhance their endeavors and proficiency of the Banglalink‟s loyalty and partnership division and the conclusion.

Organizational background

Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited is a constrained obligation open organization consolidated in Bangladesh. The organization is putting forth its administrations under the brand names Banglalink and Icon. Its head office is named as “Tigers lair” which is located in House no. 4, SW, Bir Uttam Mir Shawkat Sharak, Gulshan-1, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sheba Telecom (PVT Ltd) at long last was conceded permit in 1989 to work in the rustic territories of 199 upazilas. Later it acquired GSM permit in 1996 to broaden its business to cell portable, radio phone administrations. It propelled operation in the last quarter of 1997 as a Bangladesh-Malaysia joint wander. In July, 2004, it was accounted for that Egypt based Orascom Telecom is situated to buy the Malaysian stakes in Sheba Telecom through a quiet arrangement, as Sheba had neglected to tap the business possibilities in Bangladesh predominantly because of an unending fight between its Malaysian and Bangladeshi accomplices. In September 2004, Orascom Telecom Holdings acquired 100% of the shares of Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Limited (-Sheba). It was gained for us$60 million. Sheba had a base of 59,000 clients, of whom 49,000 were customary when it was sold. A short time later it was remarked and propelled its administrations under the ―banglalink mark on February 10, 2005. In March, 2008, Sheba Telecom (Pvt.) Limited transformed its name as Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited, matching its parent organization name. This positive change that is effectively credited to Banglalink, has turned into the corporate situating of Banglalink and is interpreted in their trademark “Begin Something New”. Banglalink accomplished 1 million endorsers by December 2005 and 3 million supporters in October 2006. In less than two years which is by December 2007, Banglalink overwhelmed Robi (Aktel) to turn into the second biggest administrator in Bangladesh with more than 7.1 million clients. Banglalink presently has 25.49 million endorsers as of June 2012.

Founders of the organization

Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited is 99.99% possessed by Orascom Telecom Ventures Ltd. of Malta, which is a completely claimed auxiliary of Orascom Telecom Holding S.a.e. After a business blend that occurred in April 2011, in the middle of Vimpelcom and Wind Telecom S.P.A, Vimpelcom Ltd. Possesses 51.7% shares of Orascom Telecom Holding. Orascom Telecom is one of the main worldwide information transfers organization working GSM arranges in high development showcases in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, having an aggregate populace under permit of pretty nearly 415 million with a normal versatile telephony infiltration of more or less 48% as of December 31, 2011. Orascom Telecom arrived at in excess of 78 million supporters by December 2011.

Mission, Vision, and Corporate Value of the Company:

Vision

To comprehend individuals’ necessities best and create proper correspondence administrations to enhance individuals’ lives and simplify it.

Mission

• Segmented approach in terms of products and services.
• Delivering predominant benefits in every period of the client’s experience (before, during and after deals).
• Creating optimum shareholder value.

Center values

All workers of Banglalink exhibit the accompanying values in regular exercises to guarantee

―starting Something New in all aspects of our operations:

• Direct: We say what we do and we do what we say
• Solid: A guarantee made is a guarantee kept
• Inventive: Whatever we do will be valuable and useable
• Energetic: We generally convey with trustworthiness an

The Company’s Major Functions and Products:

Products offered:

• prepaid bundles

Banglalink right now offers two prepaid arrangements. All the prepaid arrangements come in two stages Standard (T&T approaching and cordial with NWD and ISD) and M2m. All associations give GPRS & 3g to supporters.

• desh, Desh rang, Priyojon Postpaid bundles
• enterprise individual
• personal bundle
• personal supplementary
• personal call and control

icon

Postpaid Unlimited supporters, for example,

• Supplementary associations office
• Loyalty rebate
• Special rebates at different restaurants, inns, shops and so on

Banglalink enterprise

• Enterprise corporate; targeted at the corporate segment
• Enterprise SME; targeted at the SME segment
• Enterprise personal

Quality of Service:

Customer Care

Banglalink Customer Care is turned out to be a key quality to the organization with an enthusiasm to give quality administration under the topic of ―kotha Dilam. Condition of the workmanship Banglalink Call Center coddling in excess of 23.75 million clients equipped for replying in excess of 68 thousand calls with different questions consistently. With strict administration quality checking, Banglalink Call Center figured out how to keep up around 91% administration quality and an ideal administration level. Additionally, a mechanized ―e-voucher IVR framework for the retailers helps serve essential inquiries quicker and in this manner decreased such calls arriving at operators‟ level.

Network Strength:

Through persistent efforts, banglalink has kept on developing its GSM system, which is without further ado a standout amongst the most extensive networks in Bangladesh, arriving at reaching approximately 97% of the aggregate population and more or less 79.60% of the topographical region as of December 2011. With more than 7,000 BTS, Banglalink has been giving scope and administrations in each of the 64 areas of Bangladesh. In 2012, around 1,000 BTS destinations were on air, out of which around half are for new scope and rest are densification locales. System Traffic Capacity has been expanded by 20% and Traffic expanded by Corporate Social Responsibilities Banglalink has constantly strives to have any kind of effect by expanding the welfare of the nation through socially capable exercises. In accordance with this, banglalink has taken various after activities round the year

• Cox„s Bazaar Sea Beach Cleaning Project and International Coastal Cleanup Day
• Donating Blankets at Orphanages
• Special arrangements for Hajj Pilgrims at the Hajj Camp
• Water & Date Distribution and Iftar at Orphanages during Ramadan
• ICT Support for Students: Computer Lab Set Up

Industry Analysis:

Barriers for New Entrants:

Higher hindrance infers lower rivalry, again lower boundaries for new contestants suggests higher rivalry on the business. In Bangladesh entrance boundaries are high. Because of tenets and regulation there are just six organizations can work business in Bangladesh. This additionally reflects the high exchanging expense for the business operations. Additionally, the high exchanging expense and government regulation on High permit charge has made the business considerably harder for a participant’s right to gain entrance.

Bargaining Power of the Suppliers:

To secure telecom particular gears, like cutting edge broadband exchanging supplies, fiber-optic links, mobile handsets, billing software and the likes, the each organization needs to rely on upon the suppliers. Huawei, the Chinese telecom gear producer is one of the major suppliers of telecom supplies in Bangladesh. Vimpelcom (also known as ‘BeeLine’) – started from Russia gives voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed, and broadband technologies to Djuice (a Vital Specialty Unit (SBU) of Grameenphone) and Banglalink in Bangladesh. Grameenphone takes Sun oriented Force Help from Summit Tele Power Ltd. from India. These assets guarantee bounteous supply backing to the nation’s telecom industry. This is the reason; the dealing force of suppliers in the business is low because of more noteworthy option supply sources.

Bargaining Power of the Buyers:

Around 40% of the population exists under poverty line that is more averse to buy mobile phones. In whatever is left of 60% of the population who has the capacity to buy a mobile phone, has one or various phones. Around 46% of the aggregate population has cell phones and the greater parts of the subscribers are within the 60% portion that lives over the poverty line. The business is very nearly at the crest as far as client era. Holding client is the key test of the business which is the reason dealing force of the client in this industry is high. Besides, clients are less intrigued to have new contact numbers, and more importantly low pricing on call rate are establishing stronger position for buyers in the industry.

Threat of Alternative Product/Service:

The organizations like -Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd, People’s Telecommunication & Information Services, Rangs Telecom Limited, Jubok Phone, Bijoy Phone Onetel Communications, National Telecom, Westec, Dhaka Telephone Company Limited, Sheba Phone, S.A. Telecom Systems Limited and so forth are giving Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN administration to the clients. This PSTN administration could be an alternative option for communication. Still there is need of alternate product because of technological insufficient advancement. So the risk of interchange item or administration is not that much.

Competition among Existing Competitors:

The six operators – Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, Citycell & Teletalk are presently running the business. Grameenphone claims the most noteworthy piece of the pie, remaining in a beneficial position than others. Each one organization is attempting to gain market share by low call rate, unrivaled network coverage & better Value Added Services. The opposition has driven the business’ average revenue per share to a low stamp. For this reason, telecom organizations are incurring losses. The primary motive of this value rivalry is to switch clients from the contenders. Considering the intensity of the competition- the rivalry among existing contender is high. The later piece of the study gives a definite view on the aggressive environment of the nation’s telecom industry.

Strength Analysis:

High Market Growth& Second Highest Subscriber Base:

From the rise (in 2005) of Banglalink, the organization figured out how to keep up forceful development in the business by being one of the quickest developing versatile operators. The organization figured out how to achieve one million subscribers inside the initial 9 months of operation. Once more, Banglalink attained ten million subscribers stamp in just 3.5 years. The organization created a 14 million client’s base in under seven years (2005-2011). This fast development of the organization is acting as a corporate goodwill for the organization.

Greater Public Attention:

The organization’s popular services like – Krishibazar (farming data based administration), Mobile Remittance Service, the limited time activities like – Cox’s Bazar Sea Beach Cleaning Project, Jagoroner Gaan, New7wonders, Modhu Mela, Boshonto Uthshab and beautiful & engaging TV ads dealt with an enormous client consideration for Banglalink which can be a solid potential for the organization if the organization guarantees prevalent administration.

Agro-Information Based Service – Krishi Bazar:

Bangladesh is an agro-based economy. Banglalink’s recently developed idea Krishi Bazar is getting consideration in the horticulture market. (Akhter, 2011) More than 45% of the nation’s work power is from agribusiness. Administration like–Krishi Bazar can be a gigantic potential for creating and promoting another business section for the organization.

Mobile Remittance:

Banglalink without precedent for Bangladesh (and in South-Asia) propelled Mobile Remittance Service as a team with Dhaka Bank Limited and Eastern Bank Limited. There are around 3.5 million transient laborers who make a yearly commitment of around BDT 700 billion to the national economy. This administration will permit the rustic populace to gather with their relatives’ settlements through a helpful way. This quality to join with the country individuals and the outside vagrant specialists can go about as a tremendous extension for the organization to produce.

Weakness Analysis:

Weak Financial Structure:

All the speculation exercises for the organization is financed just by Banglalink’s guardian auxiliary Vimplecom. This covey‟s higher capital hazard on Vimplecom yet come about slower development potential for Banglalink. Other real telecom organizations like – Airtel (Bharti Airtel-Warid joint wander), Robi (Axiata-Docomo joint wander), Grameenphone (TelenorGrameen Telecom joint wander) have stronger subsidizing sources which places Banglalink in relatively weaker position in the business.

Weaker Network Coverage:

The organization at present has system scope of around 90% of the nation. The organization is neglecting to guarantee development in scope in contrast with the development of organization’s client number. As an aftereffect of this occasionally clients are having baffling knowledge for not having system in their crises and this is harming the organization’s notoriety of value administration supplier.

Incurring Loss:

Despite the fact that the organization’s EBITDA is having a tremendous augmentation from BDT 0.27 billion (year 2008) to BDT 7.32 billion (year 2009). The organization is failing to win benefit. In year 2009, the organization acquired a loss of BDT 3.07 billion which is such a baffling reality for such a guaranteeing organization. The fundamental reasons working behind the constant misfortunes are – nonstop speculation on organization’s assets and low Average Revenue every User of the business.

Customer’s Lack of Interest to Switch:

Since clients have a tendency to keep up a unique contact number, they are less concerned about brand exchanging. Since Grameenphone has the biggest client base, it is a test for Banglalink administration to switch a Grameenphone client towards Banglalink services.

Opportunity Analysis:

Alternative Source of Capital Rising:

The organization has the chance of outside financing from different sources. The organization’s administration is looking for merger or securing open door from the business. Besides, the organization wants to raise capital through issuing Initial Public Offering (IPO). Banglalink obliges substantial capital backing so as to get by in the business and the outside store can assume an instrumental part in extra gathering pledges.

M-Banking:

Banglalink made a concurrence with Dutch Bangla Bank Limited to create a Mobile Banking Platform that will make a helpful & secure channel for exchange. According to the understanding, chose Banglalink appropriation outlets will be utilized as Dutch Bangia Bank’s money focuses. Banglalink’s M-Banking stage can prompt give versatile based monetary administrations at more noteworthy scale which permits making fresher product offerings with new clients for the organization.

New Technology:

Banglalink has effectively presented 3g web modem capacities in the business. The current web access from Banglalink is yet to be encouraging. Quicker & reliable web execution can bring an entire new client base for any organization. Banglalink being the second biggest of the telecom area can abuse this opportunity and effortlessly use it for exchanging clients from the organization’s rivals.

Infrastructure Sharing:

Since Banglalink does not have the greatest system scope the organization can look for practical system base imparting. Actually Banglalink figured out how to gain enthusiasm of Grameenphone to impart base for both organization. Both organization collaborated and consented to a framework imparting Arrangement. As a consequence of this understanding, Banglalink is having the system scope from Grameenphone again and Grameenphone is having the right to gain entrance to Banglalink’s progressed innovative assets.

Appealing Niche – Reaching the Unmet Needs with Wider Network Coverage:

The current system scope for Banglalink is 90% of the nation where Grameenphone has around 98% of the nation’s system scope. This infers that, there is 8% of the aggregate system where Banglalink could impart clients to Grameenphone and 2% of the aggregate nation’s unmet need which Banglalink could investigate and create new income sources.

Threat Analysis:

Price War:

All the six organizations are contending to get the business sector through low pricing. As an aftereffect of this, Average Revenue every User is frequently diminishing and coming about as a loss. In recent years just Grameenphone figured out how to gain benefit where other companies had to incur loss. Grameenphone has the strongest piece of the overall industry in the nation which is permitting the organization to create income from its greater client base of the business. Be that as it may Banglalink does not have as much enormous client base contender Grameenphone does. Under these circumstances, ‘value war’ is by all accounts the greatest risk for Banglalink that can harm the fate of the organization.

Competitor:

Banglalink has a few immediate contenders like – Grameenphone, Robi, Citycell, Airtel, and Teletalk (BTCL) and aberrant contenders like – Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), other web access suppliers (Banglalion, Wimax). All these contenders are concocting different methods to have comparative target clients with Banglalink and reason lower benefit for the organization.

Regulations:

The regulative blemishes are influencing the development capability of the telecom business which is similarly confronted by all the six administrators of the nation.

Unfavorable Business Environment:

Issues like – power lack and vitality deficiencies, value treks, high swelling and characteristic disasters are the major unfavorable fixings of the business environment of Bangladesh which are having an effect on the telecom business alongside other industries.

Criticisms and penalty:

In October, 2007, BTRC fined Banglalink Tk. 1.25 billion for its contribution in illicit VoIP or call termination business. The then BTRC chairman real general (retd.) Manzurul Alam affirmed Banglalink’s inclusion in the unlawful exchange. Banglalink, in any case, in an announcement said the organization has consented to set aside a few minutes settled installment of Tk. 1.25 billion to the administration as remuneration for its misfortune in incomes.

Assessment of loyalty and partnership division of Banglalink

Introduction

Orascom Telecom Bangladesh limited (“Banglalink”) is fully owned by Orascom telecom holding s.a.e, Egypt, (“oth”); the ultimate parent company of the group is Vimpelcom, the sixth biggest cellular telephone administrator in the world. Banglalink was acquired by OTH in 2004, and after a complete overhaul and the deployment of a new GSM network, its telecom administrations were re-dispatched under the brand name Banglalink. Banglalink„s success was based on a simple mission: “bringing mobile telephony to the masses” which was the cornerstone. Banglalink is the second largest cellular service provider in Bangladesh. As of April 2012, the company has a subscriber base of 25 million. It had 1.03 million connections until December, 2005. The number of Banglalink users increased by 257 per cent and stood at 3.64 million at the end of 2006, making it the fastest growing operator in the world of that year. It operates its function with an aim to accomplish two principal targets. Firstly, as with other commercial organizations, it operates in such a manner that it receives a good economic return on the investment. Secondly, it contributes significantly to the economic development of the country in making telecommunication a popular medium for exchange of information. BANGLALINK, in its operation, has to address a large number of customers throughout the country. It is therefore imperative to get to the customers to know their impression on the services of this important communication medium. This encouraged the researcher to choose the topic of this project programmed as ―Customer satisfaction level of Banglalink.

Breakdown of the loyalty and partnership division

The loyalty and partnership division of the marketing department can be broken down into two parts. One is the prize point program and the other is the partnership program. The prize point program basically deals with the loyalty and retentions campaigns. In this campaign, Banglalink customers who use more than tk. 150 every month will become part of this exciting program called Priyojon. Priyojon members can receive exciting gifts SME from Banglalink, enjoy discounts in over 650 partner outlets, and get free life insurance coverage. To become a Priyojon member, you need to have a Banglalink prepaid, postpaid, sme, or call & control number. All you have to do then is use a total of tk. 150 or more in one month by making calls, sending sms, or using Banglalink internet normally, and you‟ll automatically be a Priyojon member in the next month. No additional registration is required.

Priyojon discount for banglalink postpaid

If the customer uses a Banglalink postpaid number and become a Priyojon, you will receive discounts on your monthly bill, based on how much and how long you‟ve been using your Banglalink number. This means the more you use and the longer stay with Banglalink, the more discounts you will receive.

Terms and conditions

• You need to have at least 1 outgoing call or sms from your banglalink number every week to enjoy weekly and monthly points. Using bonus talk-time or sms will not count.
• your points will empty if there is no activity in your number for 90 days
• your length of stay with banglalink will be calculated starting from the date you activated your banglalink number
• If you use postpaid package 1, the discount amount will be adjusted with your monthly bill. if you use postpaid call & control, the equivalent discount amount will be uploaded to your account every month

The second part is the partnership program. Banglalink always try to enrich and foster the bond it has developed with the valued customers. To present the loyal customers with a token of gratitude, banglalink launches its loyalty scheme “Priyojon partnership program”. Under this initiative, customers can enjoy upto 50% discounts in different partner outlets all over the country. The program is aimed to gratify our customer‟s lifestyle needs through our eminent partners in different categories: fashion & lifestyle, food & beverage, entertainment, electronics, home decor, hotels, tours & travels and daily needs.

Vendor management

The prize point program has various gifts to offer to the customers such as key chains, mugs, bags, water bottle, Tiffin box, etc. These gifts are sourced from various vendors who meet the criteria. The vendors are chosen based on pricing and quality of the product. Orders are placed on an estimated number to last a quarter. Before the order is placed, the logo, quality, color and the prints that need to be there on the product all need to be approved. That is where I come in. my job was to interact with the vendors and see to it that all the requirements are being fulfilled before the order is placed. This, of course, was done under the supervision of the loyalty executive.

Partners’ database management

The database of the partners needs to be constantly maintained as new partners are added and old contracts get expired every day. With each partner banglalink goes into contract, the partners get a unique short code. That code is than configured into the system by the IT personals. After the code has been configures, the code need to ne broadcasted to the customers so that they know about the new partners and start availing discounts. With the help of the relationship manager from the marketing agency Enroute, I managed the partnership database with the supervision of my linemanager.

Data mining

Often the loyalty and partnership team is required to make analysis of how successfully the campaigns are going. For this the loyalty executive needed various types of data which included the subscriber count, call usage, recharge amount and churn. All these information are gathered in the company‟s business objective on a daily basis. Whenever the data was needed I was given the specifications for which kind of data was needed for the analysis and I delivered accordingly.

Preparing and the singing of official documents

New campaigns were launched every day, resulting in a lot of documentation. Official documents are usually prepared based on the templates. I mainly dealt with the partnership deals and agreements. My task was to proof read the partnership agreements and the approval papers for the campaigns what was being launched from my team. If everything was in order then I had to get the papers signed from the required personal for the campaign to be effective.

Customer feedback

Customer feedback was a crucial for the improvement of the products and services that the loyalty teams offers to the banglalink customers. For that very reason, every alternate day I was given a series of customers‟ numbers. I had to call them and as if they had received their redeemed gifts and if so, were they satisfied with the products. I would gather this valuable information and organize them in on a hart before forwarding it to my supervisor.

Project 1

The first project that I participated in was a field project. I, along with my line manager, set out to Rampura and Badda area. There we anonymously went to retailers who were providing banglalink top-up service alone with similar services of other operators.

With the following questions we set out to conduct the survey:

1. Which operator‟s customers does the retail get the most on a monthly basis?
2. What are the top three operators according to recharge amount?
3. What are the average monthly recharges of the top 3 mobile phone operators?
4. Did any of the operators‟ rank fall or rise in the last 2/3 months?
5. What do you think is the reason for this rise or fall in ranking?
6. Are the retailers happy with the operators that they are serving?
7. Why are they satisfied / dissatisfied?
8. What should the operator do in order to increase the recharge amount and rate?

As we remained anonymous to the retailer to ensure that no biased answers were given, it was challenging to get the proper answers from them. We surveyed about 30 retailers and went back to the retailers. With the acquired information, I prepared a report in the current market situation on recharge. The report was mainly used to get an Idea of the current situation of the market and for the recharge services can be improved.

Project 2

Along with the partnership with the shops and restaurants, the loyalty and partnership team took on a project while I was around. The idea of this project was to go into a partnership contract with the private universities so that university students would be able to use the university website for free from their banglalink internet. Thought the project was not completed, I was to monitor the progress of the particular project with the help of the Dhaka city R.O.

Project 3

Whether it is ATL (above the line) or BTL (below the line), new campaigns are launched everyday at banglalink. ATL are those kinds of campaigns that are broadcasted through the mass media like, TV advertisement news paper advertisement and BTL are referred to those kinds of campaigns that does not reach the mass market directly and are directed to individual customers through medium such a texts. However there is no point in launching campaigns if they are not effective or profitable. The campaigns are usually recharge offers with particular bonuses or prizes. I was given one such project in which I had to measure the performance of the campaigns. The project was basically the evaluation of the recharge offers of TK. 34, 36, 44, 46, 59, 62 and 102. The duration of these recharge offers ranged from September to November. I started off by mining the data from Bnaglalink‟s business objective. The data included the recharge amount, usage, subscriber count, churn, and usage duration. With the data gathers, I was to prepare a presentation for the mass marketing team to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaigns. The presentation was simply the comparison of the different campaigns in different areas before, during and after the campaign in the form of histograms, bar charts and pie charts.

Project 4

Amid my stay at banglalink, play package was a standout amongst the most prevalent of banglalink packages. The package targeted the youth of the nation thus it offered aggressive call rates, offers and exciting gifts. Nonetheless, toward the start of the month of November, the customer dissatisfaction with the play package started to climb. As a result usage as reducing and recharges were falling. As I was an understudy of the retention program, I was given the task of analyzing the situation. My entire analysis was based on the posts and comments on Facebook. I scanned through various posts on the Banglalink page “Banglailnk mela”. The comments and feedbacks from the customers were quite helpful. With the discoveries, I prepared a presentation which concluded that the dissatisfaction was mostly because of a certain campaign.

Observation and learning

By the time my internship came to an end, I have a whole new understanding of what the corporate life would be like. I started preparing myself with the knowledge I have gathered as I would soon be stepping into the corporate world.

Punctuality, timing and responsibility

Throughout the under graduation program at BRAC University I was free to choose my courses as I please and chose the class timings according to my convenience. However, in the corporate like it was a completely different scenario. The interns were given a flexible timing, which was from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., to start the day and a fixed 9 hours of office. No more, no less. The timing was strictly maintained for the interns. Whether we had work or not we had to stay. During my university life, I used to keep two classes everyday and that also with a break in the middle. So the time timing took a little getting used to. The reports and the assignments we were given in our university life would only affect the individual students and their grades but that is completely contradictory to the corporate life. In class we could skip an assignment or two at our own convenience and could make up for it. At

office, that is not the case. The report and the task at hand had to be dealt with immediately. Late submission is not an option as it not only concerns the individual employees but also the stakeholders.

The corporate environment and culture

Cooperating in a professional workplace like banglalink has numerous preferences and additionally certain setbacks; however my communication with my supervisor and associates had more of an agreeable and learning attitude. They permitted me to portray my side of thoughts and data’s to know my method for deduction and after that give their notion and preferences. They put believe in a give and take state of mind from all the workers so living up to expectations and staying with them in distinctive events, for example, gatherings, workshops, occasions and actually eating together have associated us in a commonly beneficial manner. They are exceptionally kind and liberal in giving me a chance to acclimate to the assignments relegated from the start yet made me do new multitasking errands for helping me pick up broadening for my self-improvement. There were various events when I got stuck yet they were sufficiently inviting to help me take care of any sort of issues at whatever point I got stuck. The workplace is all that much open and free. The representative’s addresses one another in an amicable and separate way. All the collaborators esteem one another’s presumption and recommendations. This really makes workers feel a piece of the association. Work then gets to be compelling on the grounds that the workers realize that what they help influences the association that they are subsidiary with.

Skills Acquired

Although in university we were for the most part taught to work in MS Word and PowerPoint, however in banglalink more accentuation is given on Excel and afterward the PowerPoint. All through the course of my temporary position I understood the importance of MS Excel. My line manager made sure that I turn into an effective user of these so as to accelerate the working methodology. I was given important tasks and projects that were focused around Excel, for instance. I had to prepare the daily report on an elaborate excel file and submit all my reports in PowerPoint format. All the data I mined from a day to day basis were all placed and organized on the PowerPoint spreadsheet.

Self-improvement

This entry level position has provided me my first glimpse of the corporate life. I got to take in the corporate respectability as well as how everything functions in an organization. Spending 9 hours in the Banglalink office made me more and more efficient in my tasks as every day passed by. I had the capacity oversee diverse assignments all the while and make viable utilization of the time. Toward the starting I had a bit of issue with multitasking yet as time passed by, I got to be more spontaneous. Since I was managing both inside and outside stakeholders, I got to be extremely proficient. I recognized what to say and what to do.

Loyalty and Partnership Program

Bnaglalink puts in a lot of effort to retain and satisfy its customers. The loyalty and partnership program is just for that purpose. With the loyalty‟s Prize Point Program, Banglalink tries it keep the customers active so that they do not become churn. Active customers are the individuals who have been utilizing the number for at least once in a 30 day period time. Dormant customers are those individuals who have not been using their number for more than 30 days and it proceeds till the 90th day. After the 90th day, the client falls in the churn stage and the main goal for the organization is to reactivate the churn clients and bring them once more to the active base. I have learned that the Prize Point Program is the first of its kind and is joining popularity day by day. Although Banglalink has a formidable partnership program, other telecommunication Organizations may have a better grip on the issue. Through this partnership program, Bnaglalink hopes to keep the subscribers always excited and privileged whenever they go out to eat or shop. The company is trying to acquire a set of diverse partners so that wherever the customers of the people are, they will see or hear about banglalink through one way or the other.

The Rotation Program

An important of the internship program in Banglalink is the job rotation program where interns are sent to diverse branches of Banglalink in distinctive zones of the city. On the first day we were sent to the customer care center in Jamuna Future Park where we got to figure out how the Employees there work. The employees there prefer calling it the “Experience Center” rather than the customer care center. That is because in that branch banglalink arranged for the customers to experience all the different services the organization provides to its customers. Next we additionally went by the Care line where we were amazed to how the representatives constantly support the client on the telephone. The velocity they had in handling the clients was truly astonishing. Next we needed to work with the ICON deals group and the Credit Risk Management group, where we got to figure out how the individuals really work on the field. Additionally, I likewise got a chance to meet the SME deals group which is a piece of the postpaid business advancement program and got to know how the business prepares generally functions straightforwardly with the clients.

Findings

Working in the loyalty and partnership team for about three months gave me somewhat a clear understanding of the responsibilities and the understanding of the team. So the core purpose of the team is not only to retain the customers but also to increase their loyalty to the particular network. The responsibility of getting back the inactive subscribers also fall upon this team. For this, the whole team has two wings, loyalty prize point and partnership program which operate individually.

Loyalty Wing

The loyalty wing deals with all the activities related to redemption. My days as an intern would start with making the daily redemption report. The idea was to capture the attention of the customers and keep then focused on their usage by offering them various gifts which can be acquired by earning points through usage. It is a simple idea, yet brilliant. As I had to collect feedback from random subscribers on alternate days, I realized through the process that how much the customers look forward to spending their points. Often the customers would ask from new gifts to be added to the catalogue. There would be around 22000 to 35000 redemptions per day. Judging from the numbers, it‟s safe to say the prize point program is quite effective. Acquiring the products for the prize point catalogue is another story altogether. The products are ordered from different vendors. When a product is chosen to be added to the catalogue, the first task is to agree on the price of each of the units. Agreeing on the price is an easy task compared to what lied after that. Once the price is agreed upon, the product specifications and the designs need to be approved but the Public Relations and Communications department. We the loyalty wing starts by explaining the specifications and design verbally and using a marker to make a few marks on the sample product. With this, the vendor is asked to make another sample according to the instructions. As the explanation is done verbally with little or no references, the process of approval can take up to 2 weeks. However, once the product is approved, it is all easy sailing from there onwards.

Partnership Wing

As for the partnership program, this particular wing tries to retain and appeal to the customers by making them feel privileged. According to my understanding, the purpose of all the partnership efforts is the make the subscribers feel special but showing them Bnaglalink cares about their customers and makes an effort to make them happy. The process starts with the Relationship Officer (R.O.) going to various popular shops and restaurants and talk with the person in charge. They try to fix a meeting with manager or owner who can take such marketing decisions. Generally, the decision of going into a partnership in made in that meeting. They decide the terms and conditions of the agreement. It is rarely that the partnership offer is declined. Once the terms and been agreed upon, within the next few days the contract paper i.e. MOU papers are sent to the respective partners office to be signed. rom here onwards the internal work begins. The R.O. then assigns a short code to the partner. The codes are then configured into the IT system. Once the codes have been configured, texts are broadcasted to the banglalink Priyojon customers so that they know about the newly acquired partners. To understand the process better, I was recommended to accompany the Dhaka R.O. for a day. We set off after lunch that day. As I was with them, they decided to stay within Gulshan and Banani area. I noticed the shops and restaurants were not chosen on random basis or based on popularity, rather the shops were chosen from the partners the competitions had in a similar type of program.

Recommendations

By carefully observing the activities of the loyalty and partnership team and taking my findings into account, I would like to suggest a few recommendations that I believe would improve the efforts of the team and bring about a higher level of satisfaction from the customers. In the prize point program, subscribers are earning points more and more points every day. A lot of the customers may not like the current catalogue of gifts that banglalink has right now. Moreover, I remember when I was collecting feedbacks from the customers, a lot of them complained about the quality, color and the performance of the products. Therefore I suggest that the prize point program should collaborate with a well repudiated online store. The points for which various products may be redeemed can be calculated fairly easily as the points have a certain monetary value. When thought about, the whole process seems easy to execute. The customers redeem whichever product they please from the online store with their points and at the end of each month or quarter the amount can be settled. This was the whole process of selecting a vendor, ordering and approving the products can be eliminated. Market research and surveys are immensely effective tools when it comes to knowing what the customer wants. From what I have seen, the Relationship officers were going after the partners who were already partnered with the competitors. This is not a bad approach. However, if we can deliver exactly what the customers want, would not that be even better? The social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. have become such an intricate part of your lives that we post almost all out daily activities, even where we eat and shop. Through analyzing these networks we can easily find out from where the customer buy their accessories and cloths from and which are the most popular places to eat. So, rather than going after the competitors I suggest that Banglalink should create their own path in this partnership Program. While my day out with the Relationship Office in persuading the partners, I noticed that the Bnaglalink representatives were not enthusiastic and outspoken enough. It seemed like them were a bit confused about what they were going to say and didn‟t know who they were looking for to speak to. To get the full experience firsthand, the R.O. in charge suggested that I speak to a restaurant owner and persuade him into a partnership contract. Thinking of it as a learning experience I agreed. We sat down on a couch at that particular restaurant and I explained the partnership process and benefits it the owned. As soon as the owner understood that we would be promoting his restaurant we were ready to sign the contract upon verification of the terms and conditions. Therefore, if the face to face communication is done with confidence and smartness the whole process can speed up significantly.

Conclusion

Banglalink is one of the leading telecommunication organizations in the nation. They are winning the hearts of millions by the year. Even though, the loyalty and partnership team should be more dynamic and try a few things differently are they wish to take the company to the apex of its performance. With all the things being said, I would like to point out that the loyalty and partnership team are fully aware of what they are doing. They are knowledgeable and highly skilled individually and I true got to learn a lot from them. In composing this internship report I came to realized how much I knowledge I have gained from my internship period. This experience helped me to understand my capabilities as a marketer and forced me to broaden my thinking capacity. I got to learn a lot from my team. Looking back at myself from before the internship, I realized I grew as a person. I have a better understanding of my responsibilities and my roles. My skills have developed and I have become more out spoken and confident than ever. This entire experience has definitely been a milestone for me and a great foundation to a successful career.