The History And Background Of Dialog

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Executive Summary

Dialog is the leading mobile service provider in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s mobile industry is one of the most competitive markets in the region with five operators competing for a total addressable population of 21.7 million and the competition among the five operators, Dialog, Mobitel, Etisalat, Airtel and Hutch is expected to remain high in years ahead.

They are a team that serves the Sri Lankans with the hospitality they serve the world with, hence Marketing Managing Relationships is vital. More than most companies give credit. People need to build relationships in their personal and professional lives to be effective human beings. Building relationships requires understanding two important factors: firstly, a sustainable relationship provides benefits to both parties; and secondly communication is the only tool to build and maintain relationships.

This is indisputably the case in personal relationships, but the same factors apply to professional relationships. Stakeholder engagement is complex and ‘getting it right’ can be time consuming. By understanding which stakeholders are important and how best to provide the information that meets their needs, as well as the needs of the organisation, it is possible to reduce some of the difficulties inherent in communication and thus help improve business functions.

This report will identify and evaluate a Relationship Marketing Programme for Dialog Aixata (PLC) Sri Lanka. The report will further outline the key factors needed for managing these relationships as well as the benefit of investing in a team of employees to manage these relations in order to help the company to hold it place in the market always.

 

Task One

Stakeholder Audit

Relationship Marketing is the practice of building long-term satisfying relations with key parties, customers, suppliers, distributors- in order to retain their long-term preference and business.

(Kotler, Managing Marketing – 9th Edition, 1997)

In the case of Dialog Axiata serving Sri Lankans in a self-satisfying manner is their target and achievement; hence they need to build up a strong and pleasant relationship between stakeholders especially the marketing team and its customers.

Key Stakeholders in Dialog Axiata and their contribution towards achieving the goals of the Company

Stakeholders can be identified as "Groups/ individuals that are affected by and/or have an interest in the operations and objectives of the business" – http://www.tutor2net.com

Key Stakeholders

Customers

The most important stake for any organization to be a part of the existing market. Dialog has been able to capture 7 million of 21.7 million Sri Lankan Population as their customer base inclusive if expats. It is harder to make new customers than to retain existing customers. It is important to maintain relationship with the customer in order to retain the customer within the network since the switching cost is relatively low. The customers of Dialog Mobile can be categorized into pre-paid customers, post-paid customers and corporate based customers.

Employees

Equally important stakeholder to customers are the employees who carry the banner of the organization and reflect upon the service provided by dialog.. The role of employees in the company is crucial for Dialog when carrying out operation to serve the customer better. The good and the bad depend on the commitment of employees of the company. Since the inception employees of Dialog have been exceptionally committed towards the company’s success. Employees are the back born of Dialog Mobile where the skills and knowledge of employees are contributed towards the success of Dialog.

Shareholders

This group of stakeholders also play a huge role in terms of financing, operations, governance and control of the business. Dialog Axiata which was initially a private limited company converted in to a Public Limited Company (PLC) in 2005. Since then ordinary shares of the company listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). Since then the company is influenced by the shareholders.

Regulators and government

These are the most powerful body of any country and it is very important fir Dialog to maintain long term relationship with the government and regulatory bodies of Sri Lanka. The impact these organizations can make is very high. It is necessary for Dialog to maintain relationship with this group of stakeholders. The main government bodies that can influence the organization at a huge level can be identified as Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC), Government treasury, Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology.

Business partners

Having partners in a business is an important part of success. The partners of Dialog Axiata are mainly technological companies. It is important for the company to maintain relationships with the business partner. Business partners of Dialog are really helpful for the company to strive in the dynamic market conditions which prevails in the country.

Communities

There are different communities both locally and internationally. Relationships are maintained with these communities by Dialog. However the importance given for communities relatively low,except that they are involved in CSR projects so that it may increase the chances of creating awareness and building a marketing relationship at very general level in order to attract new customers

NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)

These organizations constituted legally and operates independently from any form of government. Even though there are a considerable number of NGO’s in Sri Lanka, the importance for an organization operates in a mobile telephony industry is minimal. Even though the level of power of these organizations are at a higher level interest level on Dialog is at a lower level

Media

There are different kind of media networks in the country. The media of Sri Lanka operates in forms of Television, Radio, Press and Internet. The coverage of these media channels widely available across the country.

Pressure groups

These are a group of people who can influence a public policy in the interest of a particular cause. They believe in the same cause and have an effect more than an individual. Pressure groups have the right to protest, hold meetings and make their views using the mass media. Pressure groups that can influence Dialog are very less where there are only two main groups that can be identified that have an effect on the organization.

Opinion leaders (Comprising Professionals and Academics)

This group includes professors of state & private universities in Sri Lanka. Mainly academics in the IT and ICT field has an interest on the technological companies. The personal know how of students on mobile and other industries are gained mainly through universities in Sri Lanka.

Figure 1: Mendelow’s power and interest matrix

Quadrant

Details

Keep satisfied

(Pressure groups, Ngo’s)

Stakeholders belonging to this quadrant are powerful groups but little or no interest to the well-being of the organization, yet it would be unhealthy to dialog if their interests increased

Manage Closely

(Regulators and government, Employees, Media, Business partners, shareholders)

Power and Interest levels are higher of stakeholders belonging to this quadrant. It is important to manage closely by identifying the interest of these stakeholder groups. The impact and the influence they can make to Dialog is very high.

Minimum Effort

(Communities)

These are stakeholder groups that neither powerful nor interested on the company. However monitoring these groups thus putting minimum effort is the ideal way to manage them.

Keep Informed

(Opinion leaders, Customers)

Though the interest is high of the stakeholders in this quadrant the power is at a lower level. Keep them inform from time to about the company activities will reduce the tendency that these group might support a powerful stakeholder to make an impact to the organization.

Evaluation of current stakeholder relationship activities

Dialogs’s main aim is to engage in good open relationship with its various stakeholders currently maintaining relationship with its stakeholders and develops its activities, products and services based on the feedback received from each stakeholder. It has defined its most important stakeholders to be its customers, owners, suppliers, employees and society.

The current relationship marketing program looked at below is the relationship marketing program done for its internal stakeholders such as its employees. The CSR programs carried out by the organization has main objectives such as:-

Build internal bond among the employees

To understand each stakeholder more detailed and casually

A stress buster from work a new outlook on responsibility and interaction

To provide a sense of recognition to the employs by the director board

To create a team spirit, for all to work and unit as one.

Benefits of the CSR programs

Inter internal stakeholder bonding is created

Employees have the opportunity to interact with each other on a casual free environment

New relationships are build through the freedom and the single aim of working equally for a good cause

Middle managers and upper level managers have the freedom to loosen up and communicate.

The upper level managers are able to identify each middle level managers more personally

Disadvantages of the CSR programs

Only the managerial stuff are allowed to attend such events which creates a break in the

other stakeholders,

Only a limited amount of staff will be bonded with,

No relationship growth with the top managers (Directors)

-

Task Two

Stakeholder groups and information available

It is very important for organization to gather information available of all its stake holders and process them in a logical manner in order to retrieve them whenever needed. However the information available may not be sufficient when carrying out a relationship marketing program.

It is important for the organization to assess the current information they have and what are the information gaps that need to be filled in order to carry out relationship marketing program effectively.

The following table shows certain stake holder data used in Dialog Axiata and their importance and relevance in the decision making process of the organization

Stakeholder

Relationship Management Information

Description

Importance of Information

Low

Med

High

V. High

Distributors

General Information

Number of retailers and agents.

Level of monthly revenue.

Demographic information.

Telecomm. Regulatory Commission

License Processing

Tariff Regulation and Compliance

Licenses to operate telecommunication systems in Sri Lanka under Section 17 of the Act.

Licenses to operate a private network under Section 20(ii) of the Act.

Vendor licenses Compliance under Section 21 of the Act.

Tariffs in consultation with the Minister as specified under Section 5(k) of the Act.

Changes in pricing policies.

Shareholders

General Information

Shareholder information, share value, level of involvement with company activities

Customers

Customer Database Information

Background information

Usage of affiliated services of Dialog

Revenue generation

Employees

General Information

Employee information, EPF, ETF, Evaluations.

Involvement level with business operations.

Local Community

Marketing Information

Demographic Information

Society attitudes and trends.

Recommendation from best practices of competitor organizations

"Benchmarking is the process of understanding and adopting outstanding practices and processes from organizations anywhere in the world to help your organization improve its performance"

(Source – American productivity and quality center)

Benchmarking will be helpful for the organization. It will be healthy for the company to benchmark in comparison with a competitive company like Etisalat, Mobitel or Airtel who is right behind them in the market. Through this Dialog will be able to identify the strategies of other competitor organizations in the market.

The above mentioned issue are not unique to Dialog but affects all companies in the market alike. Necessary steps must be taken to be protected by some of the competitors.

Recommendations and best practices to be followed by Dialog Axiata has been brought out in the table below:-

Problems that would eventually become threats

Comparative Measures by Competitors

Recommendations & expected outcomes

Not very accessible and interactive with customers

Mobitel & Etisalat

These companies constantly are connected or rather wired with their customers through social media pages especially Facebook page is frequently updated, more interactive things are included such as competitions, quizzes, and suggestions.

Keep wired and update social media , blogs and other media fun ,exciting and give consumers a feeling of belonging- More interaction through better communication such as social media websites & consumer blogs will help Dialog to gather information on consumer behaviour, interests, and preferences of the consumer.

Employees opinion not taken into consideration

Airtel (Sri Lanka)

The HR Department looks into the needs and satisfaction of employees through an evaluation done by employees twice every annum

Make room and space for employees to be heard and their opinions and ideas to be brought forward ,by having them to evaluate their job satisfaction through a freely available blog etc.- Through this employees will be able to give in positive ideas and feedbacks that will assist in the decision making processes for the upliftment of the company Dialog is able to identify the motivational & training needs of employees and thereby avoiding the inefficiencies of skilled and talented employees and Human resource department should be more interactive with the employees.

No direct communication with local government and governing bodies

Competitor – Mobitel

The company which is a subsidiary of a semi- government organization has better relationship with the government authorities. Forums & discussions are organized by the company

Appointing a separate person to carry out direct relationship with the government organizations, special offers for the institutes & invites for the company events - Categorizing each government authority and regulators according to their interest & maintaining close relationships with the key personnel of these organizations. Being transparent and having open discussions will help the company

Customer service not assessed

Etisalat

A message (SMS) will be sent after contacting the company contact centre for feedback. This includes whether the customer satisfied with the service provided by etisalat.

A medium to gather customer comments can be worked out to reach customers after contacting Dialog to gather feedback – An Email to for online methods and a SMS can be used to all the others methods to gain feedback of the customer service provided. This will in turn help Dialog to improve the service, understand the customer expectations and satisfy customer

Task Three

Methods of Selecting a Relationship Marketing Team

Marketing team of the company of Dialog Axiata (PLC) is currently led by the Marketing Manager of Sales and Marketing Team of Dialog Axiata (PLC).All of them however are managed by the General Manager of Sales and Marketing of the Organization

The marketing team of Dialog Mobile comprises of many talented, skilled & qualified employees. Currently the relationships with the stakeholders are managed by few individuals of the marketing team. In order to carry out a relationship marketing program effectively for the organization a new team of individuals are required.

A team should be built specifically for relationship marketing of Dialog. Therefore it is necessary for the organization select, recruit, train and develop to gain the team player skills and characteristics required to develop the relationship marketing activities.

Current Relationship marketing practices handled by the above Marketing Manager led by the General Manager

Junior Marketing Executive

Has to increase service levels to gain new customers

Needs to oversee online marketing and communicate information to the Marketing Manager

Takes charge of training sales representatives to increase communication skills, customer interaction and service value

Will have to create relationships with competitor customers and researching competitor strategies and tactics

Demand and Costing Executive

Will be handling the post-paid sales sector and maintain good relationships with corporate customers

Needs to communicate with other potential corporate customers to make them Dialog Clients

Will be coordinating with the Sales sector regarding pricing and handling corporate client accounts

Marketing Operations Clerk

Needs to be socializing with almost all departments

Has to convey all gathered data on sales to upper level managers in the team

Communicating information between upper management and operations is to be main focus

Supervising of sales and service levels needs to be under taken

Selections

Each of the above team players will have to be skill audited according to Belbin’s team role before recruitment

Belbin’s team role

Characteristics

Action oriented roles

Shaper

Aggressive and committed to achieving goals

Implementer

Practical, realistic, conservative yet inflexible

Completer/ Finisher

Attention to detail &completes any task

People oriented roles

Coordinator

Person oriented individual and overlook the team’s goals & objectives

Team worker

Help intervention when there is a friction between the members but indecisive in times of crisis

Resource investigator

Develops external opportunities & contacts

Thought oriented roles

Plant

High level of IQ. Ability to come up with new ideas

Monitor evaluator

High analytical skills, takes time to decide as he never want to be wrong

Specialist

Provides knowledge & skills

Source: Belbins’ Team roles

Recruitment Process

Decide whether the department can afford hiring employees to fill the position. It should be noted that the majority of the positions will not be filled internally as the necessary skills are to the most part unavailable in the staff.

The following are steps to be followed

Training and Development

IDENTIFYING THE NEED

EVALUATING TRAINING DELIVER TRAINING

Training and Development programme method to be implemented on the new team to be On the Job training. This has been evaluated as the method that would best cover the skills gaps identified. Implementing the above this way would be very cost effective as well as time saving.

On the Job Training

Training under the supervision and guidance of suitably qualified mentors and supervisors, trainees learn how to complete their assigned tasks in a safe and effective manner. The mentors and supervisors carefully monitor trainees’ progress during the OJT phase with a view to identifying and logging any knowledge or skills gaps, which in turn are addressed by company’s development of additional training inputs to close such gaps. This method allows to ensure safety and effectively

Closely identified knowledge and skill gaps are filled in and/or enabling employee career advancement is attained through this process where each level or challenge at work is assessed.

Task Four

Evaluation of Management Team Skills and Performance

To encourage collaboration and interdependency the Marketing manager must provide necessary support and equally divide responsibility amongst the trainees in order get desired performance.

Feedback is a form of constructive communication, and the Team Leader will need to gain feedback and opinions from the group and the external environment. No matter how traditional or innovative the work design, consistent and constructive communication throughout the team is essential.

Timely and properly delivered feedback can make the difference between a team that makes mistakes and hides them and a team that sees mistakes as opportunities. By contrast, managers who focus on promoting good understanding, ensuring adequate knowledge and facilitating effective interaction within team member as well as the other members of the company.

Processes that increases the motivational Skills of the Marketing Team

herzberg_factors.gif

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

Frederick Herzberg (1923-2000), clinical psychologist and pioneer of 'job enrichment', is regarded as one of the great original thinkers in management and motivational theory. According to him, basic employee motivation

Hygiene Factors

Hygiene factors are based on the need to for a business to avoid unpleasantness at work. If these factors are considered inadequate by employees, then they can cause dissatisfaction with work. Hygiene factors include:

Company policy and administration

Wages, salaries and other financial remuneration

Quality of supervision

Quality of inter-personal relations

Working conditions

Feelings of job security

Motivator Factors

Motivator factors are based on an individual's need for personal growth. When they are present, motivator factors actively create job satisfaction. If they are effective, then they can motivate an individual to achieve higher than normal performance and effort. Motivator factors include:

Status

Opportunity for advancement

Gaining recognition

Responsibility

Challenging / stimulating work

Sense of personal achievement & personal growth in a job

The manager should be able to identify needs of his fellow team members.

Recommendations for improving Motivational Factors of employees will:-

Increase Job enrichment and security

Recognition of good work, appreciation

Allowing steady growth in designation or position.

Fair Treatment

Monetary Incentives

Task V

"A budget is a quantitative statement, for a defined period of time, which may includ e pl ann ed r e ve nues , e xp ens es, ass et s, liabiliti es a nd cas h flows. A bud get provi des a fo cus f or the or ganiz ation and aids th e co - ordin ati on of a cti vitie s and facilitates control".

(Source – Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)

Budgeting is a financial plan which is drawn for future business targets. This makes the marketing department more accountable for the proposed process. The primary objective of budgeting is to achieve maximum results in minimum financial cost. However fluctuations of Macro factors make the process of achieving objectives within the budget challenging.

Justification on the importance of a financial management and budgeting.

For a Marketing relationship program to become a reality a budget and cost must be involved. For the relationship marketing program the marketing manger needs to look at their expenditure against the program. The management of the financial expenditure should be well managed by the Relationship & marketing manager of Dialog. Proper financial management essential & will ensure that the actual cost will not exceed the budgeted amount. In the process of planning the program certain expenditures may arise and the result cost could be escalated higher than expected. Therefore to overcome such issues a clear financial management is critical for a program as such.

Stated below is a justification of the importance of a financial management and the main need for it.

A proper financial management brings economic growth and development to the organization

through financing, dividend investments and good risk management decisions.

This also creates a more platform to make better financial decisions.

Better financial decision making ability will lead to profitability for the organization, creating

more job opportunities with in the organization.

Financial management also promotes efficiency; there is no room for wastes or inefficiencies

that opens up poor financial management and decision making.

This also helps to create good diversification in the organization.

The main roles of the marketing manager and the in the Budgeting process

The marketing manager needs a certain amount of skills/ roles to carry out a successful relationship

marketing program and to be able to produce a good analytical budget, the role of the marketing

manager can be identified through COMMANDER this is further assessed below,

Communicating -Good communication skills to acquire the needed information and produce a clear chain among the stakeholder.

Organizing-For the current marketing program proper organizing is needed to have a successful program. Each section must critically assess and organized in a proper manner to execute a successful program.

Matching-The marketing manager must be able match the marketing activity with a given budget.

Monitoring-A good marketing manager needs to identify the gaps and loop holes in the budget and of what that may arise later on in the budgeting process. Monitoring the flow of the money and its progress and how the budget is been use needs to be properly identified, if not monitored well the organization may fall in to high risk and can incur dept or worse.

Acting-Ability to act according to the budget and meeting required deadlines

Negotiating-Ability to negotiate with required team to acquire the required amount of financial resources to achieve a target or plan

Decision making-The marketing manager must be able to make proper decisions regarding the budget management.

Energizing-Ability to energize and motivate the team and employees to achieve a given task and objective.

Reporting-Ability to report the correct managers regarding the program with efficient and effective programs

5.4) Proposed budget for the medium term (3 years)

Table 12: Proposed medium term budget

Causes for budget variances and recommendations

APPENDIX 1- COMPANY BACK GROUND

DIALOG AXIATA ( PLC) SRI LANKA

Introduction to company

" Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.is their motto.

Dialog Axiata  is Sri Lanka's largest telecommunications service provider with the country's largest mobile phone network of over 7.6 million subscribers. Dialog is a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad and Dialog was Listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in Currently holds approximately USD 496 million in market capitalization.

Dialog launched its services in 1995 as the 4th entrant to Sri Lanka’s Cellular Market and was the first digital network in South Asia. Dialog was also the first operator in Asia Pacific to deliver international roaming in 1997. Dialog Axiata presently has the largest number of subscribers and revenue share with regards to its mobile network.

In 2010 the company received the highest "Platinum" rating in the country's Corporate Accountability Index. The company operates on 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G and 4G LTE communications networks, and was the first company to launch commercial 3G and HSPA+ operations in South Asia In addition, Dialog Axiata recently announced that the company has switched on its 4G LTE Network in Colombo becoming the first LTE pilot network in South Asia.

In addition to its core business of mobile telephony, the company operates a portfolio of services including Dialog TV, the country's Direct To Home Satellite TV service and Dialog Global which provides international telecommunication services. Dialog Broadband offers fixed-line and broadband internet services, whilst Dialog Tele-Infrastructure is the company’s national telco infrastructure arm.

Dialog was the first mobile operator to cover the Jaffna peninsula in Northern Sri Lanka within 90 days of the ceasefire agreement in 2002and again in 2009 was the first mobile operator to extend its GSM network to the areas in the North and East Province where the war was fought, and presently has 80% market share in the region.

Dialog Axiata is an investor under the aegis of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka and has invested over 1 billion US dollars towards the development of telecommunications infrastructure in Sri Lanka, and is one of the largest investors in the island while being the largest investor in the telecom sector. Dialog is also the official Sri Lankan partner of the mobile operator Vodafone.

Their diversified professionals are well versed in support and are appropriately blended to suite the unique needs of clients across multiple segments and cultures. Business processes are handled by a team who possess intimate knowledge and understanding of complex fundamental principles of a contact center environment.

Their approach to monitoring customer interactions is designed to meet both our Clients and Customer requirements. Customer interactions are evaluated to ascertain & ensure professional interaction handling and accuracy of service delivery across multiple channels. Their vision is to be the preferred contact management & outsourcing solutions provider in Sri Lanka. And Mission is through commitment to achieving service excellence by engaging and enhancing the true potential of our people and leadership in technology innovation, therefore being the outsourcing partner of choice for Sri Lankan and global enterprises, enhancing stakeholder value.

Product Portfolio

Mobile phone service (GSM), fixed line telephony (CDMA), satellite television (Dialog Television), mobile broadband (HSPA), fixed broadband (WiMax). Products also include BlackBerry, IDD, business/enterprise solutions.

Customer Segments

Customers vary from all economical hierarchies and from all over Sri Lanka.They are aiming to reach most of population of Sri Lanka with their products and services

Achievements over the years

2009Dialog’s Contact Centre First to Obtain COPC Certification in Sri Lanka

People CMM Certification for Maturity Level 3

2008Dialog Telekom Named Sri Lanka’s Most Valuable Brand for Second Consecutive Year

Dialog TV Awarded Silver status, Turnaround Brand of the Year at SLIM Brand Excellence

Most Innovative Brand, SLIM Brand Excellence

Most Popular Mobile Telecom Brand of the Year Award, SLIM-Nielsen People’s Award 2008

2007Dialog Telekom Ranked as Business Today’s Number 1 Company

Customer Management Strategy Award

Dialog Telekom Received CSQS Level III Certification

Dialog Telekom Emerged Runner Up in "Sri Lanka’s Most Respected Business Entity"

Dialog Telekom Awarded Best Telecommunication Sector Implementation for Midsize Enterprises at the SAP ACE Awards

Dialog Telekom Asia Pacific Best Customer Service Centre Award

2005National Business Excellence Awards

2003GSM world award for year

2002GSM World Award for Year

International Asia Pacific Quality Award

2001Sri Lanka National Quality Award’