| WORRIED OVER airfare hikes? There is an option. | | | | over six lakh calls a day, which is expected to rise to |
| Book a train reservation. Taking a train, now a days, | | | | 2 million calls by the year end. The system has the |
| is as easy as catching a flight. The Indian Railways | | | | capacity to handle an astonishing 20 million calls a day, |
| Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)’s | | | | and more. "It’s a service that is a revolution in |
| magic number "139 - Rail Sampark" has made life | | | | the making. It will change the way a customer |
| easier for travellers. | | | | interacts with the Railways," says Nalin Shinghal, |
| The inquisitive traveller will get all railway-related | | | | managing director of IRCTC. |
| information within three rings without any | | | | Another atribute which other PSU’s can get |
| interruptions or disconnections as before. They just | | | | inspiration from is IRCTC’s indebatable |
| need to dial 139 from any fixed line or mobile phone. | | | | emergency services, despite the 300 pre cent |
| Travellers can get answers for their queries quickly | | | | redundancy. This was evident during a series of |
| because the call centre executives stick to the set | | | | agitations led by Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla. |
| questionnaire drafted by IRCTC. They don’t ask | | | | Soon IRCTC is planning to route calls to the next |
| questions to callers other than what is listed. "This | | | | closest destination if the network called is dead or |
| prevents reducing their Average Handling Time | | | | busy. |
| (AHT). Our aim is to give callers information within | | | | Indian Railways is not incurring any capital or |
| two minutes," says Rajini Hasija, IRCTC Information | | | | operational expenditure for the process, which is |
| Technology General Manager. | | | | borne by the franchisee — a consortium of the |
| The recent hike in air fares forced many to shift | | | | Modi Group-promoted Bharat BPO, BSNL, Spanco |
| allegiance to trains. Sales of First AC and Second AC | | | | Telesystems, Stracon Back Office Solutions and the |
| tickets shot up from 27 per cent to 43 per cent, | | | | Omnia Group — with a 10-year contract. |
| between August 2007 and 2008. It was a time to | | | | "The revenue potential is humungous," says Manish |
| rejoice, but IRCTC did not sit on its laurels. It instead | | | | Sharma, associate director at KPMG. "If infrastructure |
| focused on challenges thrown up by good revenue | | | | and SLAs (service level agreements) are good, the |
| performance. First, they started working towards | | | | railways could be attracting short-distance travellers |
| providing accurate and fast information to travellers. | | | | on road routes such as Delhi-Chandigarh or |
| The 24x7 line, operational since July 2007, enables | | | | Chennai-Pondicherry." |
| PNR enquiries, all-India current train positions, fare | | | | By the end of the year, premium services such as |
| information and ticketing. "It is as easy as taking a | | | | SMS alerts, call backs and fax, and value-added |
| flight. I was surprised when I had to make a business | | | | services such as tourism products, hotels and car |
| trip to Bangalore by train," says T P Shaktivel, chief | | | | rentals will be offered on another three-digit number. |
| corporate officer at Unique Infoway, a Delhi-based IT | | | | There’s more. "We are awaiting government |
| company. | | | | clearance so that customers can show their tickets |
| The 139 service, whose call centres are in Delhi, | | | | on mobile phones and not carry a print-out," says |
| Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, is a revolutionary | | | | Praveen Kumar, CEO of the Omnia Group. But both |
| concept. It can be a good benchmark for public | | | | Hasija and Kumar acknowledge that improved basic |
| sector units’ serving customers, not only in | | | | services are not intended as revenue generators. "If |
| terms of services provisioning, but also in terms of | | | | we can establish a credible connect in basic services, |
| the business model," says Nilaya Varma, associate | | | | customers will be happy to pay for value-added |
| director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, | | | | services," says Kumar. They sure will. |
| Already 139 employs about 2,000 people and draws | | | | |