Is there a limit to the services that one can offer? My answer continues to be NO in long run. In Short run it may limited by constraints like Budget, Policy, Competence.
In this context I would like narrate a personal experience. Most of us are familiar with the issue of weak signals on our mobile phones. The signals in mobile telephony can be either weak or fluctuating at a particular point in time and/ or location.
The experience with most Indian Mobile phone operators would be largely limited to
- We are sorry for the inconvenience. We have forwarded your complaint to our technical department. OR,
- Please check your handset if you have any setting issues OR
- There are some technical problem in the tower near your location, we would revert to you as soon as it gets over
- ….
In some rare instance the technical department would call to get same information that you had provided them during the initial interaction. It is often so irritating to complaint that we prefer to live with or some time change the service provider.
In contrast, I had a different experience with a Mobile Phone Operator in Bahrain. I had purchased a Prepaid 3 G Data connection for use of internet during my visits to Bahrain. I might be paying the company approx. 3 Bahraini Dinar per month and sometime less than that (1 Bahraini Dinar is approx. 2.78 US Dollars). The operator is known as VIVA Bahrain (http://www.viva.com.bh/content/about-us).
I had problem of the consistency and strength of signal from my hotel room. I had lodged a complaint and contacted support on live chat. They gathered all the details. They followed it through a message with expected time to resolve. Next day evening, the hotel receptionist calls me and inform that I have a visitor. I was wondering who this could be, as I know very few people in Bahrain and all of them were part of my meeting during the day. I was then told the person is from VIVA. The gentlemen was a technical person from VIVA. He came with his laptop and some gadgets. Spent about 15 minutes in my room and then he look into settings in my WIFI device. He explained me the problem. He also explained me the limitation. In place of asking me to live with problem, he provided me a solution that meets my purpose. I also noticed his work style. He was preparing his technical visit report while he was speaking to me. He was constantly taking snapshot of the screen info coming from his laptop to the report.
This experience was a kind of thrilling experience as I have never thought of such service from a Service Provider. This was despite the fact (which they were aware of) that I am not likely to be their regular customer and I am not a permanent resident of Bahrain.
I am quite sure as an organisation they would have invested in their people and process to enable such deliveries. I had a great experience from their shop as well when I purchased the product. When I narrate this to group of people, often participants ask me can we keep doing this. I remind them of the famous statement by Dr Deming.
Threads of Excellence 