Company: Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Company Description: Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad is a leading integrated consumer media entertainment group in Malaysia and Southeast Asia with operations in 4 key areas of business, namely Pay-TV, Radio, Publications and Digital Media. With a customer base of over 3.5 million residential customers or approximately 52% penetration of Malaysian TV households.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Award for Innovation in Customer Service - All Other Industries

Nomination Title: Being Omnipresent For Our Customers

Tell the story about your organization's innovations in customer service since the beginning of July 2013 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

1) Beginning on a Charter

At Astro, our customers are at the heart of everything we do. By serving a customer base of over 4.2 million residential customers or approximately 52% penetration of Malaysian TV households through our various content platforms, we continuously strive to cater to the multi-ethnic and multi-lingual communities in Malaysia. Astro undoubtedly has to cross channels in customer service as 8.3 million of our population still live in rural areas.

Astro is aiming to transform from being a household entertainment service provider to catering to individuals as the proliferation of devices and high speed broadband are driving content consumption on multiple platforms and devices. As such, we aim to cater to personalised media consumption that would allow access to the Malaysian individual wallet for entertainment spend. This underpins the importance of Astro’s omnipresence across platforms and connected devices.

2) Back to Basics

Innovation has always been the driving force behind every facet of our business, from developing content to leveraging on cutting-edge technology for operational excellence and improved customer experience on and off screen. We continue to improve our services through integrating compelling customer intelligence and market research initiatives such as the Nielsen Customer eQ framework, Voice of Customer (VOC) surveys, and mystery shopper exercises into our ecosystem. Driven by customer insights, we are better equipped in innovating to deliver the best personalised and unified entertainment experience across multiscreen.

In effort to expand our reach, we ventured into creating engaging on-ground presence by launching our Astro Lifestyle Centres, a new concept store where customers have the opportunity to experience the full suite of Astro’s products and services first-hand. At the same time, we extended our payment service coverage and increased payment channel access points from 16,000 to 22,000 – focusing on under-serviced areas. This demonstrates that even as technology advances and new digital channels surface, we have not forgotten those who still prefer the physical touch.

3) From Offline to Online

Progressing with customers into the media-rich era required an evolution of our customer service offering through virtualisation. We now have mobile apps for smartphones, ‘Astro Self-Service’ online single sign-on portal, ‘Astro on the Go’ mobile viewing platform, on-screen shop and Live Chat. This plethora of digital choices enables our customers to perform more routine tasks at their convenience and without having to incur phone or transportation expenses. Another example is Astro Service Portal on Channel 200, which is our on-screen service platform that enables package upgrades, balance enquiries and product updates with the simple use of a remote control. These initiatives minimise customer-to-agent interaction and also reflect ongoing efforts to reduce the unit components of cost-to-serve in our business.

With the majority of Malaysian smartphone users having cross-media multiscreen usage; for example, 93% of smartphone owners simultaneously use their smartphones while watching TV coupled with a 196% increase of internet access via mobile phone, Astro understands the importance of adopting social TV and second screen engagement. Our customers can use the ‘Astro View’ mobile app to remotely record or discover more about their favourite shows. Evidence is shown from the astounding 821% increase of social media interactions and 806% improvement in sentiments over the span of a year.

4) Going Beyond

Since Astro commenced its services in 1996, we have come a long way to become one of Malaysia’s most loved and recognisable brands. As we continue to transform our business, it is fundamental that our customers remain at the core of that change and we continue to provide world class customer service to everyone. Our eQ customer satisfaction score of 79, which is above the Asia Pacific regional average, demonstrates we are on the right track.

We will continue to exemplify innovation, quality and strong corporate responsibilities as we embrace change in order to achieve the right balance of old and new alternatives. Astro is dedicated to go beyond and be omnipresent for every customer!

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