Airtel has developed a new mobile application giving their time challenged consumers an option that would help them record television shows onto their DTH from anywhere. This intiative aims at maximizing television viewership of Airtel DTH users.
Summary:
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Airtel has developed a new mobile application giving their time challenged consumers an option that would help them record television shows onto their DTH from anywhere. This initiative aims at maximizing television viewing of Airtel DTH users.
Highlights:
With this Java-based mobile app (that requires GPRS to download), users can search a program guide that includes details like the length and ratings of TV programs and can also search for any show within the next two daysOnce downloaded, the app talks to Airtel DTH’s server which then orchestrates with the backend systems of their set top boxes, Airtel DTH’s IT systems for provisioning and billing and the customer profile management systems — all integrated using SOA.What do you do if you were stuck in traffic and desperate to get home to watch that much-awaited India-Pakistan ODI? Tough luck would normally have been your answer. Fortunately, there are some companies that won’t just let things be. Recently, Airtel’s Digital TV Services gave their customers the option of recording their programs from anywhere using a mobile phone. Primarily targeted at their ‘time-challenged’ customers, Airtel’s DTH business is ushering in a concept of ‘maximum TV viewing at the viewers’ convenience’. With a Java-based mobile app (that requires GPRS to download),users can search a program guide that includes details like the length and ratings of TV programs and can also search for any show within the next two days. Once they’ve selected the program, they hit record and their show is recorded. As Indian TV shows are not available for immediate download on the Internet, unlike in the US, the new app makes a lot of sense, says Jai Menon, Group CIO, Bharti Airtel. The application, which was developed by a Bharti Airtel Group company, works with Airtel’s 124 million customer base but also with other telecom operators. “The mobile device serves as a client to access the application,” says Menon. “It works over GPRS and Wifi.”
Communication and content are now available on the mobile and with proper regulations in place mCommerce will be a very big opportunity as customers start seeing money transactions through their mobile
Once downloaded, the app talks to Airtel DTH’s server which then orchestrates with the backend systems of their set top boxes, Airtel DTH’s IT systems for provisioning and billing and the customer profile management systems – all integrated using SOA.
Airtel’s IT team had to bring strong integration standards to the table to ensure that service components are reusable and that the systems operate in a fail-safe manner in a multi-channel environment. “We have to work in near real-time so that when a command is issued, it’s passed on through various systems.
We brought different teams together and ensured that there is enough cross-fertilization and a common architecture that everybody signs up to because mismatches could lead to gaps in the systems,” says Menon.
Gaps could mean that messages leaked through the system and this was avoided by ensuring that the message queuing and the message response system were made robust. Airtel’s SOA approach handles the complex task of managing the recording servers, provisioning systems, the conditional access system and the set top box. “Our IT architecture is built with two components: a robust SOA and a strong mobile architecture by investing in the Service Delivery Platform which allows various mobile linkages,” he says.
Communication and content are now available on the mobile and with proper regulations in place mCommerce will be a very big opportunity as customers start seeing money transactions through their mobile
The teams Menon is referring to include IT team at Airtel (that is a core member of the DTH leadership team), the marketing and customer service department, the Airtel group company
that made the app and the manufacturers of the set-top boxes, NDS. This teamwork and the formation of an “ideation funnel” was key to the success of the project, says Menon. And will be for most mobile projects given people’s high expectations from the mobile platform. “Typically, these ideas are a product of brainstorming session by this combined team and from this ideation funnel. We prioritize and decide the one we will implement right away,” says Menon.
And thanks to that robust technology and people platform, Airtel is ready to dish out new, innovative ideas. “Our strategy is to provide digital lifestyle services across the three screens: the mobile, the TV and the PC. And this helps us deliver that.” Even internally, Airtel’s already leveraging the mobile more than most other companies.
Administrative jobs like leave and travel approvals are already available to Airtel employees on their handset and these processes are linked to its HR systems. “The mobile is front and center whether with respect to retailers, customers or employees,” says Menon.
“Communication and content are now available on the mobile and with proper regulations in place mCommerce will be a very big opportunity as customers start seeing money transactions through their mobile. Then we will see the mobile acting as a computing device with cloud based service. The 4C’s: communication, content, commerce and computing will eventually pan out on the mobile,” says Menon.
