The Du Internet Selling Company - Report Example

THE DU INTERNET SELLING REPORT State Date The Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company Internet selling strategies The Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company, popularly known by their du logo, which the company patented in February 2006, is a telecommunication service provider in the United Arab Emirates. The legal name for the du company is the Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company. This essay describes the strategies employed by company to implement and ensure more internet use in extensive regions of the United Arab Emirates (Oxford, 2013). In the United Arab Emirates, the Etisalat owns a large portion of the telecommunication industry and therefore, is a competing business entity that shares the same market as the Du Company. Surviving provokes the Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company to device strategies that boost the delivery of internet services to its users. The users benefit mainly due to the competition between the two business firms. By sticking to ethical standards and international norms, the du company self regulates itself to ensure it captures a large market share in the telecommunication business. The company involves the stakeholders such as the consumers, human resources, and investors by communicating the same business message across the board such that all the human resource concentrates on high quality standard internet services (Oxford, 2013). Introduction The Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company had 6 million subscribers as at the end of March, 2014. Historically, the company started providing mobile telecommunication services in February, 2007. February of every preceding year has been the times the business closes its financial records having completed a fiscal year. The company intended to provide the citizens of the United Arab Emirates with reliable internet connection and by the end of the 2008-2009 fiscal years; the company recorded 1.9 million mobile subscribers in just over a year. The revenues presented for the fiscal year starting February 2009 was 1.09 billion dollars, which comprised of 157% of the fiscal year that started on the February of 2008. Before the inception of the business in 2006, the shareholders gave off 20% of their dividends in an initial public offer. The Emirates Bank and Emirates Financial services’ sole responsibilities are to handle the sale of shares. The company is a public company comprising of the Emirates Investment Authority with 39.50 per cent of its shares, Mubadala Development Company, which owns 20.08 percent of the company, the Emirates Communications, and Technology Company, which owns 20 percent of the company’s shares, and the remaining 20.92 percent, which consists of the public shareholders (Oxford, 2013). The Du Company provides the citizens of the United Arab Emirates with mobile, fixed telephone, broadband connectivity and Internet IPTV services to prospective customers who mainly comprise of individuals, homes, and businesses. The company also includes carrier services for business entities and satellite up/download services for TV broadcasters. The company tries to imitate the selling strategies of the Etisalat to strengthen its position. Some of the internet services offered for its users include; the du live, the pay-as-you-go prepaid plan for internet use, the wow recharge card, the Emirati Plan, du TV+, the TV/internet dual package, and the talk and surf package. High quality service delivery is one of the core competencies of the company and therefore, the company employs to make sure the best internet services (Shaw, 2010). The DU Company internet marketing strategies The Du Company is a business institution that incorporates its best efforts to ensure survival in a competitive environment that provides similar telecommunication services. To boost its grip on the market, the Du Company realizes the need for high quality internet provision for its users. The company employs proper marketing and selling strategies to improve its business life span. Its efforts to increase selling cut across all shareholders in the business. The business offers training and consultancy services, SIM and smart card processing and payment services, data clearing services, cable television, facilities management, submarine cable services, data, and cable transmission services. In 1991, the Etisalat took the public rights to provide fixed and mobile telephone, and internet services in the UAE and other countries. It also took the right to give out licenses to interested parties for owning, importing, and processing telecommunication tools in the country. Therefore, the Etisalat has both regulatory and control powers in the telecommunication industry in the United Arab Emirates. The Du Company must, therefore, comply with the measures and standards set by the Etisalat in order to flourish in the business environment (Shaw, 2010). First, the Du Company involves itself in initiatives that help it cut down its operational costs such as the Energy Star Initiative, which the Etisalat is also a member. This initiative urges the business organization to use ecologically friendly methods of production that ensure a great effectiveness in internet provision, while at the same time preventing the production of environmental effluents that harm the environment. Environmental effluents affect the consumers; therefore, by obeying the environmental laws, the company stands a high chance to sell its strategies. The company uses wind energy to sensitize the need for alternative sources of energy. The company works hand in hand with the Etisalat to increase connectivity in regions that have poor internet reception. The company employs the social media as a means of reaching effective numbers of people. The social media in use include Face book, twitter, and linked-in. The company realizes that social media provides a platform whereby individual internet users access information and share media. Due to this fact, the business advertises itself to spread the information across prospective consumers. Social media provides the business with a means to acquire feedback for the services it renders and it gives the business a sea of potential customers. By engaging in social media to the extent of employing customer care executives to stay in constant touch with the clients, it shows how serious that the company requires to earn the trust of the customers (Shaw, 2010). The Du Company includes online competitions whereby winners get amazing prices for their continual support of the company. The Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company research and design team carries out proper market research on the needs of the user, and from their research findings; they propose adequate measures to the management that help the business to dispense high quality services. They design their website for the ease of use of the potential user such that it is easy and convenient to access information and to go from section to section during perusal. On their website, the company ensures that the potential customers can access information that they require (Shaw, 2010). The use of optical fiber cables to increase the bandwidth of the internet helps the company to ensure that the users access optimal internet speeds. The company’s investment in fiber optic technology has aided it in the reduction of power consumption. The company accrues more advantages from the 4G network. In the UAE, the company eradicates the use of paper bills to enhance E-vision television services and electronic billing systems that are much easier to manipulate for ease and convenience of pay. It has also sensitized the locals on the advantages of paper-less business transactions. The company gives prizes to people who come up with inventive means to solve environmental problems and create environmentally sustainable systems for businesses to operate. The Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company is the flag bearer of innovations aimed at developing sustainable telecommunication solutions, which are aimed at solving the challenges of its consumers. It is diligent while approaching the requirements of application and requirements of its subscribers because it has regulatory and control powers in the telecommunication industry in the United Arab Emirates. It engages with government agencies, businesses, the public and related interest groups to deliver important information about telecommunication to promote service delivery (Shaw, 2010). The market share The market share of the Du Company increases through the years as indicated by the increasing total revenues in their annual reports. In 2008, the company reported 2951 AED million; in 2009, 5339 AED million; in 2010, 7074 AED million; in 2011, 8855 AED million; and in 2012, 10, 157 AED million in revenues (Oxford, 2007). Diagram for total revenue versus the years Table 1. Total revenue versus the years (Oxford 2007) 78.1 percent of the total revenue comes from the mobile telephony, 16 percent comes from the telephony fixed, 1.6 percent comes from broadcasting, and 4.3 percent comes from wholesale averagely (Oxford, 2007). Diagram of products and services Table 2. Products and services produced (Oxford, 2007). The company achieves these market shares by maintaining competent services in technology. Their services and campaigns include the internet booking campaign, which caters for businesses and individuals, pay-by-the-second billing system, the mobile internet TV, and the prepaid plan’s recharge card that offers credit facility to internet users. In times that are more recent, the company provides an online service portal self-care, which is a billing system for managing subscriptions from the clients. Barriers that hinder full realization of internet selling Without the right capabilities and the technical knowhow required to counteract market shifts in internet selling, the sales performance of the company is negatively impacted. The human resource works towards developing the skill set and the awareness required to counteract barriers that impede effective selling. The economic recession continues to be a major problem for the business entity. From the records of the company, the barriers to effective selling are four (Oxford, 2013). The first barrier is relationship. A relationship refers to working conditions that must prevail between the business and the customer for business to prosper. Relationships are fundamental aspects of sales as they determine whether the business forms the right relationship with the right people. The Du Company identifies the underlying connections between clients and customers. The failure to realize the essence of effective connections means that the business faces an obstacle, wastage of important time and presents an opportunity for the business to incur losses. The human resource team enhances their ability to develop relationships that generate the most value for the business and the consumers. The failure to develop human resources that listen and question the employees means that there is a communication barrier between the clients and the business (Oxford, 2013). The company creates a rapport with the consumers that help them maintain long-term relationships. Secondly, another barrier to full realization of internet selling for the company is role ambiguity, whereby the sales individuals do not fully recognize their jurisdiction. The human resources team train employees to deliver the best services by supplying them with software, complex analytics, and sophisticated skills. The ambiguity of the roles the employees play is crucial when the stakeholders do not know the work that fits into their jurisdiction, poor time management, and the invasion of unfamiliar territory. This generally has an impact on the company’s target. The most important factor for the management to consider while eradicating role ambiguity is to ensure that all the stakeholders understand the core competencies within the organization to reduce role interference. Informing the human resources on the core competencies helps the human resource to focus their attention on what is important to reduce conflicts, and to enhance the individual and company outputs (Oxford, 2013). Thirdly, the other barrier to internet selling is the inability to relay important technological information to the prospective user. The business must always ensure that the language they employ for advertising is elaborate and easy to understand by the potential clients. The language must not consist of technological jargon while selling a niche product. The language used during internet selling should mainly be simple, accessible, and based on the benefits customers accrue from the use of the products. The company must focus on what impresses the mind of the audience without complicating the advertising. All information regarding the products of the Du comprises a technical readout, an outline to enhance performance and productivity (Shaw, 2010, p.99). Lastly, the need for an offer issued by the organization must always correspond to the perceived need for the service or product. The need and cost are barriers to effective internet selling. This organization strives to understand the true value of its service. The organization also competes by setting the prices of different services. Because of this, the business has the ability to convey the effective sales value proposition and link with the requirements of the customer in order to make a sale. With the aid of sales value propositions the business is able to identify with the customer’s needs and generate ways to tackle the increasing value of the product and differentiating the business from its competitors (Shaw, 2010). How business is expecting to maximize internet selling To boost the amount of internet selling and the opportunities of selling to the customer, the business has to ensure that its internet speeds are high. This is to allow fast access to and retrieval of information from the internet. Secondly, it has to ensure that the potential customers have access to the company information regarding the services issued. This is mainly through advertising. Advertisements must provide adequate information such as the general properties of the product or service on sale. The system must manipulate this information into a convenient method of cashless method of payment. A cashless system of payment ensures safety. The organization must adhere to information systems technology to prevent informational attacks on its databases. The mode of payments may include wired bank transfers and credit card systems. The mode of payment must be common among the potential market (Oxford, 2013). The company must also ensure an effective delivery system of the products and services by increasing the number of outlets to cater for increased demand in various geographic locations. The customer should reach the products or services issued by the Du Company with minimal interference. The company must reduce the duration of time between when the customer orders for a particular product or service and when the item gets to them. Effective service delivery ensures that the company can supply sufficiently according to the demands of the market (Oxford, 2013). Conclusion The Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company thinks that the internet presents a massive opportunity for selling. This is because of rapid interactivity over the internet as compared to other media. The business gains feedback from its clients much more rapidly, as compared to when it markets itself via other channels. The Emirate Integrated Telecommunication Company feels that the internet is a resource for the future given its tendency to move towards a cashless system of business operations (Oxford, 2007). References OXFORD BUSINESS GROUP. (2007). the Report: Dubai 2007. London, Oxford Business Group. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=tw6DedF0Hq4C&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=oxford+business+group-the+report:+dubai+2007&source=bl&ots=i2ZXn8EKKT&sig=y3GWhW4qlGhHngU0_pSYDZQQeh0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=84TdVIGrKZHoarCfgYAG&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=oxford%20business%20group-the%20report%3A%20dubai%202007&f=false Shaw, C., Dibeehi, Q. and Walden, S., 2010. Customer experience: future trends and insights. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0fQEDDFD1XsC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=Customer+Experience:+future+trends+and+insights&ots=zUIN1D0jth&sig=ndW7xFnx_ZBqqVlxaFKnPehj1Hk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Customer%20Experience%3A%20future%20trends%20and%20insights&f=false. (2013). Report: Abu Dhabi 2013. [Place of publication not identified], Oxford Business Group. Retrieved from www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/uae-abu-dhabi-2013. Read More