Asus to beef up in South, responds for the issues in Kerala

Following the media reports on the warranty issues of Asus motherboards in Kerala and replacement issues in some parts of Tamil Nadu, Vinay Shetty, Country Head, Component Business, Asus India, tells B Swaminathan the reasons for the delay along with his new assurances and promises.

1. Overall, there are service-related issues for Asus. It is good that you are making corrective measures. What are the further more new plans in service?

The gap or delay was created because earlier we had two ASPs (Rashi and Digicomp) and we added a 3rd one recently (Digicare). We are currently in a transition phase of load sharing which had caused some delays in Kerala. There was also an inflow of cases from north Kerala mainly Calicut and Thrissur to Kochi causing a pile up of cases at Kochi. We've planned to set up service centers in these locations in the future. We're also working out the transfer of buffer to fulfill the gaps and this is just a transitional phase. Corrective actions have been taken in the backend but its implementation will take a while. Commitment to service has always been our focus and that has not changed.

2. What are the various measures taken so as to make the service good?

We've identified these cases as training issues with some engineers and have currently charting a schedule of regular trainings to engineers and increased the level of QC for customers to verify their SKUs.

3. Any steps taken to avoid any service-related issues further?

Optimization of all ASPs is the key to reduce these complaints and gaps. Adding new ASP is for the convenience of partners and to reach more locations. We just want to ensure the TAT (turn-around-time) is controlled and we reach deeper and farther with our service network. We're currently in this transition period and these issues will be taken care of as the process streamlines in due time.

4. Your products are liked more by the college students because of the brand's multi-tasking and affordable rates. Any special plans for promoting your products that particular segment in the coming days?

We regularly participate in college festivals and are also actively involved on social media. Innovative products which are attention grabbers naturally get the new generation interested and tech enthusiasts usually keep themselves aware about them as they want to be the first to have a hands-on experience. We promote our products to them through these mediums.

5. Your assurances to the partners in South?

We accept there have been delays in sorting out some pending cases causing a lot of pain and grievance to our partners. Our fundamentals have always been customer satisfaction and quality and service and we are committed to deliver best products and accepted norms of TAT to our partners throughout the country. I would request our partners in Kerala to have faith that we won't let them down and will have this matter sorted at the earliest. Our attention is now focused on Kerala and sorting these issues out is on our top priority. Our GM for service is directly looking into it with special attention from our MD for clear guidelines on this.

6. What is the GTM for Asus in the coming days in South?

It is very important for partners today to add value to their services and offer the customers the best products range and solutions to their customers. We have always relied on the strength and support of our channel partners and ensure their profitability and growth in business. Asus is also one of the few brands that has a complete product portfolio ranging from PC components to media players, LCDs and now even desktop systems. In the current scenario, having a diversified product portfolio will help partners to grow business and profitability and Asus is a well established and trusted brand in the IT channel in India.

7. How many partners you have in South? How much you are planning to increase? (Please give me the break up in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka)

We have close to 118 partners in the south region. More than increasing the number of partners, we're focusing on growing our existing business with our current partners and encouraging them to do business of our other product lines.