Together, the two provide a pincer-like control over theservice function. Consider first Pro-Focus 21, which is a software management tool which is currently being used by Samsung to integrate all customer-related data at one site--and which is accessible to anyone in India and throughout the world.

Focus-21's main application is in service management. Currently, Samsung's service empire in India consists of 75 service engineers attached to its 13 Samsung service centres and 222 service engineers employed by the company's 74 Authorised Service Centres (ASC).

The first time a customer calls in at a service centre, they are given a unique call number. Focus-21 then maintains a complete record of the customer history from complaint details, set details, name of service engineer who attended to the customer, the time and nature of service provided, to even the spares used.

On the flip side, Focus-21's centralised database reflects the performance of all the field engineers according to `calls pending'--and ties in with a rewards scheme. Every month, each branchchooses an engineer-of-the-month on the basis of the total number of calls per engineer. The engineers are then ranked on how many calls solved, how many solved within 24 hours, and number of repeat calls from the customer (ideally, there should be none.)

Currently, all 13 Samsung service centres are on-line to Focus-21 through V-sat. By year-end, the network is expected to extend to 35 authorised service centres, and by the middle of next year, cover all 74 authorised service centres. The primary investment for the company has been to the tune of Rs 55 lakh, with each service centre needing a Pentium Pro processor with 32 MB of RAM, and 133 MB of clock speed, to run the software.

Says R Srikanth, assistant general manager, service, Samsung India: ``Focus-21 will ensure that the service experience is the same for a customer serviced directly by a corporate service centre in Delhi, or an authorised service centre in Kanpur.''

It also provides spares management. With all spares-related information on thedatabase, Samsung is eschewing holding large volumes of spares stock--both at the centralised warehouse in Okhla and at service centres across the country. Instead, Samsung is setting up a National Spares Warehouse in Okhla, where all spares costing more than Rs 2000 are stocked.

The pay-off? According to Samsung, thanks to Focus-21, the all-India inventory of spares has come down by 80 per cent, in value terms. Moreover obsolescence is down: the software flags any part which has been in stock for more than six months. Finally, stores space has come down from 1,400 square feet per branch to just 250 square feet per branch. Says Srikanth, ``Inventory management at the branch is reduced dramatically.''

If Focus-21 drives Samsung's customer service, ITSELF Solution--an acronym for Integrated Technology Supporting Electronic Library for Solutions-- provides the follow-through. Since ITSELF is a storehouse of Samsung's entire library of technical information, any service engineer in any part of the country canlog into the system for information on technical specs, model modifications and even on-line help for repairing any Samsung product.

That's a huge help--given the wide range of Samsung products and models that service engineers have to provide support to. Currently in India, for example, a field engineer must be able to provide service support to CTVs (15 models), refrigerators (9), washing machines (5), microwaves (4), audio systems (7), video-CD systems (2), laser disc system (1), camcorders (2), and airconditioners (2).

Says Srikanth, ``We know the competition is hotting up. And the lesser the time taken for repairs, the better the satisfaction we can give our customer.''

Just a keystroke away on ITSELF? The entire range of Samsung's service manuals (from September Samsung plans to phase out printed service manuals). The technical information specs for all products and models (even if you bought your camcorder in Singapore, it can be serviced in Kochi). And Samsung's entire training manual(technicians will now be trained by going on-line on ITSELF through Samsung televisions, via a PC-to-TV converter--directly from Korea to Vizag).

Says R S Bhattacharjee, manager, training and development: ``It saves space, money and time. Where would we stack 500 manuals?'' There are pings on the network though--telecom lines go down, and some authorised service centres still don't come under the Net.

Moreover, the software is only as good as its usage. Samsung is now working on getting its people to use Focus-21 and ITSELF, often and accurately. Recently, the company appointed a service manager at its head office, whose primary responsibility is monitoring and auditing the performance of all service engineers through the Focus-21 databank.

At least four to five random checks are made a day to track the record of service engineers across the country. If there are too many calls pending against an engineer's name, a prompt query goes to the branch service manager.

On Monday morning at 9 am, everySamsung branch service manager meets all the field engineers and goes over the Focus-21 feedback from head office. The data is collated and a service action plan is then drawn. Every quarter, there is a branch service manager's meeting at the head office to track adherence to the new software-led systems. Byte by byte, Samsung is tightening it's customer service net.