Right Time for the Small IT Guy

When we say the word ’IT’ in Pakistan - it pops a whole range of long-term, complicated, policy-level issues in the head. Such as the future of IT students, the e-commerce infrastructure, privacy & protection laws, and then some technological stuff I am not quiet familiar with, frankly. And then is the point: as a user of IT, my immediate problems are of a completely different nature - why doesn’t the Internet work fast enough? Why am I getting unsolicited mail from Pakistani firms that refuse to unsubscribe me from the mailing list? Why hasn’t information technology made my life a wonder of automated efficiency?

In all discussions and debates on the state and future of IT in Pakistan, the ’consumer’ angle is largely missing. What exactly, however, do we mean by the ’consumer angle?’ Relative to our discussion is the end-consumer who uses such IT products and services as Internet Service Providers, cables, DSL, ATM, e-mail, etc. The most critical issues are:
the product: its quality, extent, and limits
the rules of engagement: i.e., what are the rights of consumers vis-à-vis the terms of services as specified by the service provider

Where the first relates to more tangible aspects of the product/ service such as the amount, time duration, etc. – the latter relates to the written or understood rules of interaction between the seller and buyer. For sellers, it is about provision of service, and for the consumer, it is the usage of service. The two issues are closely linked, because in the case of IT products, the ‘product’ is not completely defined until the rules of engagement are clear. For instance, until the usage terms for a portal are not specified for consumers, the product cannot completely fulfill its promise, and the consumer’s experience will remain incomplete.

Let’s take a closer look.

PRODUCT

Though the efficiency and speed of several IT based services has improved over the years, these advances have come largely from a general improvement in technology itself rather than service. (In this context, the word service is used to mean ‘customer service’ and quality of provision rather than ‘intangible product’.) From a business and marketing view, the term ‘service’ not just means the product itself, but the improvement that this product brings in the quality of life of the consumer.

Let us take the case of the widely flourishing cable networks. The tangible product itself is a cable hooked up to the computer. The customer service angle means that it should be specified by the seller that:
How many users maximum will log on at one time?
What will be the speed provided?
What are the limitations – such as can messenger services be logged on? File transfer services? What is the down-time? For how long?

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

The Case of Cable Users

In the helpline chat room of our local cable network one day, I became part of a very interesting and intense debate that lead to some insights about the way consumers think. Given that we users go to the chat room most likely when the Net is down, I suggested that we should specify some rules. Coming from ConsumerVoice PK – a consumer advocacy group – (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/consumervoicepk), my line was that the cable operator should be polite to the increasingly noisy customers, since it was the consistent bad service which led to user frustration and anger. If he were going to impose a ban on users only because they expressed their anger in the helpline chat room, he should have specified that with a policy. In absence of such a policy, he had no right to ‘kick’ users off the network. I added that the operator themselves were not following any rule about service provision and that the service was down around 65-70% of the time which makes it effectively dead. If the consumers were to ‘understand’ that they should not be rude, so must the cable service provider ‘understand’ that we paid for a more-or-less 24-hour service, of which we were getting only about 6 hours.

Surprisingly, my suggestion was attacked by the users themselves whose major contention was that, “This happens in the USA or West… please spare us the lectures.” This was amazing, and I played along only to learn more about this psyche. The users, it seemed, had no idea that there should be such as thing as consumer rights and the right to ‘vote with the feet.’ Moreover, when it was suggested that the cable operator must either increase the rate if current rates were unfeasible, or fulfill his promise at any cost to him, the users failed to grasp the concept. Result: the service was not reestablished quickly enough; users who expressed dismay were banned from the network for a day; and I logged off thinking how unaware both the sellers and buyers are.

To define the rules of engagement, the cable operator ideally should first define the complete product. Second, he must specify the terms of service/use and penalties for violating those. That would include banning of members when they abused in public (in the helpline chat room), usage limitations if any, sharing rights, etc.

On the other hand, the rights of the user must be specified. This includes money-back guarantee if downtime exceeds a given limit, helpdesk procedure, payment collection terms and arrangements, etc.

Since this may be a difficult undertaking for a single cable operator, the easier way is to:
start with specifying only the minimal required and everyday essential terms
make a consortium with other cable operators and devise a standard or template policy to be used by all member cable operators

In another case, a recent discussion on ConsumerVoice PK, someone pointed out to the problem of spam from Pakistani companies. When complained to, the representative of one such company replied in outrage. That reply is reprinted here as is for your interest:

“Is there some law against sending unsolicited mail.
I do not think our mail is junk.
If you think it is junk just delete it.
Can you inform me of any contact address for the PTA [Pakistan Telecommunication Authority] junk mail cell.
I never heard of it and could not find it through google.
Would you like to be removed from further mailings you can just ask politely.
We shall not send you further emails if you request to be removed.”

This response would elicit no comment except wonder. However, in all fairness the response isn’t quite off the mark either: where are the rules that say to spam users in Pakistan is illegal? What prevents any sender to do this except a moral sense…. which, not surprisingly, may never even be felt in a society uneducated about this issue.

We have used the examples of cable networks and spam mails because these are real and current problems faced by many users on the household level. Being ‘small’ on the entire wide spectrum of the ‘IT scenario,’ these and other such issues are easy to overlook. Yet unless the consumer is aware and protected at even this level, there can be no meaningful development to benefit the IT user in Pakistan.