In: Finance
Bharat Petroleum is trying to catch up to the electronic pace of the generation using internet technology to it's highest optimised manner, there by opening its door to general consumers as well as businesses directly to raise development of the economy on a whole with its corporate responsibilty being taken care of.
The company has successfully achieved B2B integration in the form of a digital document exchange with Asian Paints, the first of its kind in the country. BPCL is planning to extend this to other customers in future. The initiative under the B2B segment covers about 7,000 customers.
BPCL staff have to respond to customers e-mail enquiries within 48 hours. The company has web-enabled its order receiving system for the B2B segment where the bulk consumer can place his order at any hour of the day. The system also tracks the consumption pattern of the consumer and sends reminders regularly through e-mails.
This is beneficial to industrial consumers as it helps them plan their procurement orders better as they know the companys stock position in the various depots. The company receives orders from 400 segments spread across different locations, he added.
On an average, 1.4 lakh e-mails are exchanged between BPCL employees and customers everyday. A study carried out by the company shows that the intranet has helped the company save up to 30 per cent in document printing and distribution costs as well as in long-distance landline communications costs within the enterprise.
For its domestic customers, BPCL went beyond just LPG refilling. It added to its initiatives the PetroCard and SmartFleet which are used offline but the company plans to use them for relationship management as customer tracking and bill presentation tools to strengthen its presence on the Net. The cards can also help the company in tracking how much fuel was purchased by a customer and the waiting time at its petrol pumps.