Real case Scenario for Service Marketing GR2 students

ABC Infosystems is a relatively new entrant in the Indian IT sector dominated by biggies
such as Wipro, HCL and Tech Mahindra. They started in the Indian Geography in the
year 2012 and have attained revenues of close to 500Cr in the last financial year. While
the revenue growth is good and they have grown over 150% YoY, this particular
segment is crowded with many mid-sized IT players such as Team Computers, Hitachi
Micro clinic, Progressive InfoTech etc. Add to this there are multiple resellers.
 
Another aspect of the growth of ABC infosystems is that is has been attained primarily
from reselling of IT hardware (Servers/ Networking equipment, Laptops, desktops etc)
and software such as Microsoft licenses. They are premium resellers for big brands
such as Dell, HP, IBM, Kaspersky, Microsoft, etc. This is a commoditized business and
the margins in this particular business are decreasing day by day.
 
On top of it 85% of the business is generated form Government and PSU organizations.
The CEO decided to de-risk the business by creating an additional brand to reach out to
the Corporate segment of the market. Additionally, to augment the profitability he
decided to venture into the domain of IT services which is a high margin business.
 
The company is using all possible communication channels like Mailers, Brochures,
Websites, Webinars, Social media posts, the problem is that it is taking too long to
create the brand presence of the new entity in the highly competitive IT Services
market. There are not many customer references to showcase which is an important
aspect related to the intangibility of services.  While in the Hardware business the brand
name of the manufacturer like Dell, HP was a great help, in services, they themselves
are the Brand. The sales team is finding it difficult to communicate the differentiator in
front of the customer in case of services. The leadership team realized this is because
of Service communication challenges.
 
Since they are finding difficult to break ice with customers and keeping in view the
above problem statement, the company has hired MBA/PGDM graduates to work on
and overcome the Services Communication challenges. If you were part of the above
team, what would your strategy be of overcoming these challenges:
 Service Intangibility
 Management of Service Promise
 Management of Customer Expectations
 Customer Education
 Internal Marketing Communication