Wired Up for Wireless oday, the word telephone is an inseparable part of our vocabulary. There was, however, an era in India in the not too distant past when owning a telephone was a luxury that only the well-to-do could afford. Getting a telephone connection, even in India's most progressive city, Mumbai, would take up to seven years, let alone the country's vast rural regions where a telephone was hard to find. Private communication centers and public telephone booths, which are widely available in all towns and cities today, were a rarity back then. Those were the times when the telecommunications sector lay entirely under the jurisdiction of the government, which managed and controlled the entire structure from top to bottom. Only rotary dial telephones were available to the common man. During personal emergencies when a long distant call had to be made, one had to go to the local post office and book a trunk call — which was an arduous procedure in itself. In India today, the scenario has undergone a total change. Private sector telecom companies and service providers vie with each other to offer the most advanced products and services to techno-savvy citizens. Telephone connections can now be obtained on demand. Telephone lines are making inroads even into the most remote parts of the country.

Nanik with Maharashtra Chief Minister  Vilasrao Deshmukh, Anand Mahindra, Dayal Hemrajani and members of the NEC delegation,Noel Hon,Wu Tengguo, Yagi Tomohiro,at the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Enkay

Neutron Electronic System

With thousands of Meltron products sold and installed each year, it became an ever-growing challenge to keep systematic records of each and every one of them. Enkay quickly needed a unique system that would enable the company to provide its clientele with quick, excellent and efficient after-sales service.

To help Enkay in doing just that, Neutron Electronic Systems was incorporated in 1986. Nanik and Dayal took the help of Sushil Sain, as well as of Balram Rupani, Nanik's younger brother, who had been his partner in the plastic moulding business, Rupani Enterprises. Sushil has been Nanik's friend from his school days. He played an integral role in Neutron right from the start. He was the Chairman and Managing Director of National Textile Corporation (NTC) and managed over 33 textile mills with a work force of more than 80,000 workers, when he was invited by Nanik to join Neutron.

Sushil recalls: "I was always a textile person and a big zero in the field of electronics. However, I acquainted myself with the new set of rules. Nanik was always confident that technology would change for the better. I think he knew exactly what would happen in the next decade and believe me, everything turned out exactly as he had envisioned. We started as a modest organization with a turnover barely touching Rs. 60 lakhs and yet there was such a high level of energy in all of us because we believed in Nanik and his golden touch," he states.

Balram was a highly qualified engineer and had completed his M. Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, Mumbai, and subsequently worked with Mafatlal Computers as a Systems Designer. The Maharashtra State Education Board utilized a system for its examination procedures designed by him. He also created the computer software used by the Bombay Municipal Corporation for its water-billing and accounting operations.

"Balram's forte is his implementation skills," Nanik explains. "He joined us to start Neutron Electronic Systems in February 1986. Initially, Neutron was meant to handle Enkay's service operations. To take care of the large spread of Enkay's installations all over the country, Balram quickly envisaged the need for modern technology to provide fast and efficient communication systems to the customer."

At a time when the vast majority of businesses in India maintained records on paper, Enkay broke the tradition and steamed ahead by harnessing the power of automation. In 1987-88, Balram, with support from Nanik and Dayal, designed a fail-safe complaint registration system where nothing was left to chance. The system deve-loped was similar to CRM (Customer Relationship Manage-ment) systems that came into the country much later. Balram also designed computerized systems to handle accounting and inventory billing. These were integrated with each other so that there was no repetition of data entry and information was available at all points.

A dedicated fully computerized service center at Wadala maintained a detailed customer database. With just a press of a key, complete details could be had for any one of Enkay's clients, with full information on the telephone systems installed and used by that client, along with a history of complaints received and the action taken to resolve them. 

The program allowed Neutron's engineers to visit each of its clients to undertake preventive maintenance, at least once every two months. After each service call, the engineers communicated with operators in the head office, who would then issue instructions on where to attend to the next call.

Another practical feature of this powerful program was that it enabled the printing of a service card as soon as a customer call was received. The card contained all relevant customer information as well as details of the complaint received. The speed and efficiency that this system imparted to Neutron's engineers was remarkable. There have been instances of a Neutron engineer ringing the customer's doorbell barely ten minutes after a complaint had been registered.

Balram elaborates: "Computerization provided us a solid platform from which we could monitor, confirm and recheck client requests. For example, I once received a call from the managing director of a company saying that he had filed a complaint at 9.30 am and had received no solution till afternoon. I checked our computerized system and told him the complaint was registered only at 1.37 pm. In reality, his secretary had forgotten to book the complaint. If we had not covered ourselves with such a system, the blame would have been on us."

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