PETALING JAYA: Tune Talk Sdn Bhd is moving into 2022 with two main goals: to build up its B50 (bottom 50) customer base and to resume its focus on air travellers.

       Chief executive officer Ameen Amaendran said the company has a track record serving the underserved segments in Malaysia since 2009, where it has built a strong and loyal B40 community within its customer base over the years.

       Recently, the Statistics Department announced that 580,000 M40 (middle 40) households had slid down to the B40 group in 2020 because of a decline in their income as an effect of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

       “The government has even reclassified the B40 segment as B50 to reflect the expansion of the country’s lowest income group.”

       “Consumption and spending behaviour will change and we see this as an opportunity to re-evaluate our products and services to ensure that we remain relevant to the B50 community.”

       Ameen said that in 2022, Tune Talk aims to build a strong support system for its B50 customers by easing their financial difficulties in any possible way.

       “As an example, we are working with multiple insurance providers on identifying and offering the most relevant Perlindungan Tenang Insurance package for our customers, which comes with a free RM50 voucher as part of the government’s initiative to help the B50 segment,” he told StarBiz.Ameen said Tune Talk is also looking at collaborations in other areas and these include micro-financing, BNPL (buy now, pay later) and B50 training and development.

       Tune Talk logo

       With more than a decade experience serving its B40 customers, he added that Tune Talk is confident in its ability to understand customer needs to create solutions that would help them navigate through these challenging times.

       With Tune Talk being closely associated with AirAsia, he said it is only natural that the company has its eyes fixed on the traveller segment.

       Prior to the pandemic, Tune Talk collaborated with AirAsia to launch the AirAsia Traveller SIM packs that offer high-speed data roaming services across 20 AirAsia destinations.

       The initial sales for these packs were encouraging and were picking up traction, until the pandemic grounded not just AirAsia but the entire airline industry globally.

       Ameen said the company is now closely monitoring the travel industry, where it sees encouraging signs indicating a strong V-shaped recovery ahead for both international and domestic flights.

       He said domestic passenger movements have surged by 74% month-on-month and Tune Talk is looking forward to resuming its focus on travellers next year.

       He said that in the first quarter of next year, the company would launch a postpaid product that would complement the needs of the “new normal” traveller and accompanying their travel behaviour, Covid-19 testing at airports, quarantine restrictions and sandbox programmes.

       Commenting on its investments, he said Tune Talk has continuously and consistently invested into two areas – customer experience and the development of its people and employees.

       In 2022, Ameen said it would continue focusing on these areas but would at the same time skew heavily towards digitalisation.

       With over 90% of customers actively using the Tune Talk Self Care app every month, he noted that it is logical for the company to continuously improve its journey with innovative experiences and captive engagements.

       “We have recently revamped our app to a more simple and pleasing layout and will be perpetually enhancing the user interface and user experience aspects of the app,” he added.

       Ameen said functionality will also increase to match its customers’ lifestyle, one of which will be the inclusion of a section specifically for the B50 segment.

       “Another area we are exploring is convenience such as utilities payment and online shopping.

       “We have no ambition of becoming the next super-app but more of remaining a super-app for our loyal customers.”

       As to how the company has managed to hold up despite the ravaging Covid-19, he said both 2020 and 2021 have been challenging years for Tune Talk as it faced the pandemic and its effects on the economy, with multiple movement control orders (MCOs) and other restrictions.

       Fortunately, he said the company had embarked on its digitalisation transformation ahead of the pandemic, but most importantly ahead of many other industry players.

       He said that move gave Tune Talk an edge to win market share.

       “We and our stakeholders had an almost complete digital ecosystem and we managed to pivot quickly to market our products via digital channels and social media when physical outlets were not allowed to open due to MCOs.

       “Our people were digitally competent to work remotely and we just had to make certain adjustments to ensure they are sufficiently tooled to work from the comforts of their homes,” he said.

       Until today, its customer care team members are fully operating from their respective homes instead of the usual call centre environment, he added.