Like most MBA students, I have looked forward to my Summer Internship with both a mix of hope and apprehension. Hope to learn new things, to finally be able to apply my learnings on the field and apprehension towards my own insecurities and fear of failure. With the internship coming closer, however, I decided to let go of my fears and commit myself to give my best shot – and damned be the outcome.
One of the things I was looking forward to was the idea of interning with Vodafone. As an Electrical & Electronics Engineer, I felt that Vodafone would be an apt place for me to apply my knowledge and skills to the fullest. I looked forward to working on a hard-core telecom project which would test both the engineer and the manager in me. But life, it seems, had other ideas.
A unique feature of interning in Vodafone is the ability to work out of our Home Circles. The organisation understands the fact that two months is a short time and thus allows the candidates to utilise it to completely immerse themselves in the project and without having to exert themselves in adjusting to an alien city. Thus, began my stint at Vodafone ANE Circle.
I joined the Circle office at Guwahati and the week took off with our induction program. Although we were working out of different locations, the trainees had a chance to interact with the leadership at the Corporate Office and get insights into how the organisation works both at the national and global level.
I also had an opportunity to interact extensively with the leadership at the Circle Office. I was pleasantly surprised with the time and effort they took out of their busy schedules to both teach me the basics of the business and make me feel a part of the team.
At the end of my induction, I was finally given my choice of projects – Working on increasing the Penetration of Vodafone Play and My Vodafone Apps. My initial surprise was - being given a project I felt was relatively disconnected from telecom (though these are integral to each other, as I realised later) and it soon gave way to a surge of glee fuelled in by the nerd in me. This was finally a chance for me to make use of the hours spent lazing on my phone in something productive.
As the internship has progressed, I have had a chance to understand the business in depth and understand how going Digital is integral to the continued success of the business and how the Digital aspects of the business are completely dependent on the successful implementation of rest of the aspects of the business.
I have had a chance to travel extensively and understand how the ANE market behaves and how apps are slowly making their mark in the circle. I am humbled by the kind of respect the Vodafone brand garners among its customers and would always consider the brand as a benchmark for customer loyalty. I have also had a chance to understand how promotional campaigns work and to drive new campaigns myself.
As the project moves on to the second phase, I feel confident of my knowledge of the business and look forward to the implementation of the ideas I have pitched thus far. My only hope is that the next phase is just as exhilarating as this past month.
Interning with a global telecom player has allowed me to understand how a business is run at the macro level and working with the circle gave me the knowledge of driving business on the ground. I feel Vodafone is among those few brands which offer their interns such a wide spectrum of learning.
Vodafone operates on the motto of “power to you” and it truly gave me the power to explore and discover myself. Nothing was out of bounds and I was given complete leeway to infuse life into my ideas so long as they stand on good data and logic.
All in all, I feel that it has been a great journey thus far, and hope that the road ahead stays just as interesting.
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About the Author:
Krishanu Bhattacharjee
IIM Indore
PGDM 2016-2018