Provoking Thought

5 Trends that will RE-DEFINE our FUTURE

2011-09-03T10:45:00.001+05:30

5 Trends that will RE-DEFINE our FUTURE

1. TELECOM Revolution has increased multi-fold theSPEED of CHANGE in the last 10 years -Industries which cannot keep up will be wiped out.

Lets take the example of2 industries

a. 400 year old printindustry is under threat

While players likegoogle are making all books and information electronic, e-ink like amazonkindle are making print redundant. And guess what happens next – whilecompanies like Amazon gain, others such as HP (whose significant business isprinting) – get into trouble.

b. 50 year old TV industryis being re-structured.

10 years ago could youhave imagined have a cricket series played by India – only to be watched on TV.The IPL last year in South Africa was a defining moment for India. Not justthat, you could also watch it on you-tube.

Traditional industriessuch at TV are being rewritten by IPTV and mobile -this is being followed by a majorbudget and an Advertisement Shift from TV to the Internet media.

2. 10 years ago Computing and Communications wereseparate industries. With the advent ofsmart phones and tablet computers, there is an everlasting marriage ofComputing and communications. As processing power has increased, the next 10years will involve significant innovations in Data and Tablet led Applications.

Large companies such asHP have had to suddenly shift gears and focus from Hardware to software andapplications. Several industries such as healthcare, education, logistics willgo through immense transformation in the next 10 years.

3. If extreme growth happens in one industry, itwill open up opportunities in diverse areas

o When mobile industry grew from … 2 million to700 million in last 10 years – a lot of other industries were impacted.

10 years ago, we could not do – what we did last year.

We helped a largeinfrastructure company with assets in 20 states track real time information offilling and utilization of oil using end-users own mobile phones. Theseend-users were diesel fillers and vehicle drivers. In an industry which spendsover 10,000 crores on diesel annually by tracking real time information we wereable to provide savings of 20%. This happened in a matter of few months andgenerated 100s of crores of free cash flow.

This happens by dieselfiller owning a basic cell-phone and sending real-time data input viasms– Could you have dreamt ofthis 10 years ago?

My point is that extremegrowth in mobile phones has opened 100s of untapped new opportunities in otherindustries.

4. Personalization has never been so important: Unlike computers or the fixed line phones –mobiles have become personalized devices. Identity and personalization willdrive growth in the next 10 years – Initiatives such as UID, Microfinance,healthcare, tele education will change the way we work.

5. Innovation is not always about inventing anew technology – it can be putting together old technologies

a. What major global event happened on May 2 thisyear?

o When Osama Bin Laden was killed by America thefirst to break the news was not TOI, NDTV or CNN – it was Twitter!!

The point I want to makeis --World’s best Media and News companies were not able to compete with thespeed and powerof Social Media such as Twitter.

o Twitter did not have any new Technology – itsinnovation is in usability

b. Can you think of the phone you had in 2006?

o The arrival of iPhone in 2007brought in new era which set off the smart phone and touch phone revolution

o iPhone had innovation in usability – it did nothave any new Technology

– next 10 years will beabout Application of Technology and not inventing core technology.

And finally as individuals, we are still learning to use thiseffectively

While we keep buying thenew gadgets – we are unable to keep up with managing them.

Peter Drucker says bestproductivity is achieved in un-interrupted work spans of 90 minutes.

How many of us are able to go 90 minutes withoutlooking at your phone?

In our blind love for technology, webecome addicted and cannot see the point where we start to lose productivity

Slow Down

2011-08-22T22:20:00.000+05:30

An interesting reflection: Slow Down Culture

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fuelled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality,
productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means re-establishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.

It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of
products and services, without losing the essence of spirit. In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl
to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant".Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalize world.

When I think of innovation 3 things come to my mind

2011-08-16T15:39:00.000+05:30

1. Innovation is not always about inventing a new technology – it can be putting together old technologies

a. What major global event happened on May 2 this year?

o When Osama Bin Laden was killed by America the first to break the news was not TOI, NDTV or CNN – it was Twitter!!

The point I want to make is --World’s best Media and News companies were not able to compete with the speed and powerof Social Media such as Twitter.

o Twitter did not have any new Technology – its innovation is in usability

b. Can you think of the phone you had in 2006?

o The arrival of iPhone in 2007 brought in new era which set off the smart phone and touch phone revolution

o iPhone had innovation in usability – it did not have any new Technology

Peter Drucker says best productivity is achieved in un-interrupted work spans of 90 minutes.

How many of you are able to go 90 minutes without looking at your phone?

We can keep up with buying the new gadgets – but are unable to keep up with managing them. In our blind love for technology, we become addicted and cannot see the point where we start to lose productivity

2. If extreme growth happens in one industry, it will open up opportunities in diverse areas

o When mobile industry grew from … 2 million to 700 million in last 10 years – a lot of other industries were impacted.

10 years ago, we could not do – what we did last year.

We helped a large infrastructure company with assets in 20 states track real time information of filling and utilization of oil using end-users own mobile phones. These end-users were diesel fillers and vehicle drivers. In an industry which spends over 10,000 crores on diesel annually by tracking real time information we were able to provide savings of 20%. This happened in a matter of few months and generated 100s of crores of free cash flow.

This happens by diesel filler owning a basic cell-phone and sending real-time data input via sms– Could you have dreamt of this 10 years ago?

My point is that extreme growth in mobile phones has opened 100s of untapped new opportunities in other industries.

3. Unlearning the old process takes 3 times longer than innovating the new process

Security checks are done in all airports globally – however it’s only in India where they still stamp your cabin baggage – this was beneficial 50 years ago when airports were small and not secure

India is one of the only places where cabin bags are still stamped at the airport – a process set in 50 years ago

Last week, as I rushed to catch my flight, I was stopped at the gate – because my baggage tag was not stamped

If you did this at Delhi’s new Terminal 3– you will not be missing your gym that day.

Why has it taken 3 generations to change this archaic process?

Can we start questioning our business processes to ensure that they keep PACE with new technologies and innovations and not let them become – a cabin baggage process?

Innovation is often right in front of us—we just need to look from a different paradigm.

The Last Lecture

2011-05-11T01:24:00.000+05:30

I just finished reading "the Last Lecture", http://www.thelastlecture.com/, by Randy Pausch.

Randy is a CMU professor who gets Terminal Cancer at 47. He shares his story of relocation and publishes a book for his kids 6, 3, 2. Through his book he shares some incredible FIRST PRINCIPLES - which all of us can learn a lot from.

I would strongly recommend you to visit the web site and also read the book.

BTW, I ended up reading this book after about a year of my daughter Payal --wanting me to read it. It is she who had read it and inspired me to read it.

Evolution of Revenue Models in Telecom Stack

2010-11-14T14:11:00.001+05:30

Revenues

Operators (MNOs) get 70% of the Revenues of the industry, where us OEMs get about 15% of the revenue. For instance in the Indian context the revenue from MNOs is about $ 25b, compored to $ 7 billion of all OEMs. Bharti alone does about $ 7b revenue. MNOs make most of the revenues of the industry.

Distribution – while the Telecom Operators get most of the revenue, the largest operator in the world has about 300 million end users. Compared to this Nokia has about 1 billion handsets in the market place. The reach and distribution of OEMs is far greater than the MNOs.

Moving to Capture Value Across the Stack: Apple started in Device Design, however since then has moved across the spectrum. Today it has become

a service provider through the App store model.
An integrated provider which provides Hardware, OS, UI design.

Similarly Google started as a SERVICE Provider (Search company, ad sponsored), however has moved on to become an OS provider (Android). With that it will start controlling the customer footprint (end –devices), in addition to being a service provider. Its recent moves in the

, by acquiring spectrum are to meet its aspiration of being a Service Provider in the near future.

Nokia started as a Device manufacturer and providing OS. Its new initiative and aspirations are to become a Service Provider – the Ovi service has been started to meet these goals.

1990 – 2015 transition

What you will notice is that MNOs focused on being service providers while OEMs focused on being better in their area in the 90s. Today they are moving across stack to increase customer stickiness and get a larger pie of the revenue.

Over the next 5 years – MNOs are likely to strengthen their base by focusing more on Network as a service (Naas)

Mbilling (micro billing)

Widgets (applications)

Service as an inventory (providing service apps on devices – and making it easy).

OEMs, meanwhile will cross optimize their strengths in Device design, UI design and core apps, OS. They will also try to move into the MNO segment to get a larger pie of revenues

The chipset manufacturers will focus on scalability, performance and optimization of their OS.

From Hardware to Service Revenues

As we saw above revenues need to move from hardware (one-time) to Services (recurring). They also need to move from Downstream (customer pays the service provider) to Upstream (partners pay the service provider). Google is a classic case of Upstream revenue – For the customer, the service is free – it is paid by the Advertiser (who pays for 97% of Google’s revenue).

Over time

Revenue will move from one time to service
It will move from Downstream to Upstream

Reactions and Response

2010-09-01T09:17:00.001+05:30

Shared by a friend ….. good read …

Suddenly, a cockroach flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.
I wondered if this was the cockroachs response to all the glory that was spoken about it!

She started screaming out of fear.
With panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group got cranky to what was happening.
The lady finally managed to push the cockroach to another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.

In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.
The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt.
When he was confident enough, he grabbed and threw it out with his fingers.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering!

Was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?
He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

I realized even in my case then , it is not the shouting of my father or my boss that disturbs me,
But its my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

Its not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, its my reaction to the problem that hurts me.

The Take-Away :

The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

We should not react in life, we should always respond.
Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always intellectual

Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids

2010-04-10T20:44:00.000+05:30

A very interesting video on how Adults can learn from kids. Check out
http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html

Do Schools Kill Creativity

2010-03-28T12:51:00.003+05:30

A girl was drawing a picture of god. People around her said “No one knows what god looks like.” And she said “They would in a minute”.

1. Kids will take a chance. They will not worry about being wrong. They will take a risk. The same is unfortunately not true about adults.

If you are not prepared to be wrong you wont come with anything original. By the time they get to be adults they have lost that capacity. They are frightened of being wrong.

Schools are run in a way where mistakes are the worst things that can happen. We are educating people out of their creative capacity.

Picasso said “ All children are born artists.” We don’t grow into creativity but we grow out of it, or rather get educated out of it.

2. Do you know where Shakespeare was born? He was born in stratford. Can you imagine of Shakespeare as a child? Being 7 and going to school? He must have been 7 sometime and been in someone’s English class. (ha… ha… ha..)

How annoying would it have been? Checking all of his English assignments and telling him to work harder on his English. Can you imagine his mom telling him “Go to bed now and put the pencil down. and stop speaking like that. Its confusing everybody.”

If this had been the case Shakespeare wouldn’t have been what he is today. People wouldn’t know him like they do.

3. Same hierarchy of subjects everywhere. At the top is maths and languages, then humanities and then the arts.

Art and music are given a higher status than drama and dance.

Maths is very important but so is dance. We have bodies., don’t we.. and… We all love to dance.

The main output of education is to produce university professors who typically live in their heads. They look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads.

There was no such education system before the 19^th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of the green revolution.

4. You’re always told not to do what you like. Don’t do art, don’t do music. You’ll never get a job like this.

Highly talented, brilliant and creative people think they are not capable because of the bad system of university entrance. Anybody not good at school was never valued and stigmatized. In the next 30 years according to UNESCO more people will be graduating through university than since the beginning of history. Degrees aren’t worth anything. Isn’t that true? Earlier if a student had a degree he had a job and if he didn’t have a job it was because he didn’t want one.

Now you need a PhD where you needed an MA and you now need an MA where you needed a BA degree. This is because of academic inflation. My father once met a person who had done his BA. Can you guess what job he was doing? He is one of the security guards in our colony.

We know three things about intelligence:

1. It is diverse-visually, in sound

2. It is dynamic- wonderfully interactive creativity is a process of having original ideas which have values

3. It is distinct.

But the current education system

1. enforces rules upon us.. instructs us to do things in a specific manner

2. focuses on all kinds of subjects, not allowing professionals in the country to be experts in their domain.

3. enables the majority of the population, who by the way do not want to become lawyers or doctors to waste their time and kill creativity.

4. doesn’t allow are schools to be flexible. They have very limited co-curricular activities.

The current CCE system which focuses on comprehension rather than rote is a huge step towards practical education. The scraping of the board exams signifies a welcoming change. But there are still a large number of areas which need to be looked after in the field of education.

If winter comes,

Can spring be far behind? Did you know 21^st century is going to see the Renaissance of the Right Brained people just like the 20^th century was driven by Left Brain.

Touching Response to Mumbai tragedy

2010-03-07T21:32:00.003+05:30

October 10, 2009

Meeting with H N Srinivas – Senior Executive Vice President, Taj Group of Hotels

Last evening, I had a dinner meeting with HNS in Goa (I was there for a National Institute of Personnel Management conference – as a speaker).

He narrated the 26^th November 2008 terror attack on Taj Mumbai and there were some important points.

A. Terrorist entry

1. They entered from the Leopold Colaba hotel entrance and also from the northern entrance – spraying indiscriminate bullets on the Taj security personnel and guests in general.

2. Though Taj had a reasonable security – they were surely not equipped to deal with terrorists who were spraying 6 bullets per trigger.

3. The strategy of the terrorists was to throw chunks of RDX in an open area that will explode and burn – creating chaos so that the guests and staff run helter skelter so that the terrorists could kill them. The idea was to create maximum casualties.

4. There were several critical gatherings and functions happening in the hotel on that day – a Bohra wedding, global meet of Unilever CEOs and Board members and 2 other corporate meetings were being held in the hotel – besides the usual crowd.

5. The firing and chaos began at about 8.30 p.m. and the staff including employees on casual and contract basis displayed exemplary presence of mind, courage and sacrifice to protect the guests who were in various halls and conference rooms.

B. Stories of Staff Heroics

1. A young lady guest relation executive with the HLL gathering stopped any of the members going out and volunteered 3 times to go out and get stuff such as ice cubes for whiskey of the guests when the situation outside the hall was very explosives and she could have been easily the target of the bullets

2. Thomas George a captain escorted 54 guests from a backdoor staircase and when he was going down last he was shot by the terrorists

3. There were 500 emails from various guests narrating heroics of the staff and thanking them for saving their lives

4. In a subsequent function, Ratan Tata broke down in full public view and sobbed saying – “the company belongs to these people”. The wife of Thomas George who laid his life saving others said, she and the kids were proud of the man and that she did not know that for 25 years she lived with a man who was so courageous and brave

5. The episode happened on 26^th November, a significant part of the hotel was burnt down and destroyed – the hotel was re-opened on 21^st December and all the employees of the hotel were paraded in front of the guests

6. It was clearly a saga of extra-ordinary heroics by ordinary people for their organisation and in a way for their country. The sense of duty and service was unprecedented

7. The young lady who protected and looked after the HLL guests was a management trainee and we often speak of juniority and seniority in the organisation. She had no instructions from any supervisor to do what she did

a. She took just 3 minutes to rescue the entire team through the kitchen

b. Cars were organised outside the hotel as per seniority of the members

c. In the peak of the crisis, she stepped out and got the right wine glass for the guest

8. People who exhibited courage included janitors, waiters, directors, artisans and captains – all level of people

C. The Tata Gesture

1. All category of employees including those who had completed even 1 day as casuals were treated on duty during the time the hotel was closed

2. Relief and assistance to all those who were injured and killed

3. The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway station, surroundings including the “Pav-Bhaji” vendor and the pan shop owners

4. During the time the hotel was closed, the salaries were sent my money order

5. A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel those who needed such help

6. The thoughts and anxieties going on people’s mind was constantly tracked and where needed psychological help provided

7. Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation, first aid and counseling was provided. 1600 employees were covered by this facility

8. Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that person’s responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the person required

9. Ratan Tata personally visited the families of all the 80 employees who in some manner – either through injury or getting killed – were affected.

10. The dependents of the employees were flown from outside Mumbai to Mumbai and taken care off in terms of ensuring mental assurance and peace. They were all accommodated in Hotel President for 3 weeks

11. Ratan Tata himself asked the families and dependents – as to what they wanted him to do.

12. In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the Tatas for the purpose of relief of employees.

13. What is unique is that even the other people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians who had nothing to do with Tatas were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided subsistence allowance of Rs. 10K per month for all these people for 6 months.

14. A 4 year old granddaughter of a vendor got 4 bullets in her and only one was removed in the Government hospital. She was taken to Bombay hospital and several lacs were spent by the Tatas on her to fully recover her

15. New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts

16. Tata will take responsibility of life education of 46 children of the victims of the terror

17. This was the most trying period in the life of the organisation. Senior managers including Ratan Tata were visiting funeral to funeral over the 3 days that were most horrible

18. The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rs. 36 to 85 lacs in addition to the following benefits:

a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents

b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents – anywhere in the world

c. Full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their life

d. All loans and advances were waived off – irrespective of the amount

e. Counselor for life for each person

D. Epilogue

1. How was such passion created among the employees? How and why did they behave the way they did?

2. The organisation is clear that it is not something that someone can take credit for. It is not some training and development that created such behaviour. If someone suggests that – everyone laughs

3. It has to do with the DNA of the organisation, with the way Tata culture exists and above all with the situation that prevailed that time. The organisation has always been telling that customers and guests are #1 priority

4. The hotel business was started by Jamshedji Tata when he was insulted in one of the British hotels and not allowed to stay there.

5. He created several institutions which later became icons of progress, culture and modernity. IISc is one such institute. He was told by the rulers that time that he can acquire land for IISc to the extent he could fence the same. He could afford fencing only 400 acres.

6. When the HR function hesitatingly made a very rich proposal to Ratan – he said – do you think we are doing enough?

7. The whole approach was that the organisation would spend several hundred crore in re-building the property – why not spend equally on the employees who gave their life?

Minuted by Dileep Ranjekar

2009-12-26T21:20:00.001+05:30

Make healthcare a right

(abstract from Kiran Karnik's blog. To read the whole article visit http://kirankarnik.wordpress.com/2009/11/

YESTERDAY,5,000 children — all below five years old — died in India. Not only yesterday, but day after day, about 5,000 children die. When some 3,000 people died in New York on 9/11, eight years ago, the world changed. When about 175 people were killed in Mumbai in November 2007, the nation was energised into action; a 100-day plan of action was announced, one chief minister and the Union home minister were, in effect, fired. Both these tragic terrorist events rightly generated anger, revulsion and action. Popular activism replaced apathy, governments moved quickly and decisively, and all agencies were mobilised. Why, then, does the horrifying daily mass-death of thousands of children not shock us into similar action? What causes this benumbing of sensitivity?

For more visit http://kirankarnik.wordpress.com/2009/11/

2009-11-15T13:40:00.001+05:30

SIMPLIFYING USER EXPERIENCE TO ACCELERATE ADOPTION

The challenge before us is to simplify User experience to the point that it gets adopted virally. The need to address Digital Inclusion at the Bottom of the Pyramid is well established. Along with this, there are also numerous groups working to address the problem. In spite of so many interest groups, a large number of pilots, large budgets the problem continues to evade a solution.

In this context here are 5 considerations to keep in mind.

Innovative Solutions: Google has become a household name for both computer literate as well as those who donot use computers everyday. Google has become synonymous with Internet or search. The point to note is that Google is only 11 years old – but became a global phenomenon virally – it exploded by word or mouth and solved a large problem of "Search". The most important point is that it is "easy to use" – it needs no education. A 3 year old can start using it. Today you can use it from the computer or cell phone. Google is available in most countries globally and supports most languages. Today, it supports several Indian languages.

85% of Bihar's villages has no electricity –yet cell phone adoption is significant in Bihar. In fact people download music and ringtones on phones and use it for entertainment. They have found an innovative solution to charging their phones. They send the phone with the local bus to the nearest point where electricity is available, have it charged and then returned – they pay a fee to have this done.

Today 62% of all prepaid recharges are for Rs. 10/-. These are coming from people in bottom of pyramid (BOP), and a large number from rural India. People are spending precious Rs. 10/- on cell phone recharges ahead of vaccination for their kids, or education. The point is it provides entertainment and is easy to spend.

Inclusion – Today there are 500 million phones. These are growing at 10 million phones a month. In the next 2 years there will be 700 million phones in a country of about 1.3 billion. More than 50% of the people will have phones – a large number in BOP. This is INCLUSION – where it has been mass adopted and people are paying to keep the service active at least once in 6 months. The point is there is far greater MOBILE INCLUSION than DIGITAL or FINANCIAL Inclusion.

Customer Need -In Kenya MPesa has acquired 7 million customers for money remittance in 3 years. This is because it serves the important need of Money Transfer and it is easy to use on the cell phone – it does not involve cumbersome setup or KYC norms.

We need to understand customer requirement – which is of remittance or bill payment and not create hurdles first – KYC, authentication and the where withal which goes with it are just speed breakers to adoption

Information Asymmetry: The problem lies in uniform access to information. The cost of information in services is especially high – such as education, healthcare, governance, energy and business transactions. Today with the cost of SMS much below 5 paise – a significant part of the imbalance can be addressed using the mobile channel effectively. The need of the hour is process simplification – a sashe based process – which is effective and easy to explain.

Hybrid model – For rural India the number of transaction in any given service may not be very large but the problem in most services is of Information Asymmetry – if all these can be clubbed together it can create a viable business model.

Its not about Technology: Finally there is a huge mis conception that the problem will be solved by Technology. Technology will certainly be an enabler however whatever Technology is required, exists today – in fact for the last few years. The need is for Adoption by Customers – and this will happen through process simplification and user adoption. Both Google and cell phone adoption happened virally than by any other means – they solved a problem and were simple to use.

Since January 1, 2010 the profession of Letter Writers (at post offices), will become history. Post Offices are no longer renewing the profession since most people have started using mobile phones instead of letter writing. Similarly there are 61 lakhs PCOs (Public call offices) and entrepreneurs going out of business. The point is there is an established network of public workers and entrepreneurs which today reaches all part of the country – Can they be productively used to service a customer need like money remittance or bill payment without making it too complex.

The challenge before us is to reduce the process to 10% of what it is (simplify it by at least 90%) to increase velocity of adoption. The challenge is velocity and adoption, not regulation. This will make a difference – not setting up newer complex processes.

Simply User Experience to Accelerate Adoption.

I am Feeling Lucky

2009-10-16T16:48:00.001+05:30

I am feeling lucky.. Simplicity is the king.

As the mobile network becomes bigger -- nearly 4 billion people are
wired on the voice cloud. Technology enables them to connect anyone to
another at any given time by a unique number. Once connected the
interface is easy -- a common voice language. In case the language is
not common, it is easy -- you cannot converse.

Go beyond voice --
a. Do we have 4 billion apps.
B. Is there a unique id for them.
C. Is there a common interface /language once connected -

google has ' i am feeling lucky' for an exact match -- can we have a
similar simple interface to harness the power of multitude
applications on a mobile.
The success lies in simplicity and intuitiveness of the application.

SIMPLIFY -- Your baggage is not stamped

2009-10-04T12:03:00.004+05:30

I was running to my flight to Chennai on Thursday at Delhi airport, and while coming out of security I started chatting with the security person on the new procedure for laptop trays. The security person got distracted by my conversation and forgot to stamp my baggage.

As I was getting ready to board the bus, I was held back - Sir your baggage is not stamped.

Since I was familiar with the drill, I just came off the line, climbed the 50 stairs, went to the security person and got the drill completed.

However that left me thinking - what does the stamping on the bag tag achieve ? Does it ensure that the bags have been checked by the security personnel. The laptop did come in separately -- it is not stamped and is put inside the bag just after it.

I think this was a good process when the airports were not sealed off, or the volume of passangers was not large -- in India there may still be a few such airports -- however for most big airports like Delhi and Mumbai -- it is a needless hassle for passengers, airport staff, security officials -- not to forget the loss of productivity, manpowers spent.

Incidentally, this practice is unique to India. I have not seen this happening at any airports in countries outside - be it US or Europe or even countries closer home - Bangladesh, Sri lanka, UAE, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore.

As India takes leadership in Mobile revolution unlearning past processes and bringing in SIMPLICITY in everyday life is very important.

Ankur

GOOGLE LABS

2009-09-26T22:57:00.001+05:30

Google Labs has some interesting applications. One application I tried out is SMS Channels. Using SMS channels you can create a discussion group on SMS. Using the discussion group, you can send a single SMS from your mobile -- and this would be broadcast to all members in your discussion group.

A discussion group can also be used to update people in a group - about an event - so a group for a class of students can be intimated about change of schedule or work assignment using a single SMS.

As of now this feature is under trial by Google and is for free.

Google channels also allows you to subscribe to content for cricket, news and other information services.

Check out labs.google.co.in

Wireless sensors

2009-09-26T22:39:00.001+05:30

While driving down from Moolchand to New Delhi Railway station, the clock on the big hoarding (next to CGO complex said) - 4:32am. Actually the time was close to 6:15am. How do get up there and fix the clock. Time is not far when the clock would be enabled with a GSM SIM inside it and can be remotely controlled from a control panel -either on another mobile or on a computer terminal. The control panel could also get a report indicating that the clock was either behind or running fast -- so corrective action could be taken.

Wireless sensors can do a lot more than get the correct time on the clock. They could transmit information on weather, temperature, brightness, traffic, diesel level on a telecom tower in a remote area etc. They could also be integrated on the top of network routers and transmit alerts on an alternate channel when the Internet traffic which they monitor reached un reasonable thresholds.

Time is not far when such sensors would make devices more intelligent and also controllable.

Cloud Computing

2009-09-20T12:30:00.000+05:30

Cloud Computing is changing the way we work. With the increase of communications both cellular and Internet, it is far easier and faster to access information on the cloud than on your computer at home or work, or even your own cellphone. Besides information cloud provides rapid access to Software, tools, videos, information, anything you may desire.

A great example of Cloud is Google. Google is just not search -- it is so much more. One great example in GMAIL and Google Calendar. With google calendar you can put your schedule on the cloud -- you may share it with others or just for yourself - you can set reminders of your tasks and appointments -- these can come to you on the cellphone or via email.