World Class Technology Products from India? July 9, 2010
Posted by Pradeep@Confianzys in Innovation, Product Development.Tags: market segmentation, product development, usability
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If you are anyone who works with product design and development, chances are you that you would find this Dilbert strip not just funny, but familiar.
This cartoon reminded me of the time I was asked to train people on “MS-Windows” in a renowned Public Sector undertaking which was under pressure to reform under the liberalized regime.
So here I was all of 23, asked to become St.Windows or something like that, to go forth and “modernize” the unwashed masses in India’s hinterland, people whose combined experience was higher than all of Microsoft and my company put together. Of course, that didn’t deter me, since I was the chosen missionary to deliver them from misery.
So, cut to chase … when I requested the team to take the mouse and “double-click”, what ensued was one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever witnessed. People were actually physically lifting their mice and taking it to the monitor and doing gymnastics to figure what “clicking” meant. If there was an oxymoronic example of building functional products and design and ensuring that users “use it”, here was one!
Before we in India celebrate that such moronic design is the “forte” of our foreign peers let me tell you that the reason we don’t have such a problem in India is because we don’t “build” products out of India.
Please don’t crucify me for saying that we don’t build products out of India; I must clarify that I meant we do not have a proven winner a.k.a an Apple of the world. There is no shortage of resources for user-friendly and functional product design; yet, it seems as though poorly designed products are no rarity.
Broadly, poor design (and therefore usability) can stem from either (a) a poor understanding of market and customer behaviour, practices and context or (b) the inability to translate sound understanding into implementation (due to constant change in project objectives, under-funding or trying to cater to disparate groups of users with limited resources.)
A basic challenge to market understanding in the Indian market is that in-depth information on particular domains or segments (SMBs for e.g.) is rarely available, or if it is, the information is priced too high for the average small or mid-sized firm. The starting point for Indian firms in many cases is therefore what we could call ‘take a guess.’ Of course, published research is not the only way to understand markets, segments or customers, as we have mentioned before, while discussing market validation for the boot-strapped.
Another challenge is the tremendous amount of user diversity that in the Indian market, making it even harder to understand user segments. For example, the smartphone market in India is booming, but the motivation to purchase could be functional (mid-level corporate executive looking to stay connected and access data) or status-driven (affluent real estate agent who wants a phone from a certain price-band). The first customer would truly appreciate the phone’s functionality, while to the second one, it could be aesthetics that plays a critical role, besides the ease of basic functions such as calling and sms.
The lack of true user understanding also leads to multiple changes in the development process. Sales team feedback suggests an unexplored market, senior managers want ‘extra features’ tacked on – and very soon, the product is a mish-mash that fulfils no one particular segment’s needs well.
This is also a cultural issue – while the spontaneity and ad-hoc nature of work in many Indian workplaces can lead to creativity and unexpected discoveries – it also means that we are poorer when it comes to setting an objective and accomplishing it well and on time. (Which is why Indian IT Service companies function very well – the objectives and timelines are dictated by someone else!)
Great product design will need a completely different approach – one that is user and self-driven (not client driven) and uses technology not in isolation, but in the context of user requirements and behaviour.
5 Look-to places for Innovative Ideas April 21, 2010
Posted by N.P. Menon in Innovation.Tags: open innovation
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The concept of Open Innovation is no longer new. The idea that “firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market” has been at the heart of many OI initiatives such as InnoCentive, IBM Jam and the One Billion Minds project. In the Indian context, organized OI programs such as these are one source of innovative ideas, but certainly not the only source.
Indian users are amazing for their sheer diversity – from Forbes list billionaires to those living on subsistence incomes, from urban teenagers glued to the latest devices to rural citizens who’ve never seen a computer – we have them all. This diversity makes for a whole host of sources that innovative ideas can come from, because, the truth is – everyone has a problem that needs to be solved, if only we look hard enough.
Here are 5 look-to places in the Indian context, specifically for technology firms.
Rural Finance : Large parts of the rural population in India do not have a basic savings bank account. This could be for many reasons such as the absence of a convenient branch, too low incomes to save or the stringent documentation requirements. Yet, time and again, studies have shown that the poorest of people are interested in saving and using their money in a better way. The challenges are enormous, but this also opens the door for many kinds of last-mile delivery systems including electronic business transfers, the use of a travelling business correspondent model or even the use of mobiles for payments and receipts. (After all, there are now more mobiles in India than toilets!)
Travel : If the rural poor are one kind of audience, at the other end is a growing urban audience that has money and is becoming more keenly interested in travelling. HolidayIq is an example of an online product revolving around the growing travel buff community in India; RedBus is one that has tried to solve a common problem faced by bus travellers : given the completely fragmented nature of the business, how do I avoid wasting time looking for tickets with one operator and then another? Surely, there are opportunities for more innovation in this sector, given how the market is growing.
Parents : Like never before, we now have a large group of urban, nuclear families. Dual-working, hard-pressed for time, with little support from traditional family networks – this is an audience that needs help, as evident from the popularity of online parenting groups and networks. How else can Technology make their life easier? By helping schools better manage parent-teacher communication so that little Chintu doesn’t forget his costume for the fancy dress again? By time management applications that help stressed-out parents keep track of everything? By helping companies manage billing and work-tracking for flexi-time employees? This audience should throw up many possibilities.
Customer service : If there is one common refrain about customer service in India, it is this : it doesn’t work! From complaint handling on phone to online handling to deputing service staff to keep customers updated on the progress, it seems as though few companies are really getting it right. Is there a role for technology start-ups to play here?
Urban teenagers : An audience with money and time on its hands, this is a market for many different kinds of products and services including devices, content and gaming. This is also a suitable audience for truly involved innovation, since younger people are very comfortable with technology and more likely to participate in OI programs (especially ones that reward them!) The Lays Dillicious campaign is an excellent example of using consumer inputs in product development, while creating a lot of excitement. Surely, technology brands can think on these lines too.
Open Innovation to Reach the Bottom of the Pyramid January 13, 2010
Posted by Hari Prakash in Innovation.Tags: bottom of the pyramid, open innovation
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The term ‘Open Innovation’ refers to the concept that enterprises should no longer look inward, only within their own R&D labs, but at various other sources of ideas, in order to come up with products that are truly innovative and relevant to consumers. Initiatives such as InnoCentive and IBM Jam have taken this concept forward into practice.
At Confianzys, we believe that the next wave of innovation in India has to come from such collaborative innovation, especially when it comes to reaching many vast but untapped markets, also referred to as the “fortune at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP)”. Traditional approaches to reaching the BOP market, especially the rural poor, have focused on introducing variants or smaller sizes of existing products that cater to more affluent, urban customers.
But, what if companies were to adopt an altogether different approach? This collaborative approach would mean truly looking at consumer needs in far-flung, rural areas and even working with some of the brilliant minds in such areas that come up with realistic, affordable solutions but do not have the means to take them to market. For instance, have you heard of the ‘mitticool’, a fridge for rural India that works without electricity? The work of a self-made entrepreneur called Mansukhbhai Prajapati, the mitticool takes into account the fact that few homes in rural India have any access to uninterrupted power supply. But, the lack of funding and poor access to markets meant that Mansukhbhai’s journey to building Mitticool was a long and tedious one.
While companies may conduct focus group discussions and engage with customers from different classes, there cannot perhaps be a faster route to innovation than being open to ideas from many possible sources. This will also ensure that products reaching rural India (or any specific customer group) are not just minor tweaks of already existing models, but truly meet customer needs.
For technology firms too, this is critical. Consumers at the bottom of the pyramid are interested in using technology to improve their lives, as the success of ITC’s e-choupal shows; but products will need to built bottom-up, to ensure that technology is not just a novelty, but delivers need-to-have solutions.
