Assisted Digitalizations

1. Assisted Digitization: Part 1 In my decades of experience in the Information Technology sector – as a practitioner, observer and bystander at different stages of my career – l always have been fascinated by the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs to build technology solutions that solve a variety of real world problems. Mechanization, Computerization and Automation have, over the years, enabled enterprises and individuals to perform efficiently, thus facilitating them to extract a higher return on their investment. In the present day and context, the new and emerging dynamic is Digitization. This refers to the leveraging of digital technologies to increase efficiency, improve quality and reduce human effort. I’ll be elaborating on the impact of Digitization on various aspects of our life through a series of articles. To begin with, I shall deal with the effects of Digitization on rural consumers in this post. Unequal impact: Where it all starts Being the early adopters, large businesses and enterprises have been the first to embrace digital technologies, and continue to extract manifold benefits from them. Technology solution and service providers catering to this section have seen their businesses swell, riding on the back of the industry’s rapid growth. When it comes to end consumers, digital technologies have had a tremendous impact through smart phone apps, ecommerce, digital market places and ubiquitous social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. These, individually or together, have fundamentally changed the way people work, communicate, commute, buy, engage and entertain. However, despite the apparent spread of digital devices, there are a few important segments that remain relatively unaffected. One such is a class of consumers, a large and vital section of the society, characterized by: – People living in small towns or rural areas – Lacking English literacy – Cannot afford smart phones – Experience severe limitations on bandwidth. This segment constitutes a big business opportunity because of their large numbers and constantly improving purchasing power.

2. Solution: Bridging the Divide Though the aspirations of the urban and rural consumers appear to be the same, the execution requirements are distinctly different. Non-metro consumers require a different messaging as compared to communicating with tech-savvy consumers living in metros. Non-metro consumers need assistance. It could be either an individual or a business entity that can help them through the online process. The ecosystem for providing such assistance is now possible, thanks to a series of digital solutions coming fortuitously together due to interconnected developments. These include: – New technology platforms that reduce time, cost and risk – Deeper penetration of communication platforms and the Internet – New business models that are built on charging for usage, thus keeping upfront costs low – A vibrant start-up ecosystem, innovation and risk-taking culture – Most importantly positive interventions by the Government. Mr. Nandan Nilekani calls this opportunity as ‘Assisted Digitization’.It is rightly getting the attention of think tanks like iSpirt (Indian software product industry round table), venture capitalists and fin-tech start-ups. Huge Opportunities: Tailored Solutions Assisted Digitization is practical due to the massively outsized technological breakthrough called ‘India Stack’ spearheaded by iSpirt. India Stack is a set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers utilize the unique digital infrastructure to solve India’s difficult problems through omni-present, paperless, and cashless service delivery. It is open, free and comes with a user-friendly interface. India Stack allows development of technology for Assisted Digitization to be simple, implement rapidly, at less cost and low risk. So far as the non-metro consumers are concerned, they expect assistance from a local and familiar entity that enjoys their trust. The assistance has to be face to face and in the local language with a local context. Such consumers expect assistance in product selection, placement of orders, receipt of products, collection of money, post-sale support etc.

3. The Success of a Start-up: StoreKing StoreKing deserves a special mention here. Sridhar Gundaiah, Founder & CEO of Store King understood the expectations of rural consumers. Coming from a rural background, he knew the real pain points of technology and built a company to address them. The consumers also expect to be insulated from using online devices and applications, payment through credit/debit cards, an address to receive the product ordered and initial support to use the product etc. Sridhar identified neighborhood rural retailers or kirana shops to be the assistance providers as they form part of the rural environment. In effect, Sridhar made these retailers into an online super market offering a host products and services to rural consumers hitherto shut out due to physical barriers. The key to the success of StoreKing is a process to identify local kirana shops, train them to be assistance providers, support them with right set of products and make them local interface to StoreKing. Today StoreKing has over 30,000 outlets and has plans for scaling aggressively. The Data Treasure Another interesting aspect of Assisted Digitization is business model innovation. The companies that offer Assisted Digitization have access to troves of data emerging from millions of transactions conducted. For example, data can be gathered on products sold, pricing variations, buying behavior, demographics, brand loyalties, etc. The data patterns offer tremendous insights that can be leveraged by brand owners and distribution intermediaries to predict demand, identify aspirations, plan production and come up with attractive marketing propositions. There are ample opportunities to monetize data from rural markets which remained impregnable to marketers until now. Digital India Initiative of Government of India The single prime factor that is driving the digital transformation, besides technology, is Government of India’s initiatives for Digital India comprising Aadhaar, JanDhan and Mobile. By promoting innovative programs like BHIM and Aadhaar, Government is creating an environment that is inclusive and efficient.

4. In Conclusion The rapid and overwhelming advances in digital technologies will soon reach hitherto underserved market segments like rural or non-metro consumers through Assisted Digitization. This trend will open up huge business opportunities for start-ups and enterprises alike. In the next article, I shall dwell on how Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are leveraging Assisted Digitization.