Sometimes adversity is the perfect catalyst to invent what was unforeseeable in normal circumstances. The post-election violence in Kenya at the beginning of 2008 prompted a bunch of programmers to create an open-source platform that would collect eyewitness reports of violence sent in by email and text-message and map that information onto a Google Map for everyone to see. What would have otherwise gone unnoticed to the world at large became a visual testimony to the violence.

The platform, Ushahidi – which means “testimony” in Swahili – since then has been deployed for a number of crisis and disaster situations to provide critical and life-saving data during emergencies especially when mobilizing relief and rescue operations as in the case of Haiti or the most recent Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand.

Video: What is the Ushahidi Platform?

As with other areas, being open-source, the potential for its application in the context of rural development and financial inclusion are manifold. For example an organization serving a remote rural population can deploy it to collect and map customer feedback about its product or services on a geographic basis, and effect corrective actions based on the different clusters on the map. Government schemes could be mapped and individuals in villages could be encouraged to report any leakages; a surge of dots over a particular village can guide authorities in pinpointing localities that require attention. In the context of MFIs, those dots could come to visually represent repayments by borrowers or perhaps in the current environment as a feedback against alleged harassment by recovery agents.

While the platform per se is crucial and the ways in which it could be deployed are left to one’s imagination, technology however is just 10 percent of the solution, with the other 90 percent being educating people about the deployment and getting them to submit content.

In a short Q&A with Patrick Meier, Director of Crisis Mapping & New Media, Ushahidi, we discuss the platform and its applications.

From its beginning in early 2008, how has Ushahidi evolved, and with it the whole crowdsourcing phenomenon?

The Ushahidi platform has become easier to use (see Crowdmap.com) [Crowdmap is the easy-to-install, hosted version of Ushahidi - think of it as the equivalent of WordPress.com blogs for WordPress] with more features and functionalities. We have also moved to a plugin architecture, which means that third parties can develop their own apps. This makes the platform a lot more extensible and versatile. The application of crowdscourcing to crisis environments was in large part spearheaded by the Ushahidi platform.

The wisdom of the crowd is what an Ushahidi deployment feeds on. What are the inherent challenges in this and how could they be addressed?

I’m not sure it’s as much the wisdom as the presence of the crowd. The crowd will always outnumber the expert journalist, the expert election monitor, the expert disaster responder. There are tradeoffs, more information, but one of the main challenges is validity of that information. But the more information you do get, the greater the probability that you can triangulate said information, ie, the great the chance that more than one person will report about the same event. That’s why we’ve developed Swift River, to help triangulate and verify crowdsourced information. The Ushahidi platform also allows for multi-media reporting, which allows the crowd to share pictures and video footage of an unfolding situation.

Crisis mapping is what predominantly Ushahidi is associated with – Whether it be for Haiti, Snowmaggaden, Australian Floods, Sudan or the recent Egyptian protests. I am sure there are more areas in which the platform could be deployed than just for crisis situations?

That’s correct, the majority of Ushahidi platform applications are not crisis related. The platform is simply a free and open source tool that facilitates collaborate live mapping. The Ushahidi platform has been used for citizen journalism, local governance, environmental monitoring, ICT4D, etc.

Are there instances where it has been used successfully to track progress of rural projects or to track down the lack of basic services on a geographic basis?

Yes, the Kiirti project in Bangalore.

In the Indian context, where a majority of the population lives in rural India, how can Ushahidi be used for rural development?

We’ve developed an audio mapping component that allows illiterate populations to share what they’re reporting via voice. They can leave short voicemail reports that can then be mapped or transcribed.

How can companies or NGOs operating on the field, especially in remote rural areas, benefit from it and information filtering tools like Swiftriver?

Filtering tools like SwiftRiver are more useful for events that have a lot of main/social media coverage. For remote rural areas, the audio mapping component may make the most sense. Also, one can use FrontlineSMS for offline SMS mapping, ie, you can do on site mapping and then upload the data to the Ushahidi platform.

You have your Crowdmap Check-In service slated for launch at SXSW 2011 which gives individuals and organizations the ability to create their own “Foursquares” or “Gowallas” if you like. What are your expectations from it?

We expect that CI will further lower the barrier to mapping and we thus expect more live maps to be created as well.

Where do you see the project in 2-3 years time? And in general the areas that need to be worked upon when it comes to crowdsourcing information from the field?

It’s hard to say where the project will be in just 1 year because things are moving so fast. I think the area that needs most work on is SwiftRiver, ie, improving our tools to curate and validate crowdsourced information in real time.

About Partick Meier: He is the co-founder of the International Network of Crisis Mappers and previously co-directed Harvard University’s (HHI) Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning. He has an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University and is currently pursuing his PhD at the Flectcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

- By Sameer Segal, Founder & CEO, Artoo

[Artoo Slate is a software solution designed for microfinance field staff that takes the entire process of data collection and loan disbursement online. Sameer has been recognized as one of Asia-Pacific's most promising young social entrepreneurs by the Paragon100 Fellowship. He holds a B Tech from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka and is a StartingBloc Fellow (MIT Sloan). His passion is inclusive technology, something he discovered during his internship with Ujjivan. He, along with Co-founder of Artoo, Indus Chadha, has developed Artoo Slate which helps microfinance companies cut down on operation costs. He shares with us in this guest blog, how technology can make a difference to microbanking institutions that cater to the bottom of the pyramid.]

The Malegam Report is finally here. At first glance, we were all glad to see how well balanced it appeared. But now we have to begin to make sense of the constraints that it places on MFIs in the short term. In the words of Vijay Mahajan of BASIX: “some provisions are so severe that some MFIs will be facing death by April”.

Indeed, most MFIs must be grappling at the moment with what changes they will need to make to stay alive.

If MFIs need to reduce costs, remove redundancies, and improve efficiencies at all levels, they need to centralize their operations. Centralizing will also help MFIs ensure the quality of the customers they acquire and thereby reduce risks. To centralize operations and still maintain competitive TATs for all customer-centric activities (e.g. customer acquisition, loan disbursement, and repayments) is the hardest part of the puzzle that needs to be cracked. It will be only possible for MFIs to consolidate branches and have their field agents operate over larger geographies (improving borrower to employee ratio) when they can monitor and remotely manage their staff and activities. For that they need technology. 

We believe, however, that this needn’t be a question of the survival of the fittest. It could serve as an opportunity for visionary MFIs, regardless of their size and strength, to re-imagine their operations in a way that, while respecting the RBI’s imminent mandates, dramatically reduces their Operating Expense Ratio (OER) and enables them to remain profitable and survive in the face of the Malegam Report.

At Artoo, we wish to catalyze development through inclusive technology and empowering communication. Our software framework, Artoo Slate, can help MFIs bring down their OERs to meet the RBI’s requirements in a timely manner while enabling them to remain profitable. We believe it has the potential to help MFIs become more productive in helping their customers rise out of poverty. Here’s our take on what the Malegam Report is asking MFIs to do and how we might be able to help.

 Artoo Slate is a software solution that takes the entire process of data collection (under 18 minutes for complete customer acquisition process*) and loan disbursement online (70+% of Loan Applications can be processed in the field on the same day*). It will capture rich data from the field, do away with the back and forth of paper, avoid innumerable delays (reduction in turn-around-time (TAT) from 3+ days to 1 hour*), and drastically reduce expenses (courier, Document Management System Hubs & outsourced data entry). It will allow for easy exchange of data between field staff and backend systems (CBS/MIS) in a way that will reduce time spent (41% of center meetings take under 1 min to update paper work) on customer query clarification and identification and resolution of errors in customer profile and loan application forms. Even while the credit bureau is stabilizing, it will enable MFIs to implement a field credit check upfront for renewal loans based on internal data and assessment. 

Our framework enables field agents to operate remotely and helps distributed MFIs to centralize their operations, while improving their TAT for all customer-centric activities. MFIs can monitor their business on a real time basis: pick up on trends (mass default, political/economic turbulence) as and when they happen directly from the field (defaulter information available instantaneously as compared to 10-15 days lag in previous implementation*). In addition, MFIs can track their social performance on a daily basis.

It is an intuitive interface that has been designed keeping in mind field staff’s educational training and exposure to technology. It will also serve as platform through which MFIs can train (e.g. basic English skills, computer skills, updates on new products and offerings) their field staff on-the-go and monitor them on a real time basis to improve their overall service quality. MFIs can improve their field agent quality and build their capacity, reducing their attrition to short-term focused aggressive competitors.

Artoo Slate, in the hands of the field agent, promises to be a scalable way for the MFI to engage more effectively with their end customers through videos, graphics, and other interactive media (imparting life skills, financial planning, healthcare information, conversational English, etc.) Engaging with the end customer will not only give them a reason to attend center meetings but also allow them to recognize their MFI as a real partner in their struggle to climb out of poverty, giving forward-thinking MFIs an opportunity to differentiate themselves, improving customer loyalty and therefore profitability.

Application

We have been really lucky to pilot our solution, Artoo Slate, at Ujjivan microfinance, and are happy to share the interim results of our pilot here. The pilot covers a branch in urban Bangalore and includes processes of customer acquisition, collections, branch transactions, and field agent training.

By Chandrachudan V and Rajesh E, IFMR Rural Finance

For a business operation, a great deal of what happens on the field is determined by how equipped its field managers are. In our case, our Wealth Managers (WMs) at KGFSs (Pudhuaaru, Sahastradhara, Dhanei) are the primary interface in our endeavour to ensure access to finance.  Complete, continuous and accessible training therefore is a crucial ingredient in sharpening their skills at all times.

While the current training process involves a 24-day induction training and regular schedules of refresher training, this trainer-led effort with a lot of manual intervention provides a lot of challenges especially as it involves a lot of paperwork. To top this, there is no centralised repository that the WM could be directed to in order to stay updated on happenings and changes relating to products offered, processes and our USP of Wealth Management.

To bridge this gap, we hit upon the idea of an online learning management system which would be a one-stop shop for all learning needs featuring – product modules, process modules, Wealth Management modules, e-test and e-certification, storage of all training related information of each employee which later on can be factored into Performance Management of the respective employee.

Importantly this centralized learning environment will ensure consistency among learners, thus promoting web–based training that encourages self and participative learning, thereby, reducing trainer’s intervention for all training programs.

From ideation to fruition, it involved a lot of research in finding a suitable platform that could be customised to suit our training needs. The search was on to finalise a platform that is robust, user-friendly, easily customisable, secured, is being widely used across top companies with proven records and also a platform which is compliant to training standards like SCORM.  After 6 months of research, we decided on “Moodle”- a popular and prominent, free and open-source e-learning software. Moodle’s ease of installation, features and the level of customisation that could be done to it made it a perfect fit for our needs.

Learning Management System Architecture

Customised into 3 local languages (Tamil – Pudhuaaru KGFS; Oriya – Dhanei KGFS; Hindi – Sahastradhara KGFS) and in English, the learning management system would be a comprehensive tool that in its first phase would provide:

•    E – Learning on all products/processes and concepts of Wealth Management
•    E – Certification for all products/processes
•    Scheduling of training programs and maintaining repository of training data
•    Quiz and score management
•    Training dashboard automation: online extraction of training data – employee/geography wise
•    Automated mailer notifications for users
•    Feedback automation with effective reporting
•    Video based training on key aspects for better understanding
•    Internal chat for clarifying queries instantly
•    Discussion forums for knowledge sharing

Customised homepages of KGFSs (Click on image to enlarge)

The system would make it mandatory for the WMs to pass through the different certification programs on the various products, processes and concepts of wealth management. Also the system would update the training manager/CEO of a particular geography with macro and micro level information as regards the training status and the needs of the local staff so that they can evolve their training efforts.

The system will be live soon with the above-mentioned features. Improvisations and enhancements are planned in Phase II that will also include animated learning on all products/processes and concepts of Wealth Management, which will supplement the current modules.

The power of data is in being able to make sense of it. Sometimes however, under the enormity of data, the best of systems can throw a challenge in aiding the right decision. Hence there is a need for a comprehensive visual component to complement existing systems, which would allow the absorption of large amounts of data in a presentable format. Thus is an effort by IFMR Rural Finance team in collaboration with CDF to add a geospatial dimension to the existing MIS.

The new system aims to feed in the enormous amounts of data of KGFS customers and presents their details in a visual format laid across over an interactive Google map. With seamless integration with the existing databases of KGFS, the system would provide real time and most immediate information on the dot.

Some salient features of the Geographic Information System are:

• Ability to perform basic descriptive analysis (count, mean, variance, etc) on the map at the macro level
• Answering queries across various parameters. For eg. Transaction frequency of customers in a particular village, Loan Outstanding (<5K, 5-10K, 10-15, etc.) village-wise, insurance customers with 2 KM radius from branch location, non-customers in hilly regions over X feet above mean sea level, etc.
• Ability to drill down to the customer / transaction level

Being developed with the help of open source tools like Google Maps API, PostGIS and MapServer, the power of the system would be made available to every constituent of KGFS from the Wealth Manager to the CEO. Access to some features would also be made available on the public website of IFMR Rural Finance.

Early snapshot of the system showing the Karambayam Branch Service Area:

Zoomed-in map showing a smaller area

Ajay Karthik and Amit Shah who are involved in the development of the system say, “The visual representation of information on the map is expected to be more intuitive and hence at least one notch above the most powerful MIS. The system will help in providing insights into geographical gaps in the market / service area. It is also expected to help in taking decisions on branch locations, optimisation of distance from HQ / service area from a logistics point of view.”

Watch this space for more updates while the system is being developed.

Recently our Rural Finance Technology team migrated our legacy core banking system to a new core banking system.

Typically the migration involves three stages: Pre, Intermediate and Actual migration. At the pre-migration stage, a great level of attention went into understanding the data and the various parameters that hold it. At the intermediate stage, a mock-migration under a controlled testing environment was performed to iron out data inconsistencies and error incidents.  The actual migration, that happened over the weekend so that systems are in place when the week starts, happened after the issues encountered at the earlier stage were resolved.

The technology team provided a technical note that detailed the process involved in the migration. You can read the entire document by clicking here. The key takeaways being:

-    Understanding of data structure and account behaviour in legacy and new system is a key to successful migration.
-    It is advisable to always plan for mock drill before actual migration. This has to be accompanied by thorough testing and verification of data post migration.
-    Training should be given to users and they should be educated on account behaviour in the new system for accounts coming from the legacy system
-    Have patience.

- By Anupama Joshi, CEO, Sahastradhara KGFS and Advait Behara, IFMR Rural Finance

Well regarded academicians have highlighted the importance of financial services in bringing about a transformation in the lives of those that haven’t traditionally had access to those services. The IFMR Trust was an early leader in understanding this need.

In a relatively short span of time, in the three geographies where the Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (KGFS) initiative has been active, we have already seen a significant difference in the overall well-being of those families that have actively sought to leverage the services of KGFS and those that have not. KGFS was able to provide these families with a sense of financial stability through a portfolio of specially designed products and services and thereby improve their prospects of a brighter and more comfortable future. KGFS excelled in providing its customers products that were competitive and culturally significant to the local territory.

The next important step for KGFS, in affirming its competence in this role, needed to be customer appreciation of its services. Key to making this happen was going to be:

Accessibility, convenience, and usability

To achieve these, there was a need for KGFS to be closer to its customer, and similarly to bring the customer closer to KGFS. This need for flexibility in delivering services is what made the element of MOBILITY as a new entrant into the operating model so imperative.  Mobility was thus a combination of accessibility, convenience and usability delivered using a combination of mobile technologies.

Customer Challenges

Early feedback from the field had indicated two clear challenges facing customers on the ground.

1) In-person Payments
2) Branch Access Restrictions

Several KGFS loan products like the Joint Liability Group (JLG) loan required customers to repay their installments weekly, and in the case of the JLG, the payment had to be in person, with all group members present at repayment. This was a challenge for many customers, some of whom had to forgo daily wages to be present at the branch, often spend on transport to reach the branch and coordinate to ensure that all group members were present at the same time.

The other issue was that, while KGFS branches opened early and shut late – even working all-day on Saturdays; certain customers had expressed their inability to be present within branch timings and had started requesting longer branch hours.

Clearly, distances and immobile infrastructure were hurdles in accessibility, convenience and usability.

Thinner branch front-ends using technology

As KGFS expanded through a growing network of branches, it was reaching ever closer to its customers – typically no more than a 5 kilometer radius away. The distances between customer and branch were being shortened. With a high degree of branch automation using computers and internet access, branches had been optimized to cater to large numbers of customers with minimal operational overheads. Yet, some important questions had to be answered –

Could the branch front-ends be made even thinner and even more nimble?

An important need was that the branch not just be in proximity of, but feel local to every customer it served. This was an interesting challenge. KGFS realized that a network of appointed agents could provide exactly that flexibility.

Could KGFS take its services to the customer’s doorstep?

Roving agents would:
a) Complement the activities of the primary area branch – and often even free up branches from routine activities.
b) Allow the branch to focus on more skilled services such as financial advice in the form of customized wealth management discussions.

For the customer, interactions with the branch needed to be direct when required – such as when discussing wealth management strategies and indirect (through an agent) in less private dealings.

How was this going to be possible?

Technology was no doubt the answer. A combination of devices and access points was going to be necessary. For example:

- Automated cash deposit machines – possibly located at a main market or in a prominent store could do away with agent intervention while handling cash.
- An agent equipped with a portable access device would be free to transact from a fixed location or at the customer’s doorstep.
- Customers with access to a connected device would have the convenience of performing certain operations in the privacy of their home at a time convenient to them.

KGFS had already tested Point of Sale (POS) machines as transaction points at branches. While these had worked fine at the branch:

- Costs were relatively high
- Technology was dated
- Functionality and the ability to add new features were complex and limited.

So what else could be used?

The ubiquitous mobile phone

Mobile phones on the other hand are an impressive alternative. With over 500 million mobile phone connections across India today, even in rural markets most extended families have access to a mobile phone. Importantly people are comfortable using them. The social challenge of people having to accept a new technology does not exist. The technology has been around for a while. It is stable, easily available and connectivity across the country has been getting better and less expensive.

Through special applications the mobile phone can replicate almost all branch functions. KGFS appointed agents that already own mobile phones could be up and running access points within days with minimal additional hardware costs. Using biometric authentication, and encrypted data sessions, applications can be made secure and robust. Newly available security solutions even allow remote erasing of data in the event the phone is misplaced or compromised.

Mobile phones do hold a tremendous opportunity for KGFS to expand its reach. In areas like the remote hills of Tehri Garhwal, where Sahastradhara KGFS operates, the challenges of physical access make the case for mobility very strong. No doubt in areas like Sahastradhara mobility will be the key to accessibility!

Revolutionary, cost-effective technology. Is cloud computing the way forward for the development finance sector?

Cloud computing by popular definition is an emerging technology where all types of resources are centralised and can be accessed for a fee. All data is stored not on a grid or a peer, but in cyberspace. A popular example of cloud computing is the ubiquitous e-mail. Touted to be the next big wave in enterprise technology, cloud computing is making corner offices sit up and take notice world over. What may the silver lining be?

Cloud computing has managed to morph technology into a public utility. Cloud computing is testimonial to Nicholas Carr’s argument that IT is increasingly becoming a commodity. This technology boasts of a goliath advantage over all others; its customers need not invest in expensive infrastructure and can easily access services for a subscription or pay-per-usage fee. Not only are they able to do away with capital expenditure, they can also avoid operational overheads, servicing and maintenance costs and provisions. Since these systems are constructed with diligently controlled interdependence between modules, there exists a high degree of reliability and consistency.

The main advantage of cloud computing is flexibility; the hardware infrastructure can be scaled up and down based on the requirement. Other features include easy recovery from failure; bringing up development or test instances; and easy upgrading to new software release”, says Raman Taneja, Head of Technology at IFMR Rural Finance.

Cloud computing possesses features that seem ideal for the development finance sector. It is therefore imperative that we take a closer a look at what it means for microfinance as a whole and what promise it holds as the perfect enterprise technology solution.

“This is one of the solutions, an organisation can look at. Organisations find cloud computing attractive because of less capital expenditure and per-usage operational expenditure model. Organisations need not spend extra money on managing resources (human, servers, data centres etc). This is not their core competence either. Cloud computing is agnostic to any sector and can be deployed based on requirements and future roadmap”, says Raman.

However, will organisations in the financial inclusion space find it viable to venture into cloud computing territory? And if they do, will they be able to execute a smooth technology transition? Raman is of the opinion that, cloud computing creates flexibility in terms of resources.

Transition of course, is a more subjective issue and depends on what technology the organisation is currently using and what they desire to use in the future.

Given the sensitive nature of enterprise information, managing it in a centralised architecture is no smooth ride. Threats to data security rear their ugly heads even in the most idyllic security scenarios. Data Security and Governance in cloud computing are battles that service providers fight and this does little to allay the concerns of organisations, since as users, have no control over security mechanisms.

This is a challenge the entire industry must overcome by investing in efforts to create unassailable solutions for Data Governance and Data security. But again, this is true of every market created for data management purposes and with the heightened sense of awareness about data security; the solution cannot be far.

Critique aside, this technology is no passing cloud.

The sight of the mighty Himalayas and the scenic surroundings of the hilly terrain can be a source of respite for sore eyes, but when taken in the context of connectivity (both telecommunications and internet) it presents a critical challenge.

Sahastradhara KGFS (SKGFS) located on the foothills of the Himalayas, faced issues of intermittent network connectivity that interfered with its day-to-day operations, resulting in transaction delays and increase in customer wait-time at its branches.

The hilly terrain not only caused instability in continuous network availability at the SKGFS branches, but also the eventual disruption took a lot of time to correct. The options available from the network providers were limited and costly.

Earlier VSATs (Very Small Aperture Terminal) were used to provide Internet connectivity to the SKGFS branches. However VSATs have their own challenges of latency (delay in transmission) and are prone to disruption due to erratic weather.  To top it, the running costs of VSATs were high.

To address these issues, IFMR Rural Finance in partnership with AirJaldi – which used the technology that came out of the University of California, Berkeley – created an interconnected network between the SKGFS headquarters in Jolly Grant and its branches, with Internet being supplied through this network. The average distance between branches is 10 kms with the first branch being 75 kms away from the headoffice in Jolly Grant.

Relaying seamless connectivity

The Jolly Grant network uses a combination of wireless WiFi links, utilizing the publicly available and unlicensed 2.4 and 5.8 GHz frequencies and wired LAN cabling. Relays, the antennas used to transmit and receive communication, are all mounted on low masts and are equipped with battery power backup allowing the network to stay up during power cuts – a frequent occurrence. Two of the relays, which are located in areas where power is very erratic or not available at all, are solar powered.

The network is managed and monitored from a central Network Operation Center (NOC), which utilizes a range of Free/Open Source tools configured to suit the network topology.  As a result of this solution, now all SKGFS branches have connectivity bandwidth of 256 Kbps and the Head Office is connected at a speed of 512 Kbps through the NOC. The local SKGFS team has also been trained to handle day-to-day issues of basic maintenance.

The Rural Finance technology team is confident of scaling up this technology to other branches of Dhanei KGFS and Pudhuaaru KGFS as and when required.

—
Raman Taneja of IFMR Rural Finance Technology team contributed to this post.

The vertical take-off of the mobile services industry in India in the past few years has been aided by an aggressive pricing strategy adopted by both handset manufacturers and mobile service providers alike. Significantly, this growth has also enabled rural India to get on the connectivity bandwagon like never before. Today, in many rural parts of the country mobile phone service is an integral part of daily life and is more accessible than electricity, road networks and clean drinking water.

Despite growth in the rural user base, the majority use of the mobile network in many parts of India has continued to be voice based phone calls with minimal data exchange. Data itself is mainly restricted to urban and semi urban areas with text messages (or Short Messaging Service (SMS)) making up a large part of the communication.

Even so, SMS, despite its simplicity remains an efficient but underutilized tool in information dissemination. With the recent spurt in competitive pricing of mobile services including SMS service, and the continued delays in the rollout of next generation data services (3G) – SMS has once again emerged as an extremely effective channel for the delivery of relevant personalized content. Additionally, an ever decreasing cost per SMS has only further bolstered usage.

In India, the challenge to make use of this powerful medium in an effective way gets amplified when taken in the context of rural India where content and language have to be in sync with the needs of the rural mobile user. To leverage this powerful medium, IFMR Rural Finance has deployed an SMS platform (pictured left) that has localization, interactivity and flexibility intrinsic to its functioning. Built with existing hardware, and open-source technologies, the platform is cost-effective, easy to operate and can be rapidly customized to meet the requirements of the end user.

When Sahastradhara KGFS started exploring ways to enhance service delivery they agreed that well informed field staff were an important part of the solution. Comprehensive class room training was already the norm – additional training (given the difficult terrain and accessibility challenges) involved long travel times and was going to be expensive. What the staff needed was a shorter ‘refresher’ flash-card like format. They realized that the SMS platform was a perfect fit.

Under project “Gyan Vardhan” the platform has been launched as a creative supplemental training tool to meet the need for formal information dissemination in between regular class-room training sessions. Designed like a ‘Quiz’, the system offers a fun way for Wealth Managers (WMs) to learn about the latest in products and processes through an SMS based question and answer format using text messages delivered in Hindi.

The quiz is devised to be interactive, with randomized unique questions sent out to each user. Respondents are updated on their score on a regular basis and also get to track the performance of their peers through periodic ranking reports. This instills both a sense of achievement among the WMs and further affirms a commitment to regular participation.

SKGFS – WM Daily update system

This launch marks an important first step for Sahastradhara in its use of mobile telephony to reach out to and better serve customers in the remote rural areas in which it operates. Project “Gyan Vardhan” would keep WMs in the field abreast of the latest product features and processes in a dynamic way, empowering them to give an informed opinion about services when interacting with customers.

Still in its early days, the platform has the potential to be used in other creative ways and deployed across groups. Please write in with suggestions on how this platform can be further built upon and improved. Please drop a comment below.

—
Anupama Joshi and Advait Behara contributed to this post.