Low Tech is Magic!
Platforms and LowTech Innovations
Julley from Ladakh.
Last week’s newsletter focused on life lessons from long-distance running and received a lot of love and affection from many of you. Most of my running journey/approach has been what I call very “desi“! Basically, not much data tracking, no gadgets, no hard-wired training plans, and definitely no nutritional supplements.
Basically Low-Tech and High Touch with self. Run by Feel!
AND If you were forwarded this weekly dose of Running Platform Marketing Life by a friend, please do not forget to subscribe ASAP to get it in your own inbox every week to enjoy your Sunday Long Read.
DTW
During the Week, I was part of the Digital Street Regional Consultation at IBS Kolkata on 29th August 2022. It was an enriching experience learning from street vendors and various association leaders and discussing their challenges and opportunities. We also had wonderful insights from other stakeholders including tech start-ups focusing on the use of blockchain technologies for sustainable supply chains.
There is a need to develop a low-tech digital transformation framework focusing on ease of use and tangible direct results resulting from digital technology usage. Most street vendors have relied on high-touch customer interactions over their entire street vending lives and hence the current tech-focussed digital transformation paradigm has left them jittery and uncomfortable. You can read about our proposed RISE Framework here.
Covid19 forced us to think of innovative solutions and design for adoption at scale using minimal technologies at the end-user interface. During the pandemic, multiple health organizations across the world created COVID-19 self-assessment bots which are based on the Microsoft Healthcare bot service. This provides scale and reliability to the public health agencies and thus they can continue to serve disadvantaged sections of society. Apple and Google are collaborating to create tools to help public health agencies to accomplish contact tracing at scale without risking the lives of frontline health workers. The government of India launched the Aarogya Setu Mobile App to rapidly help citizens identify their risk of contracting Covid-19 (coronavirus). It was subsequently integrated with Cowin for the world’s largest vaccination program. In the future, Unified Health Interface (UHI) is envisioned as an open protocol for various digital health services. UHI Network will be an open network of End User Applications (EUAs) and participating Health Service Provider (HSP) applications. UHI will enable a wide variety of digital health services between patients and health service providers (HSPs) including appointment booking, tele consultation, service discovery, and others
You can read more about the Future of Public Digital Technology Platforms here.
I have earlier argued that the biggest financial inclusion platform available to the Indian government is of course JAM - the trinity of Jan-Dhan, AADHAR, and Mobile. The current UPI interface is an apt example of leveraging an open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform to provide value to end users. Non-Internet users, who also don't have smartphones, can also carry out UPI payments to transact on several platforms using the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service.
During the RIL AGM, chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that WhatsApp users can now shop from JioMart on the instant messaging platform. Although the shopping experience will be available through the JioMart bot on WhatsApp, it remains to be seen how many orders fulfillment would be successful.
There have been doubts raised about the expected change in consumer buying behaviour, especially for groceries and billions of dollars have simply vanished without increasing the overall user base. The ubiquity of Whatsapp and the relative familiarity of its interface is the only bright spot in this new attempt to crack the Indian online grocery market.
I have written about the digital transformation of the lowly Kirana stores here and here. These basically stem out of class discussions in both Business Marketing (B2B) as well as the Managing Platform Businesses(MaP) Course where we have had multiple discussions about Jio and its ecosystem approach to business. I have talked about it in parts elsewhere but would like to put some of that into a more coherent picture to understand JBU- Jio Business Universe!
You could also read about the potential of JIO to transform the Indian retail here and here.
On the first and second of September, India Internet Day-related events were conducted in Bengaluru and Delhi.
Though the focus of conversations revolved around building resilient businesses, and trends in D2C, Web3, Metaverse, SaaS, Crypto, and beyond, the important stories were related to data privacy and open networks. One thing which stood out was Rajan Anandan, MD, Google India, emphasizing why ‘Jugaad’ will not help India in becoming known for world-class innovations.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I spent some more time with friends from PeeranCheruvu Runners acclimatizing for the forthcoming Ladakh Marathon 2022.
Ladakh Marathon is a unique opportunity for runners from around India and the world to run with local Ladakhis through an ancient Buddhist kingdom grappling with the rapid changes of today. Being held at a high altitude, Ladakh Marathon provides ideal running conditions: a cool wind on your face, great open spaces, and beautiful views of mountains, rivers, and cheerful volunteers as you jog. In fact, according to a report
….. to organize a marathon at an altitude of 11,300ft above sea level and upwards, is quite something else—everyone from the Indian Army to the Air Force pitches in to ensure the safety and security of the participants as they run across one of India’s harshest terrains.
Hats off to Chewang Motup (Second from left in the picture below), the co-founder of the Ladakh Marathon and his wife Yangdu Gombu.
More power to all the runners and organizers.
I Love You
Shailendra
Nice post
Amazing content!