Platforms and Money-1
Among the many interactions where platforms have reduced friction, most impactful has been our interaction with money in whatever shape or form it takes. In fact, during discussions in my Signature Course on ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Development ) at IBS Hyderabad, we have had multiple insights about the role that the technology has played in revolutionising our relationship with money in last decade. In today’s world, businesses could very well claim- Give me your credit card or digital wallet statement and we can create your behavioural profile.
You are what you spend on !
DTW
During the Week, got one more email from HDFC Bank prompting me to play games to earn Intermiles points ! Of course, I would have to download and use the Intermiles App for it ! We also had an unfortunate incident last month in USA where a 20 years old Robinhood customer died by suicide. He had been sucked into options trading on the Robinhood App and apparently believed his negative $730,165 cash balance displayed in red as something which had blown his future. The risk for some of these complex financial instruments have been amplified because of gamification and casual nature of these transactions. We can imagine our relationship with money mediated by platforms through three building blocks of personal finance - Earning, Saving and Spending (in that order as well ).
Of course our ability to earn money now has been mediated by platforms as we see an inevitable march towards a Gig Economy. We are moving away from a 9-to-5 work to 5 -9 jobs focusing on on-demand, freelance and task-based Gig Economy. This also implies greater shift towards ownership and flexibility. In fact, Covid19 has been an accelerant for this shift towards supplemental income through tech based platforms. Rise of Gig Work platforms like UpWork, Fiverr , Freelancer etc can help aspirants land an assignment provided they fulfil educational and Tech level criteria. Some businesses might even use a service like LinkedIn ProFinder to find freelancers for specific short term projects. One more dimension could be use of the FinTech platforms by small businesses. India has seen rise of multiple FinTech companies trying to provide financial management services to MSMEs. For all practical purposes , FinTechs have started sidelining traditional financial institutions like banks to offer a gamut of services including bookkeeping, lending, cash management and other digital tools to MSMEs thus helping them to transition to a digital future. Below is an amazing graphic from CB Insights about the ways Amazon is unbundling the bank !
Others like Paytm “sees itself more as a 'problem solver' than a bank or a tech firm”. They have made extraordinary efforts to bring some of the financially excluded small businesses into mainstream by creating a tech enabled view of their businesses records thus giving them creditworthiness.
While we have all the discussion about the money/financial management tech platforms but we should not forget that the large number of people live in abject poverty even after seven decades of Indian independence. Just for visualisation , if your household income is more than one lakh per month, you would be in the top 0.02 % of Indian population.
Some of the ICT4D initiatives have definitely improved the lives of millions of people in Bottom of Pyramid in India by giving them access to social security funds from governments at various levels. Direct Benefit Schemes have ensured that the beneficiaries receive their relief cash in timely and fair manner.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I watched Notting Hill and felt the sadness again about untimely death of Sushant Singh Rajput. There is this scene in the movie where they are sitting around dinner table and people have to showcase their misery to get the last piece of brownie. Everybody being ordinary individuals have had a miserable side to their lives- not having kids, getting divorced , teased as kids etc. Then, everybody is shocked when Anna (Julia Roberts) wants to share her misery as they assumed her to be “happy person”, I mean she is a big shot Hollywood Actor, earning 15 millions US dollars for the last movie etc etc. But, she still feels miserable !
I must also add the life long lessons from How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen. Prof Christensen advise all of us to choose the right yard stick to measure our lives.
I’ve concluded that the metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched.
Prof Clayton Christensen , July–August 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Please do share what makes you happy and of course, how would you measure your life.
I Love You.
Shailendra
PS- We have more on “Saving and Spending” coming in following week !
PPS- Do not forget to sign up for an exciting session of MountainSpeak on every second Sunday of month. Watch S3E1 with Dr Sharda Nayak here !
This article reminds me recent news which throw insights on "GOOGLE IS IN TALKS TO LAUNCH SME LENDING ON PAY PLATFORM" with competitors aggresively working on it ( source :https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/sme-sector/google-is-in-talks-to-launch-sme-lending-on-pay-platform/articleshow/76615624.cms) and it will take few more months to get on launch mode. In my opinion , now all payment provider digital platform looking not only for working on fulfilment /satisafction level of consumers/customers in terms of what they are looing for but now they are seeing opportunities in providing suitable solutions to service provider which will in return help them in achieving their mission,vision and goals. In new normal, new definition of end mile connectivity not only restrcited only to consumers/customers but now its also very much apt for service provider also. The interesting thing to watch out will be ,going back to basics of designing of new platform which states ensure safety, mitigate asymmetric information and aligning company goals with monetization. The role play of GOI related towards creating awareness related to cyber-crimes with obvious support from common man will be interesting to watch. The importance of strategy, value-chain process, culture, souricng -resources will play key role in freelancers role and best thing will be platforms provinding gateways/connecting to these freelancers and those platforms visiting campus for placements and providing PPT on imp. of self-centric , self-appraisal, & self-appreciation towards the work which they do or willing to do and making them to understand the self-independent.
One of my favourite things to do in college was switching off my phone for your classes and tuning out of all the "work", haha!
I remember we discussed how payment platforms track what you're spending on and push offers on the basis of that.