Tech companies trace their success to serving wider communities

Case I: A Fine Balancing Act - Catering To Both Global And Rural Markets

A successful business is often perceived as synonymous with profit - as serving an essentially urban, well-heeled community, for "money flows where money is." Somehow, flourishing businesses - especially internationally recognized ones - are not associated with social endeavours or grassroots interventions, as the rural sector is viewed as set apart, offering different but not strictly profitable opportunities. 

It takes courage and innovation to reach a product and/or service to the common man, who in India, must be taken to mean the teeming millions living in rural areas, and still make it good. Moreso when the product is a new invention the development of which necessitated significant R & D investment.

Diversifying within

Yet Encore Software Ltd. is one such Bangalore based business that has cleverly managed to develop parallel business streams serving a global portfolio of clients like Infineon, TI, Mitsubishi on the one hand and the rural Indian populace on the other. Thus, while Encore's technology solutions division focuses on DSP, VoIP, WiMAX and speech coding technology products - building blocks for manufacturers of telecom devices - its mobile computing division offers pioneering products like the Simputer, SATHI and Mobilis and system design services in the area of embedded systems.

Straddling services to two radically different client segments is not easy, but Encore scores over similarly placed companies by having developed core expertise in innovative technologies that have a long term impact on the common man. This expertise has enabled Encore to offer affordable computing appliances to the common man, under a sustainable if not profitable business division. On the whole, Encore's engineering resource base is well-versed in different systems level technologies, and adequately exposed to an international work culture.

Since its inception as a team of six in 1991, Encore has grown to eighty five people. With an enviable presence in Japan, USA and more recently South Africa and Brazil, Encore is exemplary of growth ensuing from a track record in delivering technology solutions adhering to global standards.

Correlating a business process with technology

Encore's key appeal however, lies in its innovative embedded system based IT products developed for the masses. Its futuristic vision of the computing segment is perhaps not surprising given that its CEO Vinay Deshpande was involved in bringing computers to India in the early 1980s.

Success always follows the conversion of an opportunity into reality but it takes a keen entrepreneur to spot a sound business prospect in the rural segment. No wonder then that when Vinay Deshpande was recounted the difficulties of the micro-financing business process in villages by a couple of senior co-op bank employees at a marriage reception (really!), something clicked!

He learnt that rural India was suffering for the lack of a sound information channel to receive financial, marketing and other offers. Unscrupulous middlemen hired by banks would enter fraudulent transactions with unsuspecting villagers, tarnishing the image of co-op banks, severely reducing their profitability and more importantly, shaking the confidence of the rural community in the banking system.

The appeal of innovation

Vinay Deshpande correlated the situation with an idea Encore had been toying with - a Simputer or put more simply, an inexpensive, robust computer incorporating basic functionality easily translated (and hence of use) to an illiterate villager. The Simputer would help disseminate much needed information at a grassroots level, thus enabling villagers to do away with middlemen and reap the full benefits of their hard labour.

The launch of the Simputer in 2000 was followed by SATHI or Situation Awareness and Tactical Handheld Information, an integrated field battle computer offering situational awareness to the defense and police force, and then Mobilis, a handheld device with a fairly large screen for mobile computing applications like sales force management, market research organizations etc.

While much has been said about an organization's corporate social responsibility, providing technological applications to uplift the masses certainly appeals as a more pervasive fulfillment of responsibility.

Case II: Applying Technology To Make A Definite Social Impact

While profitability is taken for granted as the prime objective of any business, some enterprises define a wider scope of purpose for themselves. Comat Technologies is one such business which may best be described as a unique combination of a technology, business and social service organization.

To meet these ends, Comat offers holistic eGovernance solutions to the government and back office support to leading worldwide health care and legal organizations. Its business and technology eGovernance solutions for instance, have been crafted to cover from blueprints to execution at a ground level. Comat's CEO Ravi Rangan and President Sriram Raghavan have achieved this level of service over the years by arming themselves and thereafter Comat with strategic as well as technical expertise on global eGovernance practices, systems and processes whereby it is able to identify the needs of people at a grassroots level and develop fitting solutions. The duo has devised something very unique - LIGS or Local Implementation of Global Solutions.

Applying technology for the masses

Comat has implemented citizen-centric eGovernance projects across 11 states in India encompassing projects of around 40 government departments, such as land records, education, public distribution and social welfare.

At every step, the team has realized that it is critical to address people's needs at a village level while at the same time catering to the requirements of an entire state. It would also be correct to say that Comat correctly perceives the existing and changing social, economic and political scenarios governments and agencies work in and strives to implement innovation and deliver measurable value to its clients through its functional practices. By working with Comat, governments are thus assured of a long-term public-private partnership that brings significant ROI to every project, alongside lower operating costs, effective revenue channels, more transparency, reduced corruption, improved service delivery and hence satisfied citizens.

Looking back to look forward

Comat Technologies has been able to grow from strength to strength by using evaluation methods to measure the efficacy of its projects. Among these methods is the randomized evaluation method implemented with top economists from the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. No wonder then that the Comat assisted ‘Bhoomi' (land records) eGovernance project in the state of Karnataka which places the control of land records directly in the hands of the citizens through a network of end user computer kiosks has been hailed as a global ICT success story.

Comat contributed to ‘Bhoomi' by reporting the legislation necessary to enable the use of digital records, conducting a detailed system study and devising technology architecture for the digitization of records and their delivery through kiosks, a user billing and cost model for recovering the cost of development, and a mission-safe security model for the project. Comat further assisted the digitization of several million khata covering almost 70 percent of the state of Karnataka as well as the creation of the first pilot implementation of the project.

Profit by doing society good

Over its ten functional years (1996-2006), Comat has refined its functioning while always keeping in mind its basic philosophy - Business Follows Purpose - implying that a sound business proposition follows purposeful activities. Comat - a garage start up - has grown to a 1500 strong force with offices across the world. In just the last three years, its turnover has increased by 400 percent, its staff numbers have gone up five times and its clientele has steadily risen. Its business growth however, has run parallel to its conscientious drive for a more equitable digital inclusion, encompassing even those at the very bottom of the social strata, to facilitate development aided by technology and to promote sustainable social outcomes.

Case III: Encouraging And Facilitating Continuous Learning

There is no limit to the enhancement of intellect. Learning is a continuous process - 24x7 Learning reinforces this concept by applying technology to facilitate learning.

Judging by the response to its end to end eLearning services - its solutions have been used to train 460,000+ persons across 25 countries working for diverse companies such as 24/7 Customer, Accenture, Aditya Birla, Convergys, eServe, MindTree, Murugappa Group, Patni, Philips, Wipro, Xansa, etc.

Managing intellectual capital

24x7 Learning's services spanning consulting, implementation and managed services, help organizations align their learning initiatives to their desired business outcomes. The learning initiatives could be aimed at facilitating change management, defining program goals and critical success factors, better strategy and implementation, deployment of new systems, improved marketing and communication or be a part of appraisal systems and/or career development processes.

24x7 Learning's success in implementing eLearning stems from LearnTrak - it's Enterprise Intellectual Capital Management Platform. LearnTrak is capable of facilitating formal, informal, offline and online learning aimed at enhancing an organization's overall competence, knowledge base and productivity.

Designed to suit the training workflow of different organizations, LearnTrak's competency based training helps identify learners' skill gaps based on the skills s/he requires at the workplace. LearnTrak then creates a customized progressive online training plan for the individual. The individual's progress is monitored and if required, his/her supervisor is notified of training lapses. LearnTrak also facilitates push based training wherein a single or group of employees is allotted a specific course such as project management, six sigma or marketing and communications to push the individual or group to a higher level of skills and competencies.

LearnTrak also allows individuals to browse through a moderated or non-moderated digital library which is a repository of online resources, such as organization specific white papers/case studies etc.

Standardized learning

24x7 LearnTrak scores over its competitors as it complies with industry standards like AICC & SCORM and features a fully web-based administration system, competency, assessment and certification modules, a digital library and a live virtual class among others.

The fact that it is fully customizable, flexible and modular means that 24x7 Learning has the ability to provide customized solutions depending on the needs of its clients from diverse industries - BPO, financial services, government, healthcare, IT, retail, consumer products and telecom. Its solutions are designed to meet the needs of organizations keeping in mind the organizational culture, the infrastructure, the business objectives and the geographical spread.

The development of LearnTrak, in turn, has been made possible by 24x7 Learning's detailed understanding of the training vertical. 24x7 Learning also offers fully qualified and experienced technical support resources at both regional and corporate levels and an outsourced helpdesk for learners.

Learning is conducive to growth

Incorporated in 2001, in a short period of time 24x7 Learning has evolved as a well known eLearning implementation company, perhaps thanks to its consultative approach and well-tested, robust technology. With more than 120 clients today, its current employee strength is 50 and, is poised to grow to 75 by the year end.

24x7 Learning's vision, "enhancing intellect using innovations in technology" is aimed at spurring growth across the board, as its team aims to help people attain knowledge that will help them increase productivity and hence compete globally. Its philosophy, that everything can be improved upon, continuously drives 24x7 Learning's product development process and is thus as applicable to its own growth as well as to those it serves.

Our analysis thus reveals that business endeavors that seek to benefit a wider populace, including rural communities or enhance intellect across the board undoubtedly notch higher scores over their more traditional urban-centric counterparts, perhaps highlighting the multifaceted roles of an ideal business.

Charu Bahri is a freelance writer and author of two books. She also writes funding grants and software for a charity working in the health sector. 

Issue BG68 Nov06

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