Rural IT Services Market- The Road Less Travelled
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 8th Sept. 2014
The marketing thought has for years been restricted to targeting urban customers for IT products and services, be it E/M Commerce or simply Email of SMS services, e-learning, information or web-surfing/games or any other. Accordingly no focus was imparted to how a rural user can benefit or to evolve a mutually beneficial engagement/commercial model as well as was no focus to offer services in languages of rural customers in India and many other developing countries. This is despite that several of them can boast for a healthy domestic IT based service industry as well as development skills. It is almost always assumed that rural customers do not have need or do not have paying capacity or behavioral inclination to adopt technology products and services.
This has helped neither the IT companies nor their clients/users. This so because it has kept scores of the IT bandwagon and as a result the markets have suffered. Think about used goods reselling web-services. If the products can be offered to more customers, the prices of the used goods go up through better price discovery, transactions materialize more quickly due to more buyers and many more goods are available due to new sellers and more geographies (many of which may not be participating currently) become available.
Same thing is true about Rent/Leasing online industry. Not only more rent seekers are available but also more properties come to market. Not only this, it is possible to open several new frontiers like say renting of Farm implements. Currently many farmers use farm implements for a limited period but are forced to buy these. If the implements are available affordably, the levels of rural prosperity may improve and money becomes available for more useful things, like move away from oversold farm implements like tractors to say, threshers or others.
This is despite the fact that IT technologies have generally been used for ‘management’ applications like work flow management or supply chain management etc. Management or better management is one thing that is needed by ‘all’ rather than just the urbane corporates. It is needed by the rural entrepreneurs as well as rural populace. A rural farmer may need tools that may help him manage his farm better from the start of soil analysis to the kinds of cropping pattern is to be followed and recommendations for seeds, fertilizers and insecticides etc. for workflow while to have supporting e-commerce for supply chain. Current methods have focused mainly on yield per hectare rather than 'value' for the farmer and reason is mainly dull and lackluster governance due to bureaucratic lack of imagination. It is mainly the scope of complexity of the applications required will be low (though with a different need set) and corresponding paying capacities will also be in accordance. Besides these will have their typical adjustment requirements like local language in software as well as support services from call centers.
The need to push for technology adoption in rural markets thus has potential to open up many more potentially transformational ideas and drive productivity. Though the idea has been neglected for long and as result the markets have suffered. What may help drive change is to identify 5-10 technology (functional) champions for a M-product on SMART phone, who will then help percolate the usage of App amongst the larger set of users, the same way as it happens for the 'letter reading' in our social setting in villages. However to identify and engage this set, the App 'sales' agent will have to travel to village schools or address Panchayat meets or engage with religious/community leaders of the village. The adoption of product will happen provided the application is seen to be addressing the ‘need’ in the market, but a suitable message/say Tshirts for champions or a flag at champions house must keep the folks informed and aware about the availability of the ‘solution’. Unfortunately, so far technology has not been promoted by any social or religion-leaders and they seem to have done themselves dis-service rather than service on this count.
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 8th Sept. 2014
The marketing thought has for years been restricted to targeting urban customers for IT products and services, be it E/M Commerce or simply Email of SMS services, e-learning, information or web-surfing/games or any other. Accordingly no focus was imparted to how a rural user can benefit or to evolve a mutually beneficial engagement/commercial model as well as was no focus to offer services in languages of rural customers in India and many other developing countries. This is despite that several of them can boast for a healthy domestic IT based service industry as well as development skills. It is almost always assumed that rural customers do not have need or do not have paying capacity or behavioral inclination to adopt technology products and services.
This has helped neither the IT companies nor their clients/users. This so because it has kept scores of the IT bandwagon and as a result the markets have suffered. Think about used goods reselling web-services. If the products can be offered to more customers, the prices of the used goods go up through better price discovery, transactions materialize more quickly due to more buyers and many more goods are available due to new sellers and more geographies (many of which may not be participating currently) become available.
Same thing is true about Rent/Leasing online industry. Not only more rent seekers are available but also more properties come to market. Not only this, it is possible to open several new frontiers like say renting of Farm implements. Currently many farmers use farm implements for a limited period but are forced to buy these. If the implements are available affordably, the levels of rural prosperity may improve and money becomes available for more useful things, like move away from oversold farm implements like tractors to say, threshers or others.
This is despite the fact that IT technologies have generally been used for ‘management’ applications like work flow management or supply chain management etc. Management or better management is one thing that is needed by ‘all’ rather than just the urbane corporates. It is needed by the rural entrepreneurs as well as rural populace. A rural farmer may need tools that may help him manage his farm better from the start of soil analysis to the kinds of cropping pattern is to be followed and recommendations for seeds, fertilizers and insecticides etc. for workflow while to have supporting e-commerce for supply chain. Current methods have focused mainly on yield per hectare rather than 'value' for the farmer and reason is mainly dull and lackluster governance due to bureaucratic lack of imagination. It is mainly the scope of complexity of the applications required will be low (though with a different need set) and corresponding paying capacities will also be in accordance. Besides these will have their typical adjustment requirements like local language in software as well as support services from call centers.
The need to push for technology adoption in rural markets thus has potential to open up many more potentially transformational ideas and drive productivity. Though the idea has been neglected for long and as result the markets have suffered. What may help drive change is to identify 5-10 technology (functional) champions for a M-product on SMART phone, who will then help percolate the usage of App amongst the larger set of users, the same way as it happens for the 'letter reading' in our social setting in villages. However to identify and engage this set, the App 'sales' agent will have to travel to village schools or address Panchayat meets or engage with religious/community leaders of the village. The adoption of product will happen provided the application is seen to be addressing the ‘need’ in the market, but a suitable message/say Tshirts for champions or a flag at champions house must keep the folks informed and aware about the availability of the ‘solution’. Unfortunately, so far technology has not been promoted by any social or religion-leaders and they seem to have done themselves dis-service rather than service on this count.