Can our home become the next primary care centre for us?

Healthcare is an interesting area for innovative delivery models where we could easily relate those innovations to our everyday life than any other industry. As many reports indicate, innovations in care delivery in the form of remote monitoring technologies such as telehealth and mhealth are gaining prominence among the stakeholders including patients and providers while many insurers are also reimbursing expenses incurred in the process. We also see plenty of mobile applications being developed around smartphones that act as extended diagnostic devices for dermatology, pathology, cardiology and radiology. With digital transformation happening all around, we could probably have our primary care being delivered at our own bedside in the coming years.

The major drive for digital adoption in healthcare came with the passage of regulatory mandate ‘Affordable Care Act’ and other health IT acts. Following slow march from digitization of health records to sharing of health information among different entities, now the stage has been set for bigger analytic usage and delivering care anywhere. Along this line, we are seeing innovations happening in healthcare with the usage of sensors, mobile devices, wearable devices, intelligent applications and predictive analytics. All these sensors, applications and devices when integrated enable patients to be monitored remotely from home. There is this inquisitive article from healthcareitnews.com where Dr. Andrew Watson, who is considered to be a pioneer in utilizing telehealth systems at UPMC, makes an interesting prediction that in the next five to six years, 85 percent of the healthcare will be delivered at home[i] and technology plays a prominent role for this transition.

There are many companies that have developed different formats of home health monitoring systems. One such company is Independa which has developed a system that enables independent living for seniors with clinical measurements such as blood pressure and glucose levels, to sensors that monitor motion, toilet flushing and door opening[ii].The system has inbuilt algorithms to monitor any abnormal activity though sensors including no movement within the home and alert concerned persons. iRobot developed by InTouch allows doctor to consult remotely through screen mounted on robot and has inbuilt diagnostic systems for measuring and sharing key vitals[iii]. Care plans by primary care physicians are also shared on cloud with platforms such as Vivify that allows patients and care givers or nurses to access their care plan and act accordingly which improves patient compliance and adherence to set protocols by doctors[iv]. Today, every detail about the patient such as electronic medical and health records, lab results, prescription and medical history, family history, treatments undergone, current diagnosis and care plans are increasingly made available on cloud for greater ubiquitous consumption of medical data by healthcare providers at anytime and anywhere the patient may need care.

Look at the benefits of this remote care/ home care model. While the fact remains with many studies showing that digital technologies will reduce readmissions, costs and time and improve well-being, we could take another look from a transformation perspective. Imagine yourself on the bed. You have your bed wired with sensors that measures all your vitals and sleep behaviour throughout the night. The intelligent robot at your home receives the measurement of your vitals on a real-time from the sensors. The robot processes this information for the normal functioning of the body. It has inbuilt intelligence to act as soon as it senses certain deviation from the normal threshold. The robot knows your current diagnosis and acts instantly with prescribed first-aid format. The robot then alerts the primary care physician of your condition and shares your vitals to him. Physician then attends to you in no-time and you are back to normal. Robot is constantly updated with current information about your condition and alerts you to take medication, probe you for exercises and monitor your dietary in-take. It also arranges for periodic video consultation with your physician when it is due. Many of the systems that are developed today enables for digital environment as described above.

This digital transformation will have tremendous potential for long term care, home care and immediate care. Despite the concerns about the investments required from providers or the payer side, if the doctors and patients are enthusiastic about the benefits and are willing to go beyond the existing systems to communicate and diagnose by using simple third-party solutions, it will be a big leap forward. I could take a leaf from the futuristic film “Elysium” that showed a diagnostic and treatment device at every home for curing any diseases. Probably, we will have a system as such in every home with intelligence to monitor, predict, prescribe and prevent high cost medical treatments with periodic assessment and diagnosis. Setting timeline for such a system and its adoption is like staying afloat on a ravenous river and it is going to take its own time for fully integrated solution while the prototype will be adopted here and there at intermittent levels.

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[i] http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/mhealth-forecast-wows-audience?single-page=true

[ii] http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/remote-patient-monitoring-9-promising-technologies/d/d-id/1110968?page_number=3

[iii] http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/remote-patient-monitoring-9-promising-technologies/d/d-id/1110968?page_number=4

[iv] http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/remote-patient-monitoring-9-promising-technologies/d/d-id/1110968?page_number=5

Walk the Distance

Many a times I don’t push too hard. This is for me to say myself that choice is for you to make, walk the distance and cross your limited boundaries. We try to an extent to cross the hurdles and recede back as the fear of losing comfort level sinks in.  

We live within fortified walls

We restrict within known shells

Fix our mind on comfort zone

Fear to cross our drawn tone

Carry our life on smooth ride

Look inside with blatant pride

Fritter away time on the block

Set ourselves on a routine clock

Vacillating mind picks the lot

Perspiring heart feels the heat

Jittery legs break the grit

Shaky hands sweat the grip

Blinking vision blurs the sight

Inner voice rumbles the might

You oscillate as the ebbing tide

And, recede to your initial slide

The roads are more forbidding

The woods are never budding

The paths are quite enduring

The thoughts are vastly piercing

The journey is lastly solitary

Now, Pick up your choice

Fight for not who you are

But, for what you can become

Don’t tame your unassailable guts

Don’t shroud by blazing horizons

Don’t fear crossing lush oasis

Don’t cloud your discernible minds

Wake up and walk the distance

For sky is the eternal fence

Advance and explore the light

For the end is distantly bright!

Can Vision Care be virtualized for you?

Of course, Vision is one of the finest senses gifted to us that form real impressions about the world in our mind. Over the passage of generations, eye impairment has only increased due to varied reasons from dietary intake to lifestyle choices and prolific usage of digital screens.  According to WHO estimate, 285 million people are visually impaired globally. Nevertheless, science has advanced to address any form of impairment. Technology advancements in terms of smart contact lenses, laser treatments, robots, nano bots, smartphone apps and remote medicine is going to transform the vision care tremendously in the future. Now, the technology has advanced to such an extent that you can overlay virtual environment on real-time vision with inventions such as Google Glasses that allows for augmented reality. Healthcare has been slowest to adapt to these digital transformation but once the certain scale has been achieved, we could see profound impact on care delivery.

The proliferation of smart devices enables novel ways of communication and connecting with patients by doctors.  It is estimated that by end of 2013, 6% of the global population will own a tablet, 20% will own PCs, and 22% will own smartphones[i]. According to the latest Nielsen estimate, two-thirds of all phones owned by people in US will be smartphones[ii]. With the current developments seen across smartphone apps, it is possible for a patient to carry out virtualized services such as fixing up appointments, use virtual optical assistants to choose glasses, provide remote consultation and take self-vision screening tests before visiting a clinic. Consider this new virtual assistant named Otto, developed by VSP Optics group which is one of the largest providers of eye care plans in United States. This app has remarkable functions such as insurance information and eligibility check, doctor’s directory, web appointments, alerts and notifications, online eye-wear gallery store, vision screening and social media connect with friends and communities[iii].

Smartphone app can provide vision care access to the people in remote locations that are inaccessible to primary medical attention. Nearly 90% of global visually impaired population lives in developing countries. Peek, an acronym for Portable Eye Examination Kit, is a smartphone app that allows for an eye examiner to use camera of the smartphone to conduct basic vision screening. This app uses camera’s flashlight to illuminate the back of the eye, the retina and check for diseases[iv]. Also, all these details on the examined patients are recorded on phone and shared it with doctors over mail. This app has really been useful by assisting people in very remote places to conduct eye examination and get consultation over phone.

Smart contact lenses are developed that provides augmented reality on the lenses and also enable continuous monitoring of eye pressure that causes eye disorders. Innovega is one such company that has developed contact lens called the iOptik lens manufactured using nanotechnology to perceive both reality and information provided by the Internet or another source about the objects in focus[v]. Sensimed is another company that has developed a device that can measure the eye pressure responsible for disorders on a continuous basis which can be used to analyse and intervene immediately[vi]. Measuring the eye pressure regularly and providing early medical intervention can go a long way in preventing the loss of vision.  Smart contact lens enables the real-time monitoring without paying regular visit to the clinic for eye check-up.

With these pervasive scientific advancements, let us reimagine our eye examination routine in the digitally transformed world. Jack feels some terrible pain in his left eye and decides to take self-guided vision screening test using his smartphone application. Jack screens his eye using the camera and attends to different levels of self-test the app recommends him to do. After analyzing the picture and test results, the app diagnosed Alan with certain possibility of low vision. Jack then looks up at the doctor’s directory within the app that shows the nearest doctors with star ratings and the ones recommended by friends and insurance companies. Jack carefully chooses a doctor from the listed recommendation and fixes an appointment online with that doctor. As soon as the appointment is completed, a reminder is set in Jack’s smartphone and a message is sent to his doctor on the appointment and the doctor’s calendar is adjusted automatically for attending to Jack.

On the scheduled date, app examines the GPS location of Jack and calculates the distance and duration required based on different driving options to reach the doctor’s office. After the analysis, app automatically adjusts the reminder so that Jack reaches on time. On the appropriate time, Jack is alerted on his visit to eye doctor and the GPS system directs him to the doctor’s office choosing the best route alternative. On entering the clinic, Jack is facially recognized and greeted by a robot based on his profile and directs him to his seat. Then another robot with more advanced examining capability visits Jack wading through the hospital pathways and crossing lot of people on the way. On reaching Jack, the robot asks questions and records the input from Jack in writing. Jack informs about the self-test and the test results are shared by his smartphone app to the robot. The robot then records all these information in the Jack’s health profile. Robot then conducts advanced eye test to examine further just like the preliminary tests conducted by attendants in our current times. All these information are simultaneously stored in the Jack’s profile.

Jack is then called on meet Dr.Alan over the digital notice board. Alan wearing advanced glasses something like Google glasses runs through the Jack’s profile on his glass screen. Alan re-examines Jack for diagnosis as he scans his eyes through his glasses and after assessing the condition, glasses shows a list of recommended treatment options on his screen.  Alan then utters medicine names with dosage as the speech-to-text engine on his smart glasses converts the prescription in text format along with recommendation to wear glasses with prescribed power. The printer which is connected to the smart glasses prints out the prescription for Alan while all these information are simultaneously recorded on ubiquitous Jack’s health profile that can be accessed anytime and anywhere. All these interactions are transmitted live from Alan’s smart glasses to the screen in the next room as part of teaching classes for his interns.

Doctor’s prescriptions are stored on Jack’s smartphone app which alerts Jack for taking medication when it is due. App then sends this medicine list to the pharmacy along with doctor's prescription as Jack makes payment through his digital wallet. Pharmacy then delivers medicine at Jack’s doorsteps at the agreed time. Meanwhile, Jack uses virtual optical assistant on his app to try on different frames at the online lens store. Jack then chooses the frame that fits him well with specified dimensions and provides required input on Lens options. Once the order is completed, the online store delivers the glasses on the scheduled date. Jack then recommends this online store for his friends and community circle on the social media.   

Mobile Apps are transforming into effective consulting, marketing and communication channel from ubiquitous information search.  Patients feel comfortable that the doctors are just at their hands reach on the smartphones. With IBM’s powerful analytical machine Watson being open for public from next year, we could only see its tremendous impact with numerous applications wrapped around this analytical engine. These apps could help patients and doctors to understand the eye disorders and access relevant medical literature and viable treatment options under their nose. The technology could also streamline the eye clinic operations to a greater extent by automating processes, optimizing and utilizing resources effectively, reducing the time spent on waiting and improving quality of consultation for its patients.

Periodic eye care checking is also expected to detect the chronic medical conditions in advance which could be addressed with appropriate intervention and bring down the healthcare costs. With technology developments, we could foresee a future wherein the functioning of eye will be monitored continuously, predicted for occurrence of eye disorders and other chronic conditions and presented with real-time medical attention to avoid costly emergency visits and surgeries. Digital transformation is empowering consumers to take precautions by quipping them with tools to conduct periodic eye examinations at their home, notify doctors on their problem, diagnose problems early, prevent disorders and seek medical intervention on real-time need basis.

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[i] http://www.businessinsider.in/One-In-Every-5-People-In-The-World-Own-A-Smartphone-One-In-Every-17-Own-A-Tablet-CHART/articleshow/24353354.cms

[ii] http://bgr.com/2013/09/18/smartphone-adoption-united-states/

[iii] http://www.visionmonday.com/technology/spectacle-lenses/article/vsp-optics-group-unveils-otto-a-virtual-optical-assistant/

[iv] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22553730

[v] http://www.businessinsider.com/augmented-reality-contact-lenses-2012-7?IR=T

[vi] http://www.sensimed.ch/en/products/glaucoma.html

I wanna See You Again

Everytime I crossed the door

Left someone on the floor

Walking past the smiling visage

Realized its only delusive mirage

Confined my emotions in pumping cells

Breathed my life in lonely shells

Filled your visuals in the sullen mind

Forgot to enjoy with the absorbed blind

Missed my soul on daily work

Pushed my heart into deepened lurk

Glanced four seasons with oblivious haze

Traded my thoughts for your craze

Waited for the sealed door to slide

For my graceful angel to glide

Hoping to see with countless wishes

Realizing me on your alluring blushes

I wanna see you again

I wanna see you now

I wanna see my desire

I wanna see me again!

Can Build-to-Order Online Strategy become a Practicality for Car Manufacturers and Other Industries?

Consumers are evolving rapidly with their adoption of smart devices that influence their purchasing behavior. Millennials who are the young generation have transformed themselves into superlative figures that make lot of purchases through online and are influential in buying decision by their families, friends and social circles. A survey conducted by DDB Worldwide on US web users’ attitudes toward ecommerce during January 2013 reveals that Millennials are likely to engage in nearly every online shopping activity as well as shows that a considerable chunk of more than 30% from both males and females contemplating buying everything online[1]. Also, the annual market spend by Millennials are an astounding $600 billion which is expected to reach $1,400 billion by 2020 occupying 30% of sales of U.S. retail products[2].  To cater to this significant demographic, many retailers are trying different online tactics to keep them engaged through mobile applications, online stores, in-store digital interaction, social media and gamification. Though there has been mixed reports on which segment namely online or store based sales cater to highest sales, the impact of digital transformation is profound and the future is now and not after five years considering the nimble dynamics.

Now, we know that the Millennials are tech-savvy and contribute significantly to the sales of the retail and consumer goods. The companies will have to evolve in this ever changing albeit fast-paced market environment to understand digital customer preferences and their purchasing behavior. Likely, there was this automobile company General Motors which recently announced that they are planning to sell their products to Millennials through online channel. The company has in fact started online sales through ‘Shopclickdrive.com' that allows user to select whatever model they would like, add accessories of their choice, multiple financial options for payment and registered dealers acting as distributors. Probably, Tesla is one of the first companies to start an online sales channel offering many of its models to be purchased online for U.S. customers with various customization options in terms of color, roof, wheels and plenty of interior technology and battery options[3]. Are other industries apart from retail, consumer goods and banking that are gradually making efforts to enter into digital-consumer frontier?

Imagine the process of car purchasing through online taking cue from global ecommerce giants such as Amazon and eBay and other technology advancements. Now, Alan wants to buy a car from one of the leading car manufacturers. He visits an online marketplace or a comparison site that allows him to compare features, offers, pricing and reviews which already exist through many third-party sites. He made his decision to buy a model and clicks on a link that directs him to the car manufacturer’s online store. The online store allows Alan to use modular-pick-and-choose tool to pick features of his choice for his lovely car. Alan decides to use 2000 CC Fiat Diesel Variant among various engine options; picks right color for his car with options to choose graphics that enhance the look; chooses appropriate customizable features in terms of stereo systems from Bose, Blaupunkt and Kenwood, leather seat covers, spoilers, sliding roof, headlights, wheels, internal digital systems such as GPS, Touch Screen, Voice Interface etc. As Alan keeps adding features, a digital car mannequin changes automatically to adjust to the added features and Alan can zoom in or out, see inside out and rotate to get a visual appeal of the car. Once features have been picked and finalized, payment options pop up that allows plenty of financing options. As the banks and other financial institutions are part of this whole digital transformation, they do a background check and quickly authorize the credit request. Then the message pops up saying that you have successfully completed the purchase of the car which will be delivered to you at the mentioned addresses by three days along with “Thank You” post in the car manufacturers Facebook page. Alan can share this post and his buying experience to his friends circle in Facebook or other social networking sites. He can refer his friends for the car purchase and keep accumulating goodwill and points on the car manufacturers’ lifetime card. This reward points can be redeemed for any service Alan wants at the service centers for his car.

As soon as this request comes to the warehouse team, the analytics program in the system runs through the specifications requested by Alan and attempts to find a match from any of the nearest dealers who are on the close proximity to Alan’s location. Within few moments, the program throws a message that the “Match is not found” to the authorized person while in the background splits and sends this request to all the suppliers and inventory team for action. The inventory team looks at the specification and looks at the modules which are ready to assemble and at the parts which may require to be made anew. The inventory management program automatically does this analysis and sends the order receipt to concerned suppliers and manufacturing team. The assembly team by then would have been alerted with the new order and starts to assemble the product while all the required modules will be received at the assembly end at the specified time from specified supplier team. Once the assembly is completed as per the required specification of Alan with all interiors, exteriors and combustion engine all intact, the product is tested before being dispatched from manufacturing unit. As the product is being tested, the warehousing and logistics team are alerted on the product to be dispatched where the business intelligence program in the background aggregates all the orders based on warehouses and destination to be picked up by truck. Alan can track his order at various stages through the online application. By the time car has arrived at warehouses and ready to be dispatched, Alan receives a message from warehouse which is again confirmed by the application. Alan waits for his car and receives it at the specified time. As soon as Alan receives the car, the confirmation message is sent to the warehouse team. Now, Alan enjoys his ride on the new car and updates his story to his friends. When the car is due for service, the system automatically triggers an alert to Alan based on the readings from car which is automatically transmitted to the car manufacturer with the inbuilt system through Wi-Fi or through the smartphone application which is connected to the in-built system and appropriately fixes up an appointment after confirming from Alan through online at the nearest service center. As Alan is busy he requests for pickup at home for servicing and immediately receives a message from service center with the details of the person such as name, photograph and employee code; also receives an authorization code which will be shared by the individual from service center for confirmation of authenticity and the time of pickup. At the scheduled time, the service person arrives at the door and Alan authenticates the person from the personal details and the six digit unique authorization code received on his mobile. As the vehicle is serviced, Alan receives a confirmation message on service details, payment and time of delivery.

Now, many of the automated aspects and trigger mechanism is already in place at leading automobile manufacturers that have deployed ERP package and quality measures. The question is on the integration of these online stores with retail-like shopping experience and the back end systems of the manufacturers. One of the profound challenges for this disruptive model by auto manufacturers will be to deal with the large dealer network. How to convince the dealers to be part of this new model and support the innovation? The dealers could also assist the customers with personal contact, test drive and servicing. The entire dealer network should be integrated with warehousing, manufacturers, supplier and online store for successful deployment at the national level and cross country level and provide seamless access to information and processes by all stakeholders. The lagging industries could take cue from successful consumer product companies that use its own network as well as dealers and telecom operators such as Apple, Google Smart Devices and Samsung for selling and promoting their products. While implementing the integrated online channel, the cost lever should be addressed with predictive analytics that identifies the best way to serve a particular customer by analyzing the back end systems for availability, timeframe to procure products and customer information.

Forward-thinking leaders should leverage this online channel and provide targeted options laying choices in the hands of consumer. It is only a matter of time before the digital transformation hits across all the industries taking the rhythm from retail and consumer goods sector. The Emergence of “Direct-to-Consumer” model is being adopted by B2B companies such as pharmaceuticals. Pfizer is one of the largest pharma companies that have resorted to direct sales to consumer through online for some of its products. Companies that don’t foresee this emerging marketplace and don’t embrace digital transformation are destined to become obsolete as we have witnessed in number of cases such as slow demise of movie rentals, book stores and newspapers. We have heard that “Change is New Normal” but with changing dynamics, innovation, technology advancements and swift consumerism, “Disruption will be our New Normal” and companies will need to adjust to the new normal periodically and adopt tactics to reinvent themselves while the long term strategy is in place.

I am just extending this idea on digital transformation and see if it can lead to “Build-to-Order” strategy for companies as we have seen in the erstwhile famous PC maker, Dell. With the online stores in place and orders coming directly from consumers, the car manufacturers can effectively capture customer information better and equip his back end systems to react to the demand of consumers rather than build-and-store model. The consumer information can be effectively used for demand planning apart from demand data from dealers and effectively build a centralized team that oversees the demand pattern and appropriately arrange their distribution, warehousing and dealership networks. For instance, in cities we could probably have online fulfillment center while for tier-II towns we could effectively use a dealership for personal interaction and sales management. After couple of years of operation, online sales channel will have captured essentials such as who is actually buying it by analyzing the consumer information and demographics, which region is seeing spike in demand, what payment channels are preferred and eventually target your communication, promotion, offers and discounts to individuals directly rather than an umbrella approach. As we know “The Future is Now” and companies may need to relook at the disruption that is happening at the consumer level, cross industry level and within their peers to play the game and formulate the winning strategy than to decide on the participation itself. Looking forward to see the companies evolving in this digitally transformative world!

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[1]http://www.emarketer.com/Article/How-Millennials-Shop-Online/1010031

[2]http://business.time.com/2013/09/11/millennial-shoppers-big-on-browsing-not-splurging/

[3]http://www.teslamotors.com/models/design

Partnership Over Marriage

""Hardly leaves one with time left over to sustain the elaborate ruse of marriage. An unnatural arrangement which forces its participants into an unhealthy monogamy. An accretion of petty fights and resentful compromises which, like Chinese water torture, slowly transforms both parties into howling, neurotic versions of their former selves.As an institution, I think it's outlasted its usefulness by quite a large...margin.And yet I've come to appreciate the premise of partnership.It's far more intricate than I had previously imagined." - Sherlock Holmes in Elementary

One of the funniest and wittiest lines i have come across on Marriage. I do support this thought to a larger extent. From an Indian Context, Marriage has never been a marriage of equals or probably in most of the cases. Finding the right person is anybody's luck and luck doesn't favor many. This concept of partnership at equal footing with no compromises and appreciating each other's desires and feelings is a welcome trend which i hope to foresee within next generation. Experimentation with failure is fine as long as failure teaches you to succeed next time. 

The Next Wave of Psychological Threat

Recent news on the murder of a principal at an engineering college in TamilNadu by his students has stirred up the fear on new direction which the student community is dabbling with. Though the clashes amongst student groups have been happening for over decades on various grounds, no apathy for murdering teachers raises concern on the moral grounds the students have taken, if they have any. Considering the fact on the increase in number of crimes committed by young people makes us look at the behavioral aspects that are set in motion at tender and adolescent age.

Some of the shocking statistics from National Crime Records Bureau shows that the number of murders committed or crimes amounting to murder by juveniles have increased from 1022 in 2002 to 1581 in 2011. An excerpt from NDTV indicates that murders committed by minors have gone up by 87 per cent during 2002 - 2012. There was an incident of a school boy being kidnapped for ransom by his fellow mate at school in TamilNadu and murdered subsequently as the ransom didn’t work out. Another grueling incident is the repeated stab of the 4-year old child by a 16 year lad in Delhi as the child’s mother refused to pay his advances. Also during April 2013, 14 year boy stabbed his neighbor over a 50 rupee tiff and allegedly killed other two people who came for the rescue. In one of the engineering college where my wife had attended to as a lecturer said that a student had stabbed girl with a compass for her refusal to accept love.  All these perplexing incidents are not new and its raising shackles only reflect the intolerant, irresistible, incompetent, impatient and incorrigible attitude of our young generation.

Not only the murders and kidnaps stand up, the suicides committed by students are also on the rise. A study conducted during 2012 by one of the world’s leading medical journal, The Lancet, shows that suicide rates are highest among the 15-29 age group in India. These statistics is a harbinger of a dreadful mental health condition of us and our society. Today, not surprisingly toddlers are one of the major visitors to psychiatric clinics. Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), a pioneer research body in mental health says that one out of five patients seeking psychiatric and counseling help is a toddler. Greater good to the clinic and to the society is the visit of a one-year old, what should we say a kid or a child or a guy who would even be aware of his visit.

Globalization, Urbanization, Nuclearization and Digitization can be claimed to have played a reasonable role in the breakdown of our society which raises question on the adequate attention given to young lads by parents and families. Working parents, nuclear families, income disparities, devious neighborhood and emotional breakdown have increasingly pushed many of the young people to the brim of their psychological and physiological tolerance. Peer pressure, grouping tendency, parental anxiety and other life style changes are just adding to the burning pan. While some of the reports indicate that the hapless guys from lower income group had resorted to drug pedaling, addiction, theft and harsh conduct, the young people from well-to-do family struggle with the digital toys devoid of parental guidance and emotional support. Eric Berne in his “Transactional Analysis” says that emotional deprivation can have an irreversible effect on people. The suicide of a 21-year-old Chartered Accountant student in front of his parents by laying on a railway in Ghaziabad is a testament to the serious parental problems that exerted big psychological push for the youngster to resort to this extreme step.

Should we consider the resultant situation as a fall out of structural failure of our society? Are we giving greater thought to the mental healthiness of our society? Do we all have responsibility for diffusing this threat? As far as I understand the root of this problem starts at the infant and adolescent age that are in need of support and guidance. The palpable solution may have to start first at home as charity begins at home. We also know that this is a very fast paced world with couples themselves finding difficult to take time for each other. Working and single moms are striving harder each day to earn for the sustenance of their family. While we keep accumulating wealth for future generation, we should not let that generation rot in their deprivation of someone who they could always look up for anything. Nevertheless, we may have to understand the emotional needs of our children at every walk of their life and provide guidance psychological support and mental strength to face challenges and problems. If needed, it is always better to seek external help from their teachers, families, friends and professionals.

Educational institutions will have a greater role in combing behavioral attitude of their students. They have to provide guidance to students on academic, future educational plans, financial and other emotional tendencies developed within them. A recent news report mentioned that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $12.3 million to 35 schools districts in 17 states across the country to establish or expand counseling programs. The purpose of this counseling at schools is to help students with the behavioral problems and improve on their mental health. These programmes seek the help of qualified mental-health professionals for an expert intervention along with the continued input and support from parents and teachers. Schools may take cue from other developed countries on their effort on the mental health policies and structure it for their local needs. Some of the engineering colleges are also making it mandatory to establish in-house counseling and guidance cells for students. This may address to certain extent on psychological state of the student. I am not too sure on the idea of using faculty as counselors who may bring in their idiosyncrasies rather to prefer a health professional to do this job.

Society and government has a significant part in combating this menace. Society need to learn not to outcast people with disorders and see if any medical support can be offered from their contacts and knowledge. Government on its part should provide adequate infrastructure in terms of health professionals and medical facilities as well as devise policies that will enhance the importance of mental health of this young generation. NGO or associations involved in this type of social cause can also be included for their assistance on improving awareness and aiding schools and colleges with necessary tools. Motivation and deprivation are two major potent sources for people to do anything. Let us hope we use the necessary tools and awareness to tune ourselves, our family and our neighborhood for the positive intent of structuring our society to deal with growing offshoots of behavioral violence within our family and our community.

P.S. References have been taken from articles of news dailies such as Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Hindu.

Never wish to miss you again

Waited for many harrowing days

Never forgot your beautiful gaze

Dazzled emotions running sky high

Defiant tears draining my eyes

Unspoken words shared our minds

Expressive face opened our blinds

Reliving with our countless memories

Falling with the joy of rebirth

Glad to see you again

Never wish to lose you again!

BBD (Big Bazaar Direct) at your doorsteps: Sales Force-Neighborhood; Order-Digital; Supply-Traditional; Success - Uncertain

Kishore Biyani, a pioneer in the organized retail industry has once again, is venturing with a new idea of BBD – Big Bazaar Direct to propel the growth strategy for the Future Group. Man himself is well known for risk taking ability, right from starting with new store formats in late 1990s, venturing into new territory such as consumer finance or selling off his priced assets. The novel idea is being helmed as pet project of this risk-taker.

It is estimated that almost 90 percent of the Indian retail sector is unorganized while large format stores occupy nearly 4 percent of the organized segment. With the flourishing middle class and rising spending power, the retail provides lot of room for further growth for the organized players. Other estimates by big consulting firms put the growth rate of organized sector to be above 20 percent annually for the next several years and the percentage occupied by organized sector increasing from the current 10 percent levels to about 20 percent by 2020. Tier-II and III cities are also expected to witness the presence of these large retailers.

With the industry expected to grow at a higher double digits for foreseeable future, Big Bazaar has been continuously crafting its growth strategy to capture the market. The Big Bazaar Fair Price shops being hailed to promote private labels with a smaller store format has been established to compete with local shops. This strategic shift from larger format to smaller neighborhood store is also felt from global big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart Express which is the smaller store format is also expected to double its count of new stores with more than 200 stores, located largely at densely populated urban areas. The Future Group estimate that these fair price shops will contribute significantly to the top line in the coming years.

Now with this new venture BBD, Biyani is planning to tap the customers from remote places or to target households that are far away from the location of its big format stores. It is planning to utilize the local entrepreneurial talent as glorified sales force for this venture through franchise route. It invites anyone in the locality who has good contacts with its neighborhood such as paper man, kirana stores, chemists, beautician (Interesting) or for that matter anyone with shop in the vicinity. The applications are being assessed by a team to extend its franchises. These entrepreneurs may have to shell out 3 lakh as advance which this amount will be used for training, branding and technology upgradation.

After hearing on this venture, two things struck my mind immediately in terms of business proposal and the operational aspects. First, on the proposal itself, is it a novel idea? Is it any different from project Shakthi by HUL which used the NGO and local women to sell their products? Is it different from ‘Cash and Carry’ business type wherein the wholesalers and retailers buy products in bulk and sell it at their locality? Why doesn’t BB stock the local stores with their private labels and other products just like any other consumer goods companies? There have been some ventures in the rural where the entrepreneur will collect the necessities of their people and buy the required things from urban once in a week which may work out cheaper as they buy it in bulk. These questions arise on the business idea itself. On the other hand, how are they planning to manage the new found large scale sales force? Though agreed BB has several thousand on its payroll but this sales force is different. They need incentives to continue their role as glorified sales people of BB. They may also want to calculate the return on their 3 lakh investment as they earn certain low single digit commission on the sales of BB products. The entrepreneurs need to have long term strategic association with BB as their brand ambassadors as well as their sales persons. They need to believe in this idea and it may take couple of years or more for them to earn a reasonable return  for their efforts as it is with any business. They need to compete with the local retail stores for their market presence which means these people need to have greater skills in communication, promotion and engagement. The adequate knowledge of these people akin to sales persons in store on different product categories, customer segmentation and targeting may need to be imparted which BB plans through their yearlong training sessions. Should we think of sales team of banks as lessons to engage the local talent with attractive offers for their sales and reward them with ‘Sales man of the year’ or free trip to Europe or just like erstwhile offers for the LIC agents. Also, how do we restrict these new sales force to confine within the business for BB and not engage in other solicitations?

The margin compression may be felt by BB on this venture as they have to pay commissions for the sales, which retail already is a low margin business. They may have to work out on their operational aspects such as sourcing, distribution and logistics section to lead this business successfully. With their large store format in several cities and fair price shops in various towns, they already have established distribution facilities in place. The question of extending the existing set up for this venture which it may consider large store as Hub center for purchases within that city while creating other fulfillment centers to meet the demands of different regions. The company is planning to test this venture first in Nagpur and check out on their fulfillment of their orders which may throw lessons to be learnt before expanding. The question is on the robust infrastructure required as the orders are made online and the back end technology and intelligence to route the request to appropriate centers which is both cost and delivery effective? Amazon or Wal-Mart have invested large scale on their online fulfillment process and linking the systems with logistics and distribution for improving on their customer service. The products ordered may not be found in one location and we need intelligent routing to gather the products and look at which distribution facility to source and ship the products which can be quite heavy considering the fact if people are purchasing groceries. BB already has an online shopping store and why is it not promoting the site instead laying hands on new found sales channel? One, internet penetration is still low despite rapidly growing usage of smartphones and online purchases and two, the customer segment may totally be different, which is not technology savvy.

Winning the confidence of the customers is paramount. BB is using the local people to bring in that trust element as the money is paid upfront and the products will be delivered within 5 days. This is an ecommerce venture of a different kind with more assistance provided by trusted next door sales man to its customers. Can it provide competitive advantage with larger presence through their neighborhood concept and becoming a household name? Is it a meaningful innovation in terms of using the outsider as extended sales force? Some of the ventures by other consumer goods companies have been successful on this line. Despite the uncertainty, a big gung-ho for this leap by the risk-taker who has never doubted on his idea and always been a vanguard for novelties. The latest growth strategy of getting larger in terms of market presence by becoming smaller in terms of sales and store format needs to be seen in the coming years and it may have to reinvent on the process for a successful growth path.

In Search of Purpose

Sometimes we feel clogged with our everyday work and in the process we question ourselves what are we doing? This is for me who is in search of purpose.

Day in and day out

We live for something

Leaping with every step

Not knowing the path

Staying the walk of life

With a mechanic inside

Forgetting the self within

While running for glory

Eyes blinded by darkness

Path covered by murkiness

Walking the street guideless

Heart covered by shallowness

Mind filled with numbness

Living life with senseless

Day filled with superfluous

You question yourselves

Thousands and thousands of questions

Running deep within the mind

Struggling with thought of future

As foot struck within the mud

Taking a step away from smog

Drive to a distant place agog

With the gaze of Sun and Moon

With the breeze high on an Endless Path

Theresa with purpose to serve

Gandhi with purpose to free

For their purpose is to a lot

Served with deeper thought

Broaden your torch on purpose

Lighten your heart on inside urge

And pick your path of travel  

For the Life is full of choices

Enjoy with life for there is one

Enjoy with others for there is many

Enjoy with children for there is love

Enjoy with dreams for there is desire

Enjoy with hobbies for there is passion

Enjoy with obstacles for there is resolve

Enjoy with travel for the path is endless

Enjoy with purpose for the heart is so full!