Science & Technology

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 nov 2015

India's healthcare expenditure market is about US$ 100 billion. According to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India and KPMG released in early 2015, India have about 159 million mobile internet users and it is projected to reach more than 300 million by 2017. Gartner predicts that Indian healthcare providers will spend US$ 1.2 billion on IT products and services in 2015. While industry estimates the healthcare sector in India to reach US$ 160 billion by 2017 and US$ 280 billion by 2020. Number of startups in India are exploring opportunities that are offered by these conditions. Saurabh Uboweja, co-founder of Credihealth, says 'Transparency, credibility and access to health care are some of the prime challenges that plague the Indian healthcare...Before tapping international patients for medical tourism, there existed great potential within India itself, where hundreds of thousands of patients throng city hospitals everyday from the hinterland.' According to Rohan Desai, founder of PlexusMD, 'In the US, health care expenditure accounts for nearly 10% of its GDP (compared to 5% of GDP in India), which basically means there is huge room for growth in India.' Nirmall L. Kumbhat, director of sales and marketing at another health related startup Godoctr (founded by Ajay Goel), says that it is seeking venture capital funding and focusing on medical tourism market. While Practo has already obtained various rounds of funds from global investors and has been growing since it was founded in 2008 by Shashank ND and Abhinav Lal. Read on...

Business Standard: Technology start-ups ride health care wave
Author: Sohini Das

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 06 oct 2015

Indian PM Narendra Modi's recent visit to Silicon Valley and meetings with the top executives of US technology giants, have possibilities and opportunities to build partnerships and collaborations for 'Digital India' concept. Moreover access to the attractive 1.25 billion people's market that India offers would be too hard to refuse for Silicon Valley companies. But what these companies also expect is the faster pace of economic reforms, ease of doing business and less bureaucratic hurdles and regulations. The recent exit of global commodities trader and hedge fund manager Jim Rogers from the Indian market gives a negative signal to the global investor community. India's digital upgrade holds a promise for educational and social modernization leading to advanced and skilled workforce, that are preconditions for a thriving economy along with sufficient consumption. Although India's literacy rate continues to rise since independence but it is still well short of projected world literacy of about 90% this year. A lot is still desired in educational infrastructure particularly in rural areas. Internet and latest educational technologies and platforms can help in this regard. India's internet penetration is only 20% of the population and the government's digital thrust can boost this number. Expertise from tech giants can be utilized to improve internet access. Moreover the digital strategy will also spur consumption through ecommerce. According to World Bank, at present consumption accounts for 60% of India's GDP, while Wall Street Journal mentioned that only 1% of India's population shops online. Also 80% of India's population lacks means to pay electronically for goods, says Morgan Stanley research report. The report also mentioned that India's internet market could rise to US$ 137 billion by 2020. All these statistics points towards a better scope and opportunities for businesses in a 'Digital India'. Read on...

Fortune: How Silicon Valley can turn India's economy around
Author: S. Kumar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 sep 2015

Indian IT firms, in order to attract high-end digital contracts that are design and creative skills intensive, are building dedicated design practices, acquiring design firms, modifying their hiring practices to accomodate design and creative talent, and mandating internal marketing design teams to work with clients. Hiring artists and designers seems to be the new trend in the IT industry. According to Paul Nanneti of Capgemini Group, 'More digital work could move to India, but there is a gap in the design capabilities. That is still being done mostly onshore. So we are building out a design and user capability practice in India.' Tata Consultancy Services has been developing its design practice for last 5 years. Satya Ramaswamy of TCS Digital Enterprise says, 'There are some very good artists and designers who don't have bachelor's degrees. So we have to create exceptions in our hiring policies to be able to bring them on board. Even managing artistic and design people is different.' Wipro recently acquired a Danish design firm Designit. According to Rajan Kohli of Wipro Digital, 'While we had been trying to hire senior designers in the market, it became clear to us that we needed a proven design platform, a heritage and brand in design, to be able to attract the best people to Wipro.' Read on...

The Economic Times: Lack of design and creative skills could shut out Indian IT from lucrative digital contracts
Author: Jochelle Mendonca

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 sep 2015

Shortage of specialized care is one of the critical challenges that India's healthcare system is currently grappling with. As affluence and awareness of Indian population increases, the demand for better specialist-monitored healthcare is expected to rise. India's specialist availability data for selected fields per 1 lakh population is - Cardiologist (5000), Dermatologist (7000), Radiologist (10000), Ophthalmologist (11000). Although US too has shortages in terms of specialists, but the number of specialists available is far better when compared to India - Cardiologist (31500), Dermatologist (10000), Radiologist (25000), Ophthalmologist (19000). So how is India going to tackle the challenge of specialist shortages? Dave Richards of Unitus Seed Fund, is optimistic about the transformative changes that mobile technologies will bring to India's healthcare landscape. He explains five main factors that need to be addressed through technological interventions - (1) Services of specialists must not only accessible, but also affordable to both urban and rural India. (2) Services must be from a trustworthy source. (3) Convenience is a major factor for consumers. (4) Providing consultation needs to be convenient for specialists. (5) Specialists need to earn money. According to him, combination of ubiquitous smartphones and high-speed data networks can create a large-scale affordable platform for delivering healthcare services. Diagnostic services is one area that can be substantially transformed through technological advancements and innovatons - Cardiac Care: Transmitting an ECG image through a smart device to on-demand cardiologist; Dermatology: 85% of skin issues can be fully diagnosed by a dermatologist with a photo taken by a smartphone; Radiology: CT scans, X-rays, ultrasounds etc can be captured by technician and then transmitted to remote radiologists; Ophthalmology: Eye screaning for diseases and refraction issues can now be done by technicians using low-cost devices, routed to ophthalmologists via mobile networks. Read on...

Forbes: The smart way of providing affordable health care
Author: Dave Richards

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 sep 2015

Use of technology for customer interactions, particularly for large businesses, is often seen as an automation and cost cutting exercise. And for customers it may not all be a pleasant experience. In case of small and medium businesses (SMBs), considering their limited budgets and other challenges, use of technology as a customer support tool should be a well thought out decision. It should provide them with cost savings alongwith building lasting customer relationships. Varun Shoor, founder and CEO of Kayako, provides ways in which SMBs can utilize technologies to enhance customer experience and create best value for their businesses - (1) Understand customer context: Have clarity of purpose; Evaluate context of customer inquiries; Availability of fast and easy access of information to resolve customer iquiries; Updating and sharing information with other departments (2) Deliver personal service at scale: Try to know your customer better; Understand customer's interaction points across all channels; Seek customer's needs and wants through surveys (3) Stop firefighting, start anticipating: Find ways to interact with customers even if they aren't; Use effective CRM tools; Utilize customer analytics (4) Customers want to help themselves: Provide them with self-explanatory information and tools; Give access to effective FAQs, intelligent search, tutorials and videos. Read on...

Tech.co: 4 Ways Technology Helps Build better Customer Relationships
Author: Varun Shoor

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 aug 2015

India's healthcare has various systemic challenges that include lack of specialist rural care, doctor-patient ratio less than the WHO prescribed figure of 1:1000, long wait times and less time available for doctor consultation. Moreover the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a cause of serious concern. Anil Kumar, Founder & CEO of SmartRx, explains how technologies like cloud services, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) can tackle some of these challenges and mentions four areas where healthcare transformation is happening in India with a promise of better prospects in future - (1) Improve Access: Online appointments and remote consultations. (2) Care Delivery: Post-discharge care and patient monitoring; Access to health reports and data. (3) Distribution: Home health services; Delivery of medicines and diagnostics services. (4) Health Management: Wellness apps and tools; Disease management and niche online communities; Personal health devices and wearables. Read on...

iamWire: Healthcare Transformation in India Through Technology
Author: Anil Kumar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 aug 2015

As technology continues to pervade every aspect of human life, businesses that provide technology products and solutions will grow and expand. Moreover as the pace of technological innovation increases alongwith competitive race for quality and price, the industry will require workforce that has newer skills and competencies, giving rise to career options that were not available earlier. Siddarth Bharwani, Director of Brand and Marketing at Jetking Infotrain Ltd, provides 10 career paths that would be in demand in the technology and IT space in future in India - (1) Wearable Experts (2) Tech Experts for Artificial Intelligence/Robotics (3) Digital Artisans (4) App Developers (5) Information Security Analysts (6) Computer Systems Analysts (7) IT Project Managers (8) Computer Forensics Experts (9) Big Data Analysts (10) 3D Printing Designers. Read on...

Huffington Post: 10 Promising Tech Careers For The Future
Author: Siddarth Bharwani

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 jun 2015

Developing a design ecosystem in India is critical for the effective implementation of the 'Make in India' concept. Recent announcement by the Government of India regarding smart cities and housing for all by 2020 will provide a boost for the design industry. In an interview, Pradeep Nair of Autodesk, explains how his company would participate in 'Make in India' and Digital India' initiatives, what are opportunities in India in the design space and how the company plans to evolve in the Indian market in future. According to him, 'Our go-to-market strategy constitutes of having a strong and expansive partner ecosystem spread across multiple cities. With the aim of democratising technology, we provide the best of design innovation solutions to large, mid-size and SMBs. We also ensure that our partners are trained requisitely with the apt skills to provide these solutions to the customers.' While mentioning the company's focus in India he explains that automobile design, manufacturing, architecture, infrastructure and the media & entertainment sectors, will be the main thrust areas. He further elaborates, 'We have been advocating Distributed Manufacturing as the key to the Next Industrial Revolution and encouraging companies, individuals to developing groundbreaking hardware, software, materials, marketplaces and maker spaces through 3D technology.' He sees cloud as the future of design. According to him, 'Leveraging the power of cloud can help in democratising design technology and enable the future of making things. Every software provider, whether it be design or IT, is undergoing a massive transformation where users are opting for cloud as the preferred platform for computation. Pervasive connectivity enabled by software that tap into cloud, lets project teams tap expertise globally...we're seeing the digital and physical sides of products and projects become more deeply entwined. Autodesk will be playing a pioneering role in driving this evolution by harnessing the power of cloud, leverage connected desktops and cloud experiences tailored for designers, engineers, visual artists worldwide.' Read on...

The Financial Express: We see cloud as the future for the design industry - Pradeep Nair
Author: Sudhir Chowdhary

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jun 2015

India's technology industry landscape was earlier driven by export of software and services, but now it is undergoing accelerated transformation through mobile phones. There are 969.89 million wireless phone subscribers in India at the end of March'2015, with 862 million of them being 'active users'. About 100 million access internet through mobile devices like smartphones. Tech-driven companies attracted US$ 2.36 billion during first quarter of 2015. Recently there has been high profile mergers and acquisitions in the mobile and internet space. E-commerce is going through a boom and disruptive phase with dynamics of industries being reshaped and remodelled. Millions of users are thronging on to online marketplaces to buy whole gamut of products and goods, and avail various services with just clicks and swipes. Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University says, 'India will see a technology boom over the next 5 years that will make the US dotcom boom look lame.' Software product business ecosystem is taking shape in India. iSpirt (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable) is a step to nurture software product ideas and entrepreneurs. India evolved new ways of bridging the digital divide and create domestic demand for applications and services. This can be a lesson for companies that serve the digitally poor around the world. Read on...

Outlook: The Changing Landscape of India's Tech Industry
Author: Dinesh C. Sharma

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jun 2015

With 55% increase in smartphones and numbering 140 million in 2014, India is rapidly transitioning into a smartphone driven internet and ecommerce market. According to report 'Internet Trends 2015' by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, smartphones are the main source of 65% of the internet traffic and 41% of e-commerce in India. Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University explains how the next technology revolution is brewing in India with smartphones as the main catalyst. India's mobile leap is more direct and speedy as compared to the evolved transition of technologies in US, from mainframes to PCs to tablets and then finally to smartphones. According to him, 'The capability of these devices will keep increasing as prices drop. Indians will benefit from the same developments in technology as the West, with smart watches and fitness-tracking wristbands and smart glasses and connected contact lenses. Smartphones will be used to order goods, read news, monitor crop growth, access government services, report corruption and crime, and manage smart cities and health. Mobile computing will be everywhere.' To benefit from this wave of smartphone penetration, Indian developers and entrepreneurs have to find innovative solutions to old problems. He suggests, 'They need to take advantage of the unique properties of smartphones and tablets, such as the ability to gather data via sensors and lightweight user inputs, and hyper-personalisation of content and operation.' Read on...

The Economic Times: India, now get ready for next tech revolution
Author: Vivek Wadhwa

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