space and even though they are five star( Kingfisher) and three star( Jet Airways), they are lagging in the international segment. There are huge gaps in terms of the service offered by these carriers and the internationally renowned carriers( read Singapore Airlines). Hence to bridge these gaps I created a small framework with is very specific for the airline sector. This framework however can be generalized and used in other industries too. The framework is given in Figure1. Figure 1: Learn From the Best Frame work Every airline has a supply side which represents the internal functioning of the organization. The main focus here is to identify ways to improve the efficiency and strengthen the companies' competitiveness. And a demand side which focus on how to attract customers and what creates value for them and how to retain the customers, these are further sub classified into the major categories which needs to be focussed. These subcategories can be tweaked according the sector. I identified the following as the important categories that needs to be focussed on the demand side On the Supply side the main focus was on the major elements that constitute for majority cost, The next step is to execute this frame work on a company from which we want to learn and on the target company( where we want to implement the ideas). By doing so one can identify the gaps between the two companies. This exercise need not be restricted to just between two companies, this can be done between My focus was to identify the gaps that are found in the Indian aviation sector(Premium segment). Hence i took Singapore airline as the carrier from which we are going to learn and i carried out this exercise and obtained Figure2 , Figure 2: Singapore Airlines I did the same for Indian premium services which is given in Figure3, Figure 3: Indian Premium service After doing this, some of the gaps that I found are This framework is still in the nascent stage and needs to enhanced further so that it is focussed still not too specific. By creating similar framework for difference industries, one can easily learn from the best companies and can be replicated the same to different companies. Also this framework is designed in a generic manner so that it can be implemented in different industries. I haven't tried to use this framework across industries, I think with a little tweaking one can use the same to learn from across sectors.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Learn From the Best frame work
Learn From the Best frame work
Kingfisher is one of the few airlines which has achieved five star status and it is the only airline in India to do so. From India only Jet and Kingfisher are competing in the luxury space and even though they are five star( Kingfisher) and three star( Jet Airways), they are lagging in the international segment. There are huge gaps in terms of the service offered by these carriers and the internationally renowned carriers( read Singapore Airlines). Hence to bridge these gaps I created a small framework with is very specific for the airline sector. This framework however can be generalized and used in other industries too.
The framework is given in Figure1.
Figure 1: Learn From the Best Frame work
Every airline has a supply side which represents the internal functioning of the organization. The main focus here is to identify ways to improve the efficiency and strengthen the companies’ competitiveness. And a demand side which focus on how to attract customers and what creates value for them and how to retain the customers, these are further sub classified into the major categories which needs to be focussed. These subcategories can be tweaked according the sector. I identified the following as the important categories that needs to be focussed on the demand side
- Attracting customers – How does an airline acquire a customer?
- Airport service – what is the service that is offered in the airport
- Lounge – Service offered in the lounge
- Onboard product – What are facilities that are available onboard
- Cabin Staff Service – How is the cabin service
On the Supply side the main focus was on the major elements that constitute for majority cost,
- ATF – How companies find ways to reduce the cost of ATF( approximately 40% of the cost is contributed by ATF for Indian carriers)
- Airport Charges – How companies try to reduce the airport charges( approx 10%)
- Maintenance – How to reduce maintenance cost and improve the aircraft life (approx 10%)
- Staff – How to control the staff cost and to increase their efficiency (approx 10%)
The next step is to execute this frame work on a company from which we want to learn and on the target company( where we want to implement the ideas). By doing so one can identify the gaps between the two companies. This exercise need not be restricted to just between two companies, this can be done between
- Two companies in the same industry
- Same industry across geographic location – This helps one to fill the gaps that are found in one geographical location, which is already filled in another.
- Between a company and a Industry – This is help one to identify the gaps between the company and the industry. The company can learn from it or the other way.
My focus was to identify the gaps that are found in the Indian aviation sector(Premium segment). Hence i took Singapore airline as the carrier from which we are going to learn and i carried out this exercise and obtained Figure2 ,
Figure 2: Singapore Airlines
I did the same for Indian premium services which is given in Figure3,
Figure 3: Indian Premium service
After doing this, some of the gaps that I found are
- Attracting customers
- Advertisement is lagging
- Community service is a form of advertisement which can be tapped
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- Airport Service
- Infrastructure is the bottle neck
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- Lounge
- There is a huge gap! Even Kingfisher is lagging here(with a a rating of just 3/5!)
-
- Onboard Activity
- Nothing innovative is happening – Emphasis must be to give unique and customized experience
-
- ATF
- Hedging of ATF prices went grossly wrong for the companies as the fuels prices dropped with the fall in the International economy
-
This framework is still in the nascent stage and needs to enhanced further so that it is focussed still not too specific. By creating similar framework for difference industries, one can easily learn from the best companies and can be replicated the same to different companies. Also this framework is designed in a generic manner so that it can be implemented in different industries. I haven't tried to use this framework across industries, I think with a little tweaking one can use the same to learn from across sectors.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Remote Health Care Program: A Value Chain Analysis
The actors in such a business ecosystem include the healthcare providers and technology firms. Its extends into the support organization which involves technology provisioning like the telecom providers, health delivery supporters which is majorly carried out by NGOs and charity organization in the rural areas and also organizations like C-DAC and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) which streamline funds from Government bodies into technology development for such causes.
There is multi-disciplinary involvement is delivering effective healthcare to the patients, who are at one end of the value chain.
There are noticeably two broad classifications of patients – those with chronic illnesses and others with acute ones. Remote healthcare seem to work more effectively for the former, where diagnosis and monitoring are essential, needing the senses of sight and sound, and occasionally touch to be transmitted from a remote location to the medical practitioner. Acute illnesses often warrant a physical visit, for a procedure or hands-on treatment. Ophthalmologic care centres like Aravind eye hospital, Madruai and Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai are effectively using tele-diagnosis and monitoring to follow up on or initiate a visit.
But, in many instances presently, there is a not-for-profit organization working between the healthcare provider and the patient. These NGOs may be independent ones, like the Rotary clubs across India, Development of Humane Action (DHAN), which promotes DISHA project to implement telemedicine in rural health centres and World Health Partners, who work on the Sky Health rural healthcare venture with Neurosynaptic Communications. Or, they are bodies floated by a particular hospital or technology firm, as in the case of Sankara Nethralaya at Gummidipoondi near Chennai. They, also, co-ordinate with ICT providers, and push for better and faster connectivity to enable this essential service to those who need it the most.
Provision of ICT is still at an academic, as opposed to a commercial, stage as far as remote rural healthcare is concerned in India. For one, ICT providers may be linked to academic research organizations on a mutual usage-research basis. In other words, the cost of technology for commercial viability of remote healthcare remains unexplored as connectivity is given by academicians or by government organizations as a donation. The best example is ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), which is the only nation-wide provider of satellite communication systems for many tele-diagnosis platforms. It provides VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) connectivity, for free, where as VSAT can by no means be the most efficient, cost or otherwise, if remote healthcare were to be treated as a commercial proposition. Sanjeevani and Aravind Eye Hospitals remote heathcare solution work on web based architecture.
Some potential areas for exploration in ICT for Internet Service Providers are broadband services based offering, kiosk models set up with a leased line, and GSM based services covered by good rural reach like BSNL.
The academic or research partners in these ventures have proved high efficiency of their methods in 'laboratory conditions'. IIT-Madras’ TeNet works with ReMeDi , which is part of the Sky Health Centre. Similar work is done by IIT-Kanpur’s Sehat Sathi with Infothela on Media Lab Asia funding. SGPGIMS and CDAC developed Sanjeevani and Mercury. AIIMS is working on a replicable model for IT based health system at the grass root level called the Ca: Sh, again funded by Media Lab Asia.
It is at the level of the hospitals that remote monitoring and diagnosis is truly varied and experimented on. Ranging from primary health care centres, where such endeavours are envisioned to provide monitoring for pregnancy, through medical colleges to corporate hospitals, many efforts are prevalent today. A PHC (Primary Health Centre) or a Government hospital may use it for anything from mobile awareness campaigns to stimulating hospital visits; corporate hospitals use it for long distance consultations. A good example of this is Apollo at Chennai.
The role of tech firms in the value chain is under-explored, as for one, connectivity is provided not-for-profit mostly, while some remote healthcare centres simply use the commercial internet service. However, there are tech firms like Philips which runs the DISHA. Wipro, CDAC and GE work with Apollo foundations to provide technology at the software end, in the form of software services named Radworks. Bangalore based Neurosynaptic has partnered in the research done by TeNet of IIT-M and developed ReMeDi, used in 'Sky Health Centres'.
Sales and servicing of ICT equipment, yet again, is underdeveloped. In fact, ISRO omits servicing out of its donation of VSAT equipment to hospitals, who then find it financially not viable to maintain them.
For such a niche area, the recommendations for a technology player are as follows.
1. Complete technology mapping is required
a. Specific areas of medical and ICT technology requirements to be identified
b. Areas with Low IT penetration should be identified and should be made potential markets
2. Mode of Operations
a. Involvement of NGO and Local skilled workers for logistics and health care delivery is required
b. Early entry into emerging projects and government ventures to be deliberated for early mover advantage
3. Business network development
a. Network with Hospitals and Insurance companies to be considered for better outreach to rural population
b. Project specific revenue models can be more successful than the out-right retailing
c. Must leverage present market presence in healthcare to generate business leads
4. Service delivery
a. Has to be benefit driven with low cost focus for rural population
b. A trickle down of international exposure and quality will increase marketability in the eyes of the consumer.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Insurance industry
In this financial turmoil, insurance industry is the least affected in financial services sector. Insurance is divided into two types, general and life insurance. For India, the premiums collected in 2007-2008 is 4.1% of GDP unlike in other developing countries where it is anywhere between 8-9%. The latest Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA) report available is for FY 2006-2007. Worldwide insurance premium amounted to US $ 3723 billion in 2006 comprising of US $ 2209 billion in life and US $ 1514 billion in general insurance business. At this level the premium has increased by 5.0 per cent in real terms in 2006 as compared to 2.5 per cent in 2005. The growth in life insurance premium was about 7.7 per cent which is the highest since 2000.
In emerging markets, the growth in life insurance tripled to 21.1 per cent from 7.5 per cent in 2005. Hence, Indian life insurance industry is a great opportunity to explore. The industry recorded a premium income of Rs.156,041.59 crore during 2006-07 as against Rs.105,875.76 crore in the previous financial year, recording a growth of 47.38 per cent .
The industry is challenged by creative solutions in technological and distribution front. So far, Insurance industry in India was mainly an obligation we had with the insurance agents. But things are fast changing as fast as India’s economic fortunes. The industry is expected to benefit a lot with the growth in Indian economy. The industry is long ignored by b-school graduates owing to the nature of the industry and brand “insurance” itself offered. However with the entry of more private players and exciting opportunities, there is enough scope for MBA graduates to try out their hand especially in marketing and consulting areas. It is very evident that if you can sell insurance product, you can sell any product as insurance is a concept which requires sharp marketing skills. The future growth of the industry will be mainly driven by product innovation, unconventional distribution models and strategic community participation. There is enough scope of consultants in driving the growth in terms of product strategies, exploring new markets, devising new distribution models, tapping the low income segment etc.. So consultants grab this unique opportunity.