Bridging the Intellectual Gap Through Technology in India

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow” – John Dewey The education sector is one of the most important sectors in India with 1.3 million schools. In the Union Budget of 2011-2012, Rs 52,057 crores ($9.7 Billion USD) was allocated for this sector alone. The spending on education is very large, with the spending on IT (information technology) within this segment also rising quickly. The government is encouraging private and public partnership in this sector with sizable investments being made by major corporate houses of the country. Given its growth potential and critical value, this sector has been on the watch list of almost every IT vendor for quite some time now. It is a known fact that the heart of India encompasses small towns and rural areas. Technology has made a difference in the way education is imparted, particularly in the way it reaches the heart of India, where nearly 70% of the country’s population lives there. A recent report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) indicates that the number of rural Internet users has increased from 29 million as on December 2011 to 38 million at the end of June 2012. The growth is expected continue to reach 45 million by the end of December this year. Also from the IAMAI report, almost 80% of rural Internet users go online mainly for educational and entertainment purposes. Interestingly, mobile Internet is seen as a driver of rural Internet penetration. The demand for mobile Internet via smartphones is rapidly catching up in the smaller cities and rural areas. The growth of the demand has mainly been driven by the abundance of low-cost data packs, local language content, and affordable smartphones. All these factors present exciting opportunities for the education sector because content can now be delivered by technology. Two of the fastest growing areas within this segment are soft skill and vocational training. These courses are mainly taken up by the Tier 2 and 3 cities (smaller cities). Education is a key sector in many small cities like Kota (Tier 3 city). Currently in places such as these, content is already being delivered over the web through various platforms such as video sharing sites like YouTube and many others. Many interesting developments are happening in the technology for education space. For example, a leading broadband service provider has been testing a product that has the capability to replace PCs for accessing broadband. The product can be attached directly to a television where the user would have complete PC functionality. Furthermore, low cost computers, priced very reasonably- at less than Rs 5000 (approximately $93 USD) will soon be made available in India and will go a long way to make the rural and low income population embrace information technology. Akash has recently launched an updated version of its tablet at under Rs 2000 ($37 USD). The tablet is aimed specifically at the student community. Another recent trend is that schools in smaller cities (tier 2 and 3) are increasingly adopting the latest technology. Schools in these smaller cities realize that it is difficult for their students to the same amount of exposure as their counterparts in the bigger cities; however, they are taking the help of technology to place their students on an equal footing. So, how much of a role can technology really play presently in India’s education sector? I believe a huge role, especially in terms of how technology is utilized to deliver education. There are four parts to learning: lectures, library, laboratory, and life, according to Mr. S. Sadagopan, the director at the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore. He says, “Technology plays a critical role in all these”. Sadagopan cities an example from the laboratories: “Frog dissection is completely gone…. many expensive instruments can be made available to school children in less endowed places through technology”. The smaller towns and rural areas of India will fuel the growth of technology used in education for many years to come. In a country where access to information is a challenge, technology will go a long way in making information available to people when they need it.

Advertisements for Technology Products–Relevant or Redundant?

The right media vehicle helps make advertising more relevant “Advertising is the life of trade” – Calvin Coolidge Consumerization of IT has emerged as the latest buzz word, as vendors, partners, and service providers try to understand the changing dynamics among purchase influencers in technology. Microsoft defines Consumerization of IT as “the increasing influence that our technology experiences, as consumers, — both hardware and applications—have on the technology that we expect to use at work”. The definition implies that awareness and knowledge of IT (information technology) products and solutions has gone beyond the few elite who understand technology to consumers. Now, consumers are savvy enough to try IT solutions on their own, get comfortable with them, and then decide whether to keep using such solutions further. According to NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies), the average consumer in India is moving up the IT maturity curve. An important issue reaches the fore front: how to reach these consumers and how to make them buy more —the classic dilemma of any marketer. Advertising in both print and audio/video, as we know, are important tools in reaching the target audience. These days we see a slew of ads on television as well as print media trying to sell us a wide variety of gadgets. While this strategy clearly works for any other consumer product, an important question that begs to be answered is whether or not advertisements are equally effective for technology products. First, getting the target audience right is absolutely critical. It is exceptionally true for an IT product because there are multiple layers within the products. Additionally, it is worth mentioning here that different sets of audiences need different media vehicles in order to be reached effectively. As a result, the sources of information vary in its quality according to the complexity of the product and the timeline for the purchase decision. The ‘low level of involvement’ products like smartphones can be publicized on mass media platforms such as television and radio. However, more complex products such as high capacity servers have a ‘high level of technical involvement’, which requires a different media vehicle. According to a study on India SMBs, mass media ads influence the IT brand selection of small businesses (SBs), defined as having between 1-99 employees, in a big way. This is primarily because the IT needs of SBs are small and relatively less complex. As organizations grow in size and complexity, their IT decision process also becomes complex. According to the study, more than three-fourths of medium businesses (MBs) depend upon personal recommendations and product demonstrations for their IT purchases. This is the second phase in the brand selection process. The first critical phase is to be present in the brand consideration set of the relevant decision maker. The appropriate ads need to be placed in the most relevant media vehicles such as IT oriented print media, technology journals, etc. in order to gain mind share among the target audience. Demonstrations and peer recommendations act as the last mile in the purchase cycle to help the decision maker in finalizing the brand. However, in order to get to that stage, the brands must first make it to the consideration set of the decision maker. A new wave of media, social media, has found equal acceptance among both SBs and MBs (businesses having 100-999 employees).Studies further indicate that more than three-fourths of the SMBs actively refer to social media platforms in their purchase process. Peer review blogs and social networking platforms like Facebook play a very important role in spreading awareness and feedback about a product. It is not surprisingly, several IT vendors are very actively making use of these social platforms to promote their products. Typically, these vendors are showcasing their brands, adding authentic customer stories and using the social media to go viral. Brands such as Dell are using the social platform to generate serious revenues. As early as 2009, Dell was making $9 million a year, globally, in revenues from sales generated by Facebook and other social media platforms. The question that I set out to answer was whether or not advertisements are relevant for technology products? The answer to that is a triumphant yes. However, the trick is to choose the right media vehicle to cut across the clutter to reach the desired audience. Furthermore, advertisements are part of the big picture in building a brand. For an advertisement to be effective in cutting across clutter, it is imperative to understand the desired audience and to know their media habits. The traditional chaos of advertisements, such as television and print ads needs to be shed. Greater investment should be made in generating word of mouth publicity – through blogs, technology review forums, and more. TV is now a ‘tired’ medium, while traditional print does not have the same wide appeal as television advertisements, and radio is still evolving in India. Moving forward, it is clearly a mix of the traditional and new forms of media vehicles, such as social media, that will be effective in reaching a wider audience and ultimately sell more!