As part of the Ripple Effect project in India, IDEO identified 5 organizations working in the domain of safe water and provided them incubation support in the areas of business and design to develop solutions such as delivery services and large-scale community water storage systems.

Quicksand was approached to document the journey of these five organizations, spread over different corners of the country, as they went about prototyping and deploying their solutions. The film based documentation became an important medium for IDEO & Acumen Fund to demonstrate the value of design thinking in driving issues pertaining to social development and impact.

The film is now in public domain and can be viewed here:

The survey recorded the feedback from about 30 subjects across New Delhi between July 2 – July 3, 2008. This data represents people from varied walks of life and demonstrates that the discerning consumer is not just the well-educated city dweller but is as much the “pan-wallah” around the curb or the migrant worker. A copy of this rich media survey is uploaded here (3.4 mb, 57 pages) and may be used with due credits.

The research questions we have addressed include the basic demographics of the respondent i.e. the person’s name, age and profession. The other set of questions are either around the mobile device they own or the telecom service provider they are subscribed to. The opportunities for innovation are typically hidden within the responses and behavior of people and these are just two facets we thought were worth
exploring.

The survey is a snapshot of the diversity of telecom users in our cities, reinforcing a few things that we must bear in mind as either a new entrant or an existing service provider in this space:

• the prevalence of mobile phone as a communication device cuts through all sections of society and therefore the same product ends up delivering almost as many unique experiences as there are consumers
• the power of social media, particularly for the uninitiated consumer, is the most defining influence on the choices they make
• the service that differentiates one provider from the other is almost non-existent and more starkly so when the consumer demands are as basic as they come

This document intends to trigger a dialogue on service design & innovation and re-focus the efforts on the wellspring of a great brand & service – the consumer. Also uploaded is short film we made of some interesting and leading user reactions.