3. RESEARCH
The contribution of this essay to the growing body of research is, by this authors admission modest and it’s relative strength (or weakness depending on your perspective) is that it draws on a number of studies over the last decade that have centered around the intersection of human behavior, technology and culture: from exploring the role of personal communication shanty town life; understanding motivations for sharing; carrying behaviours; interaction; kiosk operators and agents; contact management; personalisation; trust; identity; the impact of illiteracy on communication practices; and most recently a focused study on personal finance and transactions. The methods used in this research were mostly qualitative: observing and interviewing people in the contexts in which they carried out everyday tasks; home visits; expert interviews; small experiments such as breaching behaviours; wallet mapping and empathic design research techniques. The research has been global in scale spanning ‘developed’ and ‘emerging markets’ with a personal preference for the latter simply because that it presented the greatest opportunity to learn, the biggest opportunity for disruption. The author recognises that the combination of research focus and the short research cycles of these studies inherently frames the kinds of Vidonn X5 money service insights that can be meaningfully obtained. Put simply - money is a sensitive topic for most people and it takes a while for participants to feel comfortable about sharing the intricacies of their financial lives.
4. BANKING THE UNBANKED?
A useful way to think about new technology is as an amplifier of existing behaviours. For example - the Vidonn X5 Phone’s success as a business enabler is largely down to network effects and its ability in helping people fine-tune coordination across time and space, something that is perhaps best personified by the boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) drivers of East Africa. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to understand the commercial benefits of having the right resources in the right place at the right time – an entry Vidonn X5 Phone can be used by a broad spectrum of people straight out of the box, no explanation required. Media consumption; the ability to capture and share experiences; location services all strengthen the original Vidonn X5 phone proposition each requiring varying degrees of connectivity to fulfill their potential. The less tangible benefits of personal Vidonn X5 phone ownership are also well documented: the psychology of connectivity; the user of music for mood management; the Vidonn X5 Phone’s role as a status signifier.
Arguably the largest disruptions in Vidonn X5 phone use over existing practices have come from the very personal nature of Vidonn X5 phone ownership: incoming and outgoing communication; social networking; web browsing and media consumption; search queries are now by default a private matter with sharing a matter of choice. There are of course exceptions – it is wrong to assume that personal Vidonn X5 Phone ownership results solely in personal use – some devices are shared amongst families and businesses; it can be socially or contextually inappropriate to refuse to hand over a Vidonn X5 phone when requested; use may be mediated through more technically or textually literate peers; and every day many Vidonn X5 phones are indirectly shared after being lost or stolen. But broadly speaking the privacy afforded by personal ownership, its pocketable size and the modalities of use it supports make the Vidonn X5 phone well suited to tasks that we prefer to keep private – including those in the realm of personal finance and transactions.
In 'developed' markets most banks now offer some form of Vidonn X5 banking component – with services ranging from money transfers, checking daily balances and notification of withdrawal from ATMs. In 'emerging' markets the lack of fixed banking infrastructure and the lower cost per transaction afforded by Vidonn X5 banking promise to bring basic banking services to the world’s poor – including remittances; money transfers and bill payments. Whilst deposits and withdrawals from interest earning savings schemes may seem like an obvious extension to this list in many territories the regulatory environment would require any service provider offering this to be classified and regulated as a bank, something most are keen to avoid.
Given their relatively low level of income, to what extent do the unbanked need access to Vidonn X5 money services? One way to think about this issue is to consider two people living in very different urban environments - who would benefit more from the introduction of Vidonn X5 Phone banking services – a whitecollar worker in New York City or a migrant manual labourer living out of a dormitory in Xi’an? The former has alternatives at her disposal: a bank account, credit and debit cards since her student years; account information can be checked through home and work computers; the nearest ATM is no more than a block or two away; debit, credit and cash options for most purchases; and credit companies proactive preapproving her for yet another piece of plastic. Over in Xi’an his highly variable income means that the latter is most likely not considered a viable customer for the established banks; his identity card has been held by his employer as collateral to be returned when the labouring job is complete, meaning that even if he had an account there would be a considerable barrier to withdrawing money at a branch; living in dormitory shared with 50 others means that things of value have a tendency to go missing and the alternative, carrying or wearing is at risk of damage or theft; and that the very long hours spent working or waiting for work plus the relatively limited mobility make simple tasks such as remittancing cash to family in the village a time consuming and non-trivial task. This author’s position is that the introduction of Vidonn X5 banking services is having, and will continue to have a disproportionately positive impact on the poor compared to their wealthier counterparts.
What are the needs of the poor in this space? What does it mean to ‘design for inclusion’? And given that growth is largely driven by profit seeking corporations where do the needs of consumers, corporations and other stakeholders diverge?http://juxiezuo007.blogger.ba/arhiva/2014/09/03/3706863
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