Tag: thoughtleadership

Categories
AI Tech

Inspiring women everywhere to keep looking up

mentoring

Written by Kanchana Gupta on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership).

I am Kanchana Gupta, and I play many roles in life. I’m a catalyst for transformation and change management in the corporate world, a multi-dimensional artist. 

Most recently, a digital and tech entrepreneur who is fervently championing higher gender diversity in the workplace through a powerful combination of technology, mentoring, networks, and sheer passion.

My own personal experience of access barriers to mentors and role models and a desire to create changes in this space, encouraged me to start of vLookUp. 

It is an independent global mentoring platform for women.

But how did this journey begin?

Over the years, I’ve observed the challenges women face in the professional sphere. Especially the opportunities to connect with leaders, mentors, and subject matter experts in their respective domains or industries.

This limitation hinders their ability to acquire crucial skills and knowledge, forge valuable connections that could propel their careers. Give women access to exciting new opportunities.

Determined to make a change in this space, I decided to create a digital mentoring platform that democratizes access to mentors. Also removes the conventional barriers to connections, skills, and opportunities such as organisations, school and college network, countries etc.

This vision led to the creation of vLookUp. It is a digital mentoring platform that helps women find suitable mentors across countries, organisations, areas of experience, and domains.

The platform bridges the gap between women who need insight, skills, and opportunities, and pro-diversity mentors and leaders who have the experience and the connections.

As a result, women receive never-before access and knowledge. Mentors and leaders make a tangible difference in a woman’s professional career and overall women talent in the workforce.

My journey as an entrepreneur, with a profound focus on women’s empowerment, has been driven by sheer passion.

Through technology, mentorship, online communities, networks, innovative resources and unwavering dedication, I aim to provide the support and tools necessary for women to thrive in their careers.

About vLookUp and its impact

The journey started with an idea and market research in December 2020, and for the subsequent seven months.

I collaborated closely with both a design team and a technical team to bring to life an automated, digital, AI-driven mentoring platform that was highly efficient and scalable. 

By July 2021, our vision became a reality. The official launch of the app then followed in July 2022.

In the span of two years, the tech platform has rapidly grown into a vibrant community encompassing 177 mentors and 400 mentees, representing 24 different countries and from nearly 300 organizations. 

At any given moment, it supports an impressive 100+ active mentoring engagements.

This dynamic community has collectively facilitated more than 3000 hours of mentoring interactions, and its impact has extended to offering numerous internship and job opportunities to its mentees.

The voluntary network of mentors on the platform is robust and committed to diversity. The technology operates seamlessly, and the experiences and initiatives the brand is fostering are forward-thinking and considerate of the future.

Today the tech platform has transcended its initial identity as an online mentorship platform for women. 

The platform isn’t just about making connections online. 

It’s taking a multi-faceted approach to empower women in the workplace, in educational institutions, and in organisations, serving multiple purposes:

    1. A destination for women in search of knowledge, opportunities, and personal growth.

    1. A resource for pro-diversity companies committed to empowering their female employees to thrive.

    1. A valuable resource for professionals looking to enhance their leadership skills and capabilities.

    1. A partner for organizations striving to make a meaningful societal impact by empowering girls and women to make informed choices in all aspects of their lives.

We achieve all this by:

    • Leveraging technology: All of the above developments have been rooted from the word go in a strong technology platform and app. The tech platform is custom built from scratch to suit the highly specific needs of mentors and mentees. It incorporates smart algorithms and AI to suggest suitable mentors to mentees. Today the tech platform handles close to 200 mentoring engagements at any point, hosts abundant useful content, and has been the foundation for over 3,000 hours of mentoring.

    • Enabling real time mentoring digitally: A real time platform enables mentees to choose mentors at any point.

    • Empowering women: The platform empowers mentees to choose mentors as per their specific career stage and needs. They can also choose mentors for coaching/mental-wellness related discussions, based on specific needs.

    • Offering a safe space: Being an independent tech platform beyond all traditional barriers, the platform offers a safe space to mentors and mentees where they don’t have to think of organisational constraints.

    • Creating a springboard for students: Students and aspiring leaders, mainly in STEM subjects, are connected with corporate leaders to help them choose the right career path. This lays the foundation for success early in life and creates a strong pipeline of knowledge workers and leaders for the nation.

    • Developing leadership: Women receiving skills and knowledge are not the only benefactors. The platform also develops passionate mentors and leaders with deep industry experience and a commitment to gender diversity. It empowers them to make a structured contribution to helping women learn and grow – an opportunity they might not easily find in their current schedule and environment. 

    • Collaborating with organizations: The platform enables organizations to create and scale up bespoke mentoring programmes not only for their women leaders but also mentoring as a tool to develop women talent pool. It has moved beyond just a tech platform by providing mentoring support to educational institutions, thus unlocking greater socio-economic impact.

In this space, the brand’s teamed up with Dell Technologies and Nanyang Polytechnic for their ‘Girls in Tech’ mentoring program. 

With Olay and Mindtree Consulting for their STEM mentoring program in India. 

With Republic Polytechnic, to provide mentoring to their students.

These programs have created access to leaders and internship opportunities for many students in STEM. 

Our mentors are also working with women at the Unioleo factory in the far corners of Indonesia, to support their needs.

Conclusion

Through vLookUp and its copyright technology I am trying to do my bit to address a deep-rooted problem that companies alone cannot address. 

It’s been quite a journey, especially for someone like me with no prior technology background. I am proud to have developed a digital platform from scratch. Drive its adoption, and see it succeed and gain credibility in such a short span of time.

To learn more about vLookup, watch below

Most searched questions

What is vLookUp?

What is digital mentoring?

Most searched queries

vLookUp

Consulting

Hello readers! Hope you liked what you read today. Click the like button at the bottom of this page and share insights with your colleagues and friends!

For more such amazing thought leadership articles on technology follow Digilah people.

Categories
Digi Tech

How Email Marketing Can Empower Your Business

email marketing

Written by Sheenah Lozada  on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

Let’s go back to memory lane. Imagine the day when there was no email. Most of the marketers rely heavy on traditional mail for advertising. These are in the forms of flyers, catalogues, promotional letters sent via snail mail and delivered by your favorite postman.

When I was growing up and now, my mom an avid fan of Readers Digest, and we always looked forward in the mail on a monthly basis for it to arrive. She has cooking book subscriptions as well that we are eager to receive and try out some of the recipes. 

The agony of waiting……… 

Thankfully today, it is very convenient in just few clicks you can subscribe to your favorite brands, cookbook, etc.  No more waiting… 

Email has tremendously transformed how many businesses can reach through their customers immediately and establish a rapport where they have the option to choose the content they want to receive.

Let’s dive in to know the History for Email Marketing 

1971 – Ray Tomlinson sent the first email message which either said “Test 123” or the top row keys, “QWERTYUIOP”

1972 – Larry Roberts created an email management database that let users list, select, forward and respond to email messages.

1978 – Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corporation, sent the first email blast to 400 Arpanet advertising machines. This generated $13 million in sales.

1982 – Electronic mail message becomes the “EMAIL”.

1988 – Spam was introduced.  Inspired by those who are angry receiving email blast the word spam is added to the Oxford English dictionally. 

1989 – Lotus Notes 1.0, was launched as the first widely use email software service.

1991 – The internet was born. Everyone was using it. 

Late 1990s – Email service was introduced. Microsoft released Internet Mail (now Outlook) and Hotmail launched in 1998. The same time HTML was introduced to add characters to emails using custom fonts, colors, graphics and formatting.

2003 – CAN-SPAM was introduced in the U.S, it was signed by President George W. Bush. This prompts businesses to reduce sending unsolicited emails and include sender details and unsubscribe link in every message.

2009 – The introduction of Responsive Emails which enables readers to use their desktop, smartphones, or tablet to access and read emails.

Today – Email marketing is an integral part of the any digital marketing strategies that marketers are using to nurture their customer communication in the most cost effective way.

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/255080/number-of-e-mail-users-worldwide/

Despite the growth and prominence of mobile messengers and chat apps, email global users amounted to 4 billion and is set to grow to 4.6 billion users in 2025.

The global emails received and sent worldwide was approximately 306 billion in 2020. It is projected to increase to over 376 billion emails on 2025. This data shows that the trend towards mobile also is true for email.

As we know that the consumers interaction is multi-event and multichannel

These are some of the marketing strategies that you can invest with.

  • Inbound marketing
  • Content marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
  • Social Media
  • Paid Advertising
  • Mobile Marketing

One thing for sure is that email for marketing isn’t going anywhere. It will continue to be a staple part of any marketing strategy for all types of businesses.

COMMON SEARCHES:

Email marketing tools

Email marketing meaning 

Email marketing example 

Email marketing service

Email marketing examples 

Types of email marketing

Email marketing ideas

Email marketing benefits

WHAT PEOPLE GENERALLY ASK

What is email marketing and example?

How do businesses marketing?

What is an email marketing strategy?

What is email marketing and its benefits?

Categories
Digi Tech Fin Tech Med/Health Tech

HOW INDIA IS GETTING DIGITALLY LITERATE

Written by Rishikesh Patankar, Ph.D. on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

The need for digital literacy in a country as populous and diverse as India is critical. The gap between limited availability of resources as against vast requirement could be addressed by use of technology. Technology can provide effective ways to scale up solutions and bridge the gaps. The technology and connectivity together can make a huge difference to the socio-economic levels of a community, and ultimately, the country, true progress comes from inclusive growth.

The Government of India has launched ‘Digital India’ – A programme to transform India into digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy. The Digital India programme envisages to ensure that Government services are available to citizens electronically. Under the ‘e-Kranti – Electronic Delivery of Services’, one of the initiatives includes ‘Technology for Education – e-Education’ under which ‘Universal Digital Literacy’ at the National level is envisaged.

I would like to share the experience gained in implementation of a successful Digital Literacy programme across India, led by CSC.

THE NEED FOR DIGITAL LITEREACY IN INDIA

The technology and connectivity could be utilized effectively for delivery of education, healthcare, citizen services, financial services etc. The true potential for these aspects can only be realized if all the citizens are made digitally literate.

The key is to have sustained efforts by harnessing collective energies, strengthening partnerships and leveraging them to pull down the divisive digital wall.

Digital literacy is therefore a key component of the Government’s vision of building an empowered society as envisaged under “Digital India initiative”. Spinoff effects of digital literacy especially in the context of rural India would address a number of socio-economic issues.

  • Rural population can gain immensely from the ‘Digital Literacy’.
  • ‘Digital Literacy’ would bring the benefits of ICT to daily lives of rural population in the major thrust areas of Healthcare, Livelihood generation and Education.
DIGITAL LITERACY GAP

As per Census of India 2011, 68.84 % (883 Mn) of population resides in rural India. The number of rural households is 168 million. 5.2% of these rural households possess a computer.

Computer Literacy (who can operate a computer) by age group in rural India:

14-29 years – 18%

30-45 years – 4%

46-60 years – 1%

In addition, a significant number of these households don’t have computer access and are likely to be digitally illiterate.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGITAL LITERACY

The implementation of the PMGDISHA Scheme is being carried out by the CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd. (CSC-SPV) which acts as the Programme Management Unit (PMU). More than 250,000 Training Centres have been empaneled under PMGDISHA to provide enrollment/training to the candidates. The Training Centres are spread across the country and are participating in achieving the goal of making India digitally literate.

In the years 2014 to 2016, two Schemes entitled “National Digital Literacy Mission” (NDLM) and “Digital Saksharta Abhiyan” (DISHA) were implemented with certification of 5.4 million candidates, out of which around 42% candidates were from rural India.

In February, 2017, the Government approved a scheme titled “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan” (PMGDISHA) for ushering in digital literacy in rural India by covering 60 Million households.

Under this Scheme, as on 08/01/2022:

– 54.5 Mn candidates have been enrolled

– 46.2 Mn candidates have completed the training

– 34.30 Mn have been certified

TRAINING ESSENTIALS

  • Online Portal, Real-time Online Monitoring Tool for Analytics & Reports (www.pmgdisha.in )
  • Handbook & Multimedia content (in 22 Scheduled languages of India and English)
  • Mon-Sun, between (8 AM to 8 PM) we conduct online Remotely Proctored Examination System
  • Digital Signed Certificates are generated for all passed candidates. Digital Locker has been integrated with the system
WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE THIS ALONE

We had the support and capability of the below companies in carrying out this humongous task through their CSR initiatives.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT

3 impact assessment studies of the Scheme were carried out by:

  1. The Council for Social Development (CSD) in 2017-18.
  2. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Delhi in the year 2019.
  3. Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in FY 2020-21.

The aim of the study was to analyze the ground level situation of the scheme with a larger aspect of continuation of the scheme.

The brief highlights of the impact assessment reports are:

  • PMGDISHA training has had a formidable impact on the use of ICT and other forms of digital media
  • 59% of the respondents stated that after attending the IT literacy training, their digital ability & confidence levels using digital has increased
  • Women participation is very large and their inclusion at the rural level will open the path for the learning of the whole family.
  • However, less participation of very poor and very illiterate was observed

We are very proud the Digital literacy drive continues in the country, aided with the integration, and help of NGOs and others under the leadership of CSCs.

Facilitated by PMGDISHA (Universal Digital Literacy for Rural India through Prime Minister Rural Digital Literacy Mission)

Subscribe to the below link for Digital lessons in many Indian languages: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbFPVWaOPS4tZ8EnXgXWwUg

Categories
Med/Health Tech

Digital Health Care – Fast Forwarded

Written by Vinita Sethi on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

Far too much illness and uncertainty, and far too many disruptions have characterised the Covid-19 pandemic.  With the onset of new waves of infection and emergence of variants, we are confronted with the same question repeatedly – what’s the future of ‘brick & mortar’ healthcare delivery system, and how will we ensure the resilience of healthcare systems?

Each time we have been hit by a new wave or by reinfections, there has been a pause on visits to hospitals, elective surgeries get postponed and even routine vaccination schedules get thrown out of the window. All steps and interventions towards preventive healthcare or chronic disease management are first to be displaced or put on a backburner.

The only silver lining in all this, is the seamless healthcare provided through digital healthcare tools. The pandemic has compressed digital transformation timelines in healthcare to 6-12 months, from earlier estimated 4-5 years.

India has emerged as one of the biggest adopters of digital healthcare– nearly 80 % rise in consumption of digital healthcare services after Covid-19. Aarogya Setu & Cowin have achieved global recognition for contact tracing and streamlining digitalized vaccination processes for our 1.3 billion population. Start-ups and innovations that emerged during the pandemic, be it personal wearables, 24*7 tele-medicine, robotics and 3D printing, or process automations, AI(Artificial Intelligence) & ML(Machine Learning) based predictive tools, all have put digital on a fast track and are transforming healthcare like never before.

There is no turning back, as digital healthcare has improved healthcare outcomes, processes and is building more equity. Covid-19 has given us a moment to rethink healthcare in ways that will help us reach those whose needs and access issues were not being catered to earlier. India’s 900 mn active internet users by 2025, rising tele-density and increasing smartphone base, augurs well for digital healthcare apps and tools. This in turn should lead to more value based, equitable healthcare.

Here is an illustration on how value-based care will get a boost through digital health care modules. India has approx. 77mn people, who are diagnosed with diabetes. This has made India, the diabetes capital of the world. Usually the focus is on episodic acre and it is the patient who visits the doctor with an issue. Digital healthcare is transforming these mechanics and design of healthcare delivery. Diabetes focused apps can connect patients with doctors, give them regular reminders for medicine compliance, updates such as dietary or exercise counselling, at low cost and across geographies. This implementation of continuum of enhances patient experience and standardises outcomes, cost of care, and treatment delivery through a collaborative chain of activities.

This is particularly beneficial to those living in remote or rural parts of our country, where the doctor-patient ratio is dismally low- often just one doctor per 25,000 population. It is estimated that innovative healthcare solutions like tele-medicine could save India between USD 4-5 bn every year, replace half of in-person outpatient consultations, and reduce the cost by 30% less than equivalent in-person visits. Reduced waiting time, on-demand doctor availability, no infection risks, EMRs availability, have all increased the demand for digital health.

Digital apart from strengthening the iron triangle of cost, quality & access, will go a long way in streamlining the supply side- reduced administrative burden on providers, real time updated registries & repositories of doctors and other healthcare workers, availability of full medical history of the patient to consulting doctors, and better time management for doctors who can spend more time on patients. In the not-so-distant future, a software platform could emerge as the biggest provider of healthcare, creating a smart bed less hospital just as Airbnb has emerged as the biggest hotel chain without owning any rooms.

However, for the future of healthcare to be successfully anchored in omni, we need to bridge the digital divide. For instance, 47% of global population is not using the internet, & the cost of available broadband exceeds affordability targets in 50% of developed countries. Similarly, in lower income economies, only 32% of population has basic digital skills.

We need to address these underlying issues of lack of skills, connectivity, affordability and accessibility. Multi-stakeholder participation is the way out, along with upskilling healthcare professionals in digital tools, sustaining investments, and providing conducive policy support. Initiatives such as the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM)  are timely and will provide necessary support for integration of digital health infrastructure in the country.

What stands out most in digital health ecosystem, is that it empowers the patient, who can now make informed decisions about treatments basis medical history, lifestyle preferences and other factors. It offers immense opportunities to integrate continuum of care with insurance and pharma, and thus reduce drops offs in patients’ funnels from diagnosis to treatment. Providing digital health access and tools to all could go a long way in accelerating our mission towards achieving Universal Health Care, that leaves no one behind.