IT and Mobility here is all about corners

INDIA: The cooperative society segment is an interesting one. With goals like poverty removal, faster socio-economic growth it is probably a place where technology is morphing beyond just a just a support function and helping Cooperatives in a transformation journey.

Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd, a multi-state credit co-operative society, recently announced its plans to leverage technology from SAP. The idea was to support its vision of offering a seamless, personalized and contextually relevant functionality at the right time to its members any time, any place across India.

An interview with Himanshu Shah, CTO, Adarsh Co-operative Society where he walks us through some common doubts and under-the-hood areas for a big IT transition in a unique sector like his.

Does technology fit in readily in the sector your organization operates in?

The goal of this organization is financial inclusion and providing banking solutions to unbanked segments in the country. IT is playing a key role. SAP Mobile strength helps us capture maximum people in this pursuit. With a reach of over a million members across India through its branches and Advisors network, Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd has an extensive branch network and reaches out to people in remote areas who have traditionally played an important role in creating banking habits among the lower and middle-income groups and in strengthening the rural credit delivery system. With the implementation of SAP technology, we plan to offer customers a fast, easy and convenient way to conduct bank transactions in a secure, user-friendly, and cost-efficient application platform.

What kind of scale do you address and what benefits did this recent deployment encompass?

It is as big as 750 branches and a vast network of advisors, who are the backbone to our organization and the service we provide. We have a 70 per cent urban, semi-urban presence. Advisors would now be enabled with this new solution better. Our goal is to keep them connected and now it would be possible to wipe off the need for a physical branch in every new location, specially for remote areas and for day-to-day transactions. Later on we can roll out to our customers and other areas.

How well does this new footprint sync with your existing IT fabric?

Right now we are going about it in a phased manner but the ultimate goal is to roll it out to all advisors for all real-time transactions.

Why SAP?

We evaluated two, three solutions and based on the traction of work already in regions like Africa, Bangladesh, the inclination to SAP happened. It is a solution of choice in similar countries that are working towards financial inclusion.

Does it work well with your process blueprints?

The advisor is a member as well an initial customer as per our model. He deposits some amount initially and then goes for collections from customers. In core banking system, one account gets debited and other gets credited. An advisor gets a SMS alert so that increases transparency and reduces fraud. Right now, many transactions are manual and require personal visit to branches. This is not pragmatic. Mobility makes everything risk-free and agile.

What's your view on customization, specially as it often runs the risk of‘too-much' or ‘too-painful-for-long-term-use'?

It is an ongoing effort. Right now we are entailing all collection under this new platform, and later we will explore money transfers, bill payment etc. There is a lot that can be done for rural economy with the right usage of IT. Customisation depends on context.

For your space in particular, what contours can compliance and transparency take?

As a Society, we are not governed by RBI but we do follow RBI guidelines, track all transactions, follow every facet on our own as part of internal processes. The solution helps us to meet guidelines as well as serve our customers better, while ensuring cash flow transparency and security as a whole.

Any competitive angle?

In this space, we don't have any major rival in terms of scale or advisor network. From a banking industry perspective, our market is different and highly rural. Mobility is the only way to bring down operational costs. Today I can convert my advisors into a running branch, thanks to mobility.

Is it easier to chase financial inclusion with technology?

Yes, IT is very helpful, specially in areas with mobile penetration. It enables to connect people irrespective of their geographies.

What next do you plan to do with IT?

The first level is aligning organizational and IT goals and progress in reaching to every corner of this country. Once a capability is established well, we can pursue a lot of government goals and increase inclusion.