IT enabling rural collections

Fullerton India faced several problems with its existing IT system for rural collections including the cost of smart cards, short on-field battery life of the reader, lack of flexibility as well as the unfamiliarity of consumers with the button-based interface. It deployed the GeoAmida platform to tackle these problems. By Prashant L. Rao

Fullerton India’s rural market business consists of providing small to medium sized loans to individuals and group consumers. The business process involves the consumer applying for a loan with Fullerton, which after appraising the credit-worthiness of the potential customer, sanctions the loan amount. Loan amounts are disbursed to the consumer through branches and re-payments are collected at agreed intervals.

Problems with the old system

Fullerton had already deployed a mobile solution for its collections process, which it found to be lacking on various aspects.

• The solution was based on contact-based smart cards, which were not cost-effective. Each smart card cost Rs. 100 and one had to be issued to each customer. However, there were lots of cards getting damaged while printing; a number of incidents were reported of lost cards. Managing the inventory of the smart cards that were issued, damaged or lost was tedious.
• The mobile battery of the reader did not last for more than a couple of hours with all the additional power required for running the application. Because of the short on-field battery life, the device could not be used for the entire work day leading to the manual recording of transactions or carrying forward of transactions to the next day. This resulted in duplication of work and reduced productivity for the field-team.
• The existing solution did not provide the flexibility to handle unscheduled or user-defined transactions. This, often times, resulted in loss of revenue for the company, with no control over the monitoring of such transactions.
• Users found the conventional navigation buttons to be inconvenient for easy navigation
• Fullerton was keen to plug these holes with an integrated mobile solution, which would allow it to service its customers at their doorstep, while enhancing the productivity of its on-field team

GeoAmida gets chosen

After evaluation, the company chose the GeoAmida mobile computing platform to service its remote customers. The solution consisted of the GeoAmida device with embedded software applications to enable the user on the field. Each device costs Rs. 19,000 and there are 700 on the field today.

The deployment commenced in April 2008 and the pilot was completed in two branches by September 2008. The full roll out completed in February 2009. “Currently, it forms our standard build for any new branch that is rolled out,” said Ajay Vernekar, Director - Technology Infrastructure, Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd.

How the process works

At the start of the business day, the Fullerton Business Correspondent (BC) authenticates himself on the device using his biometric fingerprint. Once signed into the device, the BC uploads the updated list of customers (including their biometric templates) and the day’s transaction details onto the device using the desktop/WAN at the branch location. The BC carries the device while visiting his customers. The customer gets authenticated using the in-built fingerprint scanner and the required transaction is carried out. The details of the transaction are captured by the device and the customer is given a receipt on the spot. At the end of the day, the BC returns to the branch office and uploads all of the day’s transactions onto the desktop PC, which is then synchronized with a central database at regular intervals. A unified Remote Terminal Management module is also proposed for tracking and monitoring the health of devices while on the field. “We have completed the evaluation of the management module called G Life and we will be implementing the same by November 2010. This software is built and will be supported by the handheld vendor and it will enable us to track the inventory, battery life and other health parameters of the handheld helping us resolve issues faster on the field and avoid unnecessary back-to-bench replacement costs,” commented Vernekar.

Solution details

The Disbursement and Collections software for GeoAmida was custom developed as per client specifications. Several features and functions were added including fingerprint-based biometric authentication of customers, recording of disbursement and collection transactions, printing of transaction receipts, view past transactions, local language support, easy-to-use graphical and touchscreen interface, voice-based announcement of transaction details in multiple languages, day-begin and day-end upload/download of data from the central server etc. The software environment consists of Linux 2.6.xx.x and the programming language used is C along with the SQLite database.

Benefits vis-à-vis the old solution

The earlier solution was based on a more expensive model of using contact-based smart cards for customer identification. With GeoAmida's in-built storage capacity and integrated fingerprint sensor, Fullerton could undertake a foolproof method of customer authentication without dependence on smart-cards. The existing device had a short battery life. The process was semi-automated with continued dependence on manual entries. GeoAmida’s longer battery-life enabled Fullerton to move into a fully paperless collection process. The solution was not customized to suit Fullerton’s unique business processes. Geodesic has developed a tailor-made solution, which enabled Fullerton to continue with its well-established processes in a more efficient manner. Earlier, there was considerable delay in getting reports from the field. Today, a centralized architecture enables Fullerton to track daily business from a central location.

With GeoAmida's in-built storage capacity, Fullerton could do away with the smart-card interface, thereby immediately providing substantial cost savings on every customer. GeoAmida's longer battery life has enabled the Business Correspondent to undertake 60% more transactions in a day. The software application provides flexibility to input user-defined amounts, thereby enabling the capture and tracking of the unscheduled transactions. It also reduces the requirement for manual intervention and enhances the productivity of the on-field team. Advanced authentication techniques help reduce fraud, the integrated printer on a hand-held form factor has improved portability and the customer experience has been enhanced through a multi-lingual interface and voice-based interactions. Maintenance and service costs have been reduced through a unified terminal management software and customer-touch points expanded with minimal investments on setting up new infrastructure. Today the number of transactions per day stands at 200-250 with Rs. 20,000-25,000 of collections per day per point of transaction.

The majority of financially excluded groups are from poor, socially underprivileged, disabled, elderly, as well as children, women, uneducated, ethnic minorities and mobile population. People living in remote areas are discouraged by the cost of transportation for approaching the nearest banking center, which apart from money also involves spending time that could otherwise be spent earning a livelihood. The only way to include the leftover segment in the economic mainstream is to reach them at their place of residence or work i.e. by arming the financial intermediary with cost-effective mobile technologies. A few financial institutions have already initiated projects in different remote parts of the country utilizing smart cards/mobile technology to extend financial services similar to those dispensed from their branches. Information & communication technology (ICT) is vital to bridge the last mile and take banking to the un-banked.

prashant.rao@expressindia.com