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CycleTel™ in India: From Proof-of-Concept to Deployment
1. CycleTel™ in India: From
Proof-of-Concept to
Deployment
Meredith Puleio & Victoria Jennings
Institute for Reproductive Health,
Georgetown University
mHealth Working Group Meeting
January 18, 2011
2. CycleTel™ Concept
Facilitate use of the
Standard Days Method® by
alerting women of their fertile
days via SMS
Target Audience
Women/couples who:
- are non-method or
traditional FP method users
- own a mobile phone
- send/receive SMS
3. From Formative Research to
Deployment
Continuou
Product s M&E
Launch
Test
Market
Technology
Developme
nt
Proof-of-
Concept
Testing
4. Structure of CycleTel Proof-of-Concept
3 Phases Objectives
Focus Group Understand phone use patterns
Determine potential interest among
Discussions target audience
54 participants Explore appropriate messaging and
preferences for the service
Cognitive Interviews Verify comprehension of messages
18 participants Adapt and finalize messages
Manual Testing Enroll women for 2 cycles to assess
26 women/couples in feasibility, satisfaction and correct
Lucknow method use (using FrontlineSMS
80 women in New Delhi open source software)
Troubleshoot problems and
determine how to improve service
Determine target audience
5. Value of Formative Research ―I am mostly free
at that time of
―This is an idea day. It maintains
Established Need & Demand that can change privacy.‖ –
Both men and women are interested your life!‖ –Male Female
100% wanted to continue the service
All would recommend to friends
Determined Product Design
Before Investing Significant
Resources
100% said it was the right # of
messages
Timing of messages should be
between 5-10pm
Messages should be in Hinglish
Hotline is a necessity
100% of users would pay for the
service on top of the normal cost for
sending messages (range: Rs25-50
per month)
6. Beyond Proof-of-Concept: Identifying
Partners
Software development company
Hosting environment
SMS gateway provider v. telecoms
Call center support
SMS aggregator
Research organization(s)
Marketing agencies
Donors
Ministry of Health? Government Officials?
Non-profit organizations
8. What’s in a Tech Partner?
Agile—constant feedback & communication
loops
How do they describe & embody innovation?
Local knowledge of technology/mobile
environment
Importance of global scope
Social impact interest
9. Planning for Sustainable Scale-up
Decide ―ownership‖
Establish technical
advisory group
Apply a model for scale-
up
Plan for M&E of scale-up
Test business models
Identify & mitigate risks
along the way
The ExpandNet/WHO Scaling-Up Model
Refer to http://www.expandnet.net/tools.htm
10. Key Considerations for Launching an mHealth
Application
Value of formative research & leveraging open source
software
Deployment environment is much more complex than
anticipated
Don’t underestimate timeline of events & value of solid
partners
Plan, talk, listen, plan: People are willing to help!
Look to ―new product development‖ literature
Citation: Chris Blow, Ushahidi
Community Member
Available at:
http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/
2010/05/19/allocation-of-time-
deploying-ushahidi/