The Economic Survey of India 2020-21 contains the word “platform” about 60 times. Numerous platforms have been cited in the survey; for example, the National Platform for Recruitment, Honoring the Honest for taxpayers, Co-WIN for Covid-19 vaccines, eSaksham for job skilling, iLOG for trade and logistics facilitation, and CHAMPIONS for handholding SMEs.
Riding on the wave of the ubiquitous use of digital technology, data analytics, applied artificial intelligence and machine learning, these are steps in the right direction to deliver fair, transparent, and speedy governance in domains such as healthcare, logistics, education and infrastructure.
However, a quick glance at these “platforms” brings out some key areas of improvement. We highlight the attributes of platforms and propose key recommendations to aid their scalability to maximise value for platform participants. Well-conceptualised platforms also offer an opportunity for the arms of the government to harmonise their mandates and collaborate in delivering seamless end-to-end services to various stakeholders.
PLATFORM DESIGN DOES NOT EQUAL PORTAL OR MOBILE APP DESIGN
Many “platforms” appear to be designed with a traditional mindset of creating portals or websites and mobile applications that might lead to standalone and disjointed user experiences. As the popular adage goes, “Great user interface does not equal great user experience.” These portals and mobile apps can be transformed into true platforms through the application of well-established User Experience (UX) and Service Design (SD) principles. Ministries could partner with various Centres of Excellence in Design at IITs and NIDs.
In order to create platforms, one must take into account all platform stakeholders, i.e., owner, provider, producer, consumer. For example, a “National Platform for Recruitment” would have one of the government ministries as a platform owner, websites of government, corporations and educational institutions as providers of interfaces to the platform, corporations and educational institutions as producers of talent for the platform, and individual citizens, corporations, educational institutions and the government as consumers of the platform. Therefore, the design of a “National Platform for Recruitment” must consider the context-dependent needs of all these stakeholders and promote the co-creation of value. In the co-creation paradigm, everyone is a value creator and a consumer.
PLATFORM DESIGN INVOLVES CONNECTING PEOPLE, FACILITATING EXCHANGES
Platforms derive their power through the “power of networks”. Effective platforms allow the productive exchange of information, services and money between multiple stakeholders to maximize value creation for all. For example, LinkedIn, a professional networking platform, connects people and companies, and creates value for all participants through an exponential network. An excellent example of this approach is UPI, which has leveraged the India Stack and created a payment platform on which various other platform participants are providing value adding services. It has proved to be transformational in the drive towards the widespread adoption of digital payments. The experience must be leveraged.
Ministries could partner with each other to create platforms for delivering end-to-end citizen services cutting across domains. For example, the “CHAMPIONS” platform could connect SMEs with recognized chartered accountants via the Ministry of Finance and equally interface with the “National Platform for Recruitment” to find the right talent for SMEs.
FOUNDATION OF PLATFORM DESIGN IS VALUE CO-CREATION
Platforms derive their power from value co-creation. It means all concerned stakeholders contribute to value creation for themselves and each other through the platform. Value co-creation can be implemented through a useful framework called DART (Dialogue, Access, Risk-Return and Transparency), as defined by Profs C. K. Prahlad and Venkat Ramaswamy. Co-creating value with platform stakeholders involves rapid and continuous learning by platform owners through interactions with stakeholders. Data analytics and machine learning can contribute to this. Simply put, platform design must be based on a strategy of continuous evaluation and change to meet the evolving needs of the stakeholders. A good example would be the multiple iterations of the GST platform post the implementation of tax reforms.
Successful platforms ensure optimal openness, that is, the nature and degree of access that platform participants have and what they can do. If platforms are too closed, they would potentially keep desirable participants out and network effects stall, and if they are too open, then value destroying effects such as poor-quality contributions or the misbehaviour of participants may cause others to defect. For example, the “National Platform for Recruitment” would need to carefully achieve a balance between allowing easy access to the platform and encourage maximum participation versus participant misbehaviour, fraudulent activities and poor-quality data.
PLATFORM DESIGN FOR BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE
Platforms can be powerful agents of driving widespread behavioural change. There is a continuous need to influence positive behaviours amongst citizens to meet social challenges and this requires well designed platforms that embody the principles of behavioural change such as “nudge”. In fact, The Economic Survey of India 2019-2020 has a chapter on behavioural change. The “Honoring the Honest” platform for transparent taxation can drive strong, positive behavioural change across the society. Similarly, “eSaksham” can drive behavioural change with more citizens at the grass roots level, developing skills and employability, thereby reducing poverty levels.
NEED FOR A CITIZEN SERVICES DESIGN COUNCIL OF INDIA
It is time for India to develop a national platform design strategy to deliver even better citizen services. This will be a step towards bringing together disparate portals and mobile applications and creating seamless service offerings and rich experiences for citizens through true platforms. We can look at examples from the West, such as the UK Design Council, whose purpose is to make the lives of UK citizens better by design. The Council acts as the government’s advisor on design with a vision to enhance the role of design as a fundamental creator of value, enabling happier, healthier and safer lives for all.
The vision for a Citizen Services Design Council of India should be to enable the creation of platforms which will propel India towards a $5 trillion economy. Therefore, we must design more platforms than portals.
Himanshu Warudkar is a senior IT Professional as well as a Doctoral Student at the Indian School of Business. Dr Pramod Khambete is an Adjunct Professor at the IDC School of Design, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Views expressed are personal.