StartUp Idea #5: Forms online

Back in Dec 2010, i have written few posts related to StartUp Ideas. It took me one year to write a new one. 2011 was a great year for me because I finally quit my job at Amazon and (re)started my company http://www.chennaishopping.com/

Let me write about the new start-up idea which i had been grinding in my mind. It may exists or may not. i am not sure. most of the ideas i have written are problems that exists currently.

Now,  Forms  Online

What are forms?

Forms is a document which you use to fill up with pen and apply form some thing. checkout out Forms at wikipedia. I am not talking about HTML forms here.

what is the problem?

The problem is simple. collect all these application forms and provide them as pdf downloads to get it printed or make an HTML form out of it and present a printable form with customer data in it. You can store customer data for later use.  This solves the following list of problems

• user will not type / write duplication information like name, address, phone etc etc etc.
• user will just type the “new-not found information” that are asked in forms.

This gives the following advantages

• user knows exactly the form to use to apply for certain things. need not search here and there.
• all forms at one location. saves time for the user.
• user is not frustrated to fill the same details, 1000 times.

Different types of Forms

I am going to list the types of application forms available in general public.

• School/College Application forms
• Government Application Forms
• Job Application forms
• Bank Application forms
• Applying for Gas connection, ration card, DL, passport
• so and so…. hell a lot of it.

School/College application forms:

there are around 1.6m schools in india as per SchoolofEducators.com. see if you can help these schools, get their application forms online for just download for that academic year.  some schools / colleges do make money even in these application forms. you can make a cut out of it.

Government application forms:

Hell a lot of it. just browse through various states respective .gov.in website and collect their PDF link and provide them for download at one location. provide a easier way to find and download.  I spent lot of time in figuring out marriage certificate registration form online. Even though i found the site, i am not sure whether it is updated or legitimate. if you can assure it, your website is a HIT.

Job Application Forms

I am talking about Non-tech jobs. Get the job application forms for non-tech jobs that comes in paper or what ever and get it filled

Bank application forms:

Check deposit slips pre-filled or what ever loan application or what ever. Do tie-up with major banks and get their forms in pdf format to be downloadable at your site. List it by category, banks etc.

Gas connection, ration card, passport, DL:

Just get the gas connection form online. or what ever it is.

Miscellaneous forms

• BB plan change letter for BSNL
• BANK letter format for update of any information to ICICI, SBI et all.

Note: Do add more in comments if you have any.

Hell a lot of forms:

There are lakhs of forms to be filled by a user. every time he/she fills the following information multiple times

• Full name – first, middle, surname
• DOB
• Father’s / Guardian name
• Permanent Address
• Residential Address
• PAN
• Passport

and many more

Privacy issues and Trust factors:

what ever the information forms online get its, it will be too personal information. one should take care to protect the user’s privacy and get user to trust the website. It’s very difficult to achieve the trust factor in short run. but overtime, if you provide good service, users will trust these kinds of forms service, because it saves their time.

Business model:

More downloads. More Users. Your traffic and download is your source for revenue. you can get sponsors for various form channels say bank or get the advertising revenue. You can also get a revenue share with school/college application.

You can add premium service by providing few forms at a paid price etc. may be this will work or not. not sure though.

Conclusion:

whether this idea will work or not, the problem of filling offline forms exists. the problem of searching forms to apply for certain things exists. You have million opportunities to solve for the main stream users….. do share your thoughts at the comments below.

Update 1: there is a startup nopaperforms.com which is trying to solve this. Do give a try.

Your Carry bags and the environment

Recently, in every super market, i see a notice that “Please carry your own carry bags. As per Govt. order, we are advised to charge for the carry bags. This is done to save/protect the environment. ”

I really don’t know how much percentage of carry bags usage, spoils the environment compared to plastic packed foods like Lays chips, packed fruits, milk packets, chocolates and many more. Most of the plastics packed foods are produced by large MNC’s. They are not being called to be part of the initiative.

my question to the government

• How much % of plastic usage can be reduced by this initiative?
• are these done due to politics behind?
• Why only supermarkets/garment shops are targeted for this initiative? what about other places / organizations

General public are forced to pay 1-3 rs for the plastic.

• Will paid carry bags reduce?
• why not government provide these supermarkets / garment shops, the paper bags at subsidized rates?

If the GOI is really worried about the environment, it should ask every public / private organization to follow and then only it can achieve Plastic-free India.

Customer Service in India

I am being a customer / consumer using many of the services in the country. I have been doing lots of observations related to customer services in INDIA and i will be writing about them.

I have come across lots of services both online and offline. the moment you go online, there are different set of tools for customer services. In offline, there are different set of tools.

Let’s see what is customer service?

From wikipedia

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.

Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation

A Customer, always expects Value for Money or more for the money. For e.g. A Digit magazine associated with a Free CD / DVD.

Best Customer Service is one of the main reason in every successful companies we see. Providing customer care service is not that difficult. It is how we see it, matters a lot. When companies listen to their customers, they can build great products / services. Thats how many companies have become big and mints money.

Here are some of the questions i too ask myselves….

• How do successful big companies handle customer services?
• How are they able to engage with people?
• Are people sticking to these companies because they don’t find the better alternative?

I think there are lots of things like this if we want to discuss about customer service. Companies have to do lots of work if it wants to provide better and good customer service. Here is what i feel what a good customer services a company should provide to its customers.

• Respect and communicate to customer politely.
• Understand and listen to customer’s problems.
• Solve customer’s problems first than concentrating on the company revenue.
• Followup with customers with new services and value add services.
• Transparent in billing, update about new products / services.

our country is transforming into a consumer market, slowly i.e consumerism. we as consumers, need better consumer protections from companies who are cheating us. Going forward, i will write about companies in india and their customer service from my own experiences.

If you have any comments / suggestions, please write to me. Add your comments below too…

Two Men and a 500 Rupee Note

Below is the video I saw it some time ago that was shared like anything by many people. see the views count in youtube

Let me come to the title. There were two men in this world. Both were earning in their own way. But there was huge difference in their earnings. Each lived their own way.

One men works as a software ‘S’ and the other works as a cashier ‘C’ in a petrol bunk. the S guy went to the petrol bunk and got his bike fuel tank filled with petrol. He made a conversation with C guy as below.

S: Add xtra Premium petrol for 200 INR.
C: ok.
S: how much per litre?
C: 70.33 INR.
S: how much will come for 200 INR
C: (goes to take calculator and calculates.)2.84 Litre will be filled for 200 INR
S: Then fill 3 Litre.
C: Ok sir. (His assistant filled the petrol) Total is 211.
S: (gave one biggest Indian currency)
C: sir, you have any change?
S: (gave change of 10 rupee note + 2 rupee coin and got the change for biggest currency) i don’t have 1 rupee.
C: sir, I will give.
S: is there Air?
C: Yes. but that boy went to a nearby shop.
S: ok (then he left to attend some important meeting).

Meeting was so good and S learnt a lot along with his another S friend. While starting back to home, he realized that he gave a 1000 INR note but he got only 300 INR back. he is supposed to get 800 INR back. S told his friend.

This made him upset very much. That’s when he thought about this youtube video that i had posted above. S’ friend said that its high chance that S would get that money back. Given that its a 2 hours gap. S suddenly started towards that petrol bunk. On the way, he ways thinking all sorts of things both +ve / -ve of loosing 500 INR, whether he would get it back or not or how to convince that cashier (by arguing the total collection for the day) or about complaining to the owner about it.

when S went their, again there was a conversation.

S: 2 hours back, i came here to fill the petrol. but i didn’t get change of 500 INR.
C (some other): which side? this side or the other side?
S: that side..
C (some other): Ask that cashier then. He is the in-charge.
S: ok.
S: Sir, i came at 4 pm and filled the 3 Litre Xtra premium petrol. but i didn’t get the full change. i got only 300 INR. i need to get 500 more.
C: are you sure?
S: Yes. (there was a seriousness in his face. guilty feelings as well)
S: Remember, I asked you to put petrol for 200 but then asked how much it would come? then i asked you to put 3Litre…
C: Yes. i can remember. (he instantly gave me a 500 rupee note)
S: Thank you sir.(got it and very much feel relaxed and happy.)

S guy went to fill the Air and had a conversation with Air filler.

S: what was the cashier’s name?
A: ‘Raju’. why? to complain with the owner?
S: no. why will i? he returned my 500 INR rupee. i won’t.
S: (thought within that he should do some thing for this honest person. not sure how and what to do.)
S: i don’t have 2 rupee. I have only one rupee. can you fill the air?
A: will you give 1 rupee extra next time?
S: yes. sure. (then left from there and reached home)

S was thinking about the honest cashier and his customer service. He could have taken this 500 INR note without any issue. but somehow it belong to S and that’s why S got it.
S immediately called the S’ friend and told that he got that 500 back. S’ said that you were lucky… but S said this
Money, if you earned it truly and honestly, It will always stay with you.

somehow, the above statement is true. I too agree and i think about it many times. S guy is none other than me Last few days, my mind and soul is thinking some thing else and hence i need to be careful when dealing with money especially when i am not in job.

I still remember and will never forget the stuff said by a director of a company where i left my job recently…
Be careful with the money… otherwise, you are going to loose it.

Let’s see whether i will do some thing for that Raju or not. I thought of sending a letter to that owner or Indian oil company. Will update it soon.

What I learnt:
Its not the fault of the cashier… because 500 and 1000 rupee note do not have much difference. Its my fault. I need to be careful when dealing with the money. Keep my mind sharp and concentrated where ever i go. Also this 500 is a big amount for that cashier compared to me. so learn to spend the hard earned money in a good manner. Also watch the above video again.

Small Entrepreneurs… Big Inspirations…

Near my office, there is a small chaat shop. You cannot even call it a shop. Its actually under a asbestos sheet in front of a shop that sells Ice cream and chips etc. Although this Ice cream shop is a busy one because of the school presence nearby, this particular chaat shop is also popular.

The name is Calcutta Chat.
You will not find any name board there. Owner of the chaat shop served pani poori and other snacks in our cafeteria in past. I could remember because i used to eat lots of quantity. I liked their servings…

so whats different… or you can ask how its inspiring…?
Yes. It scaled

when my cafeteria started charging higher price for the bad meal, i and other colleagues started going out. Usually we go to Hotel Nisarga in infantry road, opposite to Police commissioner office. Food is good there too. I will write about Nisarga later. Last year, i was on a mission to reduce my weight. Hence i was trying to locate a good place to have my lunch where they wouldn’t add much fatty contents. One day, colleague of mine told me about this Calcutta chat shop which provides chapatti (roti) + dhal. As there were no tables in the shop, you need to eat food sitting in the chair.

I tried it. It was Good. It was priced at 20 INR. They served 3 roti’s + dhal + liquid curd (with masala topping) + mini version of salad (cucumber + onion). I liked it and i end up having it everyday. Apart from roti dhal, they also serve variety of parathas (aloo, gobi, onion etc). usual chats like samosa, pani poori, masala poori, pav bhajji and sweets like gulab jamoon etc. I have tasted almost everything except jamoon. Prices are decent for the quality they provide. Highest priced was some type of paratha at 40 i guess. Lowest is samosa… 7 INR. Few days back, rates have been revised but still, i consider it worth.

I commute in BMTC. i have to get down in sigma mall stop and walk to office premises. One day, i didn’t and thought i could get down near the chandrika hotel signal which is also the same distance as from the bus stop. I couldn’t get down due to green signal and bus was moving fast . I end up getting down in next stop which is near cantonment station. I had to walk back to office and suddenly i found a small shop in a basement with a name that seems to be similar. Its none other than “Calcutta chat” I thought this could be some other guys but wanted to check out.

I went inside the shop and was surprised. Same menu. few known faces. similar-taste food. They have tables and chairs here. Understood that this is a branch of the same calcutta chat which was next to my office building. In the new shop, they added meals(rice + dhal + aloo subji + pappad + 1 roti) to the menu which is decent enough. Its good to see that they found a new shop and they are on-track in their growth. I had usual roti + dhal and started to office. while coming back, i saw calcutta chaat shop owner nearby my office. I told him that i had lunch in that new shop. He smiled! I could see the happiness in that person’s face. All the troubles they have faced will vanish one day.

Who are their customers (two shops combined)?
Employees of Atkins, Amazon, Torry Harris, Vikram hospital, FirstSource, General Public and School students. Their peak lunch time is around 12-2pm and you need to wait at least 20-30 minutes to get, what you ordered.

may be after few years, i hope to see them managing a restaurant called “Calcutta chaat” with colorful atmosphere.