An entrepreneur I was talking to day before yesterday asked me a question, "Can you suggest some uses of technology that can help me cut down the costs on my travel and telephone bills?" This blog post is a summary of the discussion that followed.
For making unlimited calls to a specific country at $5.95 (view in rupees) and unlimited calls to any country at $12.95 (view in rupees)
If you don't opt for the above, could be because you do not make that many international calls, you can still make international calls at extremely cheap rates, as cheap as $0.025 (view in rupees) per minute to the US by buying Skype Credit (view tariff plans) .
For buying a local telephone number in a country where your clients exist, on which they can call at local rates and you can receive the call on your computer. Additionally, if you are not online on Skype, the calls can be forwarded (view tariff) to your landline or mobile phone (will be charged around 4 rupees per minute)
Now, if you want to go for a service that is more corporate friendly, you should probably have a look at Worldphone.in's plans.
FREE CALL CONFERENCES:
Sabsebolo is a recently launched free conference service by Yogesh Patel and Sabeer Bhatia. It enables as many as 10 parties to listen to or participate in a conference call you make - for FREE! Besides this free service, they also provide paid plans and business plans + fax to email service.
WEB CONFERENCES:
Withon demand web conferencing services such as Webex, you can cut down on that huge travel expenditure. Many corporates are already using such services to bridge the geographical distance between partners, clients, and employees. [ view online demo | try this service for free for 14 days ]
VIDEO CONFERENCES:
Last but not the least there are many providers of video conferencing, such as Reliance, Tata, Polycom, Webex, and more.
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CAR POOLING
ROOM SHARING ON YOUR OUTSTATION STAY
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Apart from these, there are many other software services that can help you bring down the costs of your startup to a great extent.
PS: The entrepreneur with whom I had this conversation, gave Skype a go and was so kicked up by the service that he gave me a call at 3 am in the morning to express his joy.
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur fishing for an idea to get you started in the tyres/automobile industry, Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and Joint Managing Director, Apollo Tyres has given away a big cue for you. In an interaction yesterday, he said, “The next big thing in this industry is the selling tyres through the Internet, which is a more B2C kind of a platform. This model has done really well in Europe, with some of the very big companies already operating online sales.” [example: Delitcom AG]
He said it is very likely that this trend will hit India soon, owing to reasons such as distribution centers located in the outskirts of the city, which calls for a whole day’s work gone in the ordeal of selecting a Tyre for a vehicle. Kanwar adds, “The customer today don’t have time. Hence, such a B2C model will soon become necessary; and it will be a promising opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs.”
So are we looking at someone who starts a portal displaying all variety of tyres for a customer to choose from, arranging for a pickup of the vehicle from the customer’s door step, fitting and tuning the tyre at the workshop, delivering the vehicle back to the customer? Or maybe, becoming a platform for various workshops with no Internet presence? A unique model is what you have to think of and leverage this opportunity of the future.
Grab a copy of the forthcoming issue of DARE [ November 2008 ] to read the full interview with Neeraj Kanwar, where he talks about the impact of the current financial turmoil on this industry & its ecosystem, Apollo’s strategy, and more.
TheCouncil is currently looking for coming up with innovative business model with NGOs, banks, environment-loving corporates and manufacturing organizations to make the rickshaw available to the drivers at the cost of an ordinary rickshaw. They have plans to roll out advanced versions of the Sloeckshaw, christened Mark-II and Mark-III already, during the much awaited 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Kapil Sibal and the Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt. Sheila Dikshit launched the "Soleckshaw" solar operated cycle rickshaw, in Delhi on October 02, 2008
It is amazing the way people out there are innovating to be environment friendly. One such effort is that of Michelle Brand’s Stunning Plastic Bottle Chandelier. Apparently, Michelle is passionate about sustainable waste management, and it is this passion that has led her to design such beautiful pieces of art.
Is there a platform for showcasing such ideas? HauteGREEN features a curated collection of sustainable designs [1] for the contemporary home at events such as the International Contemporary Furniture fair. Now that is what is happening abroad. Can something similar be done in India? We have aplenty street-entrepreneurs who do their share of eco-friendly designing Examples: [ magic from waste] [ dailydump ] [ earthentree ]
The question here is, can we provide them with the opportunity to showcase their work (glamorously at that)?
