Really Good Technology Should Be Usable By Anybody

Really good technology should be usable by anybody,” said Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge. Bikhchandani felt that technology needs to be easy to use, accessible and most importantly, effective in solving problems of the customer, even if that end-user is the entrepreneur.

The Info Edge Founder was the Jury Chair of the third edition of the Techtors Summits and Awards, a platform where rising entrepreneurs share their work. Over the last three years, the Techtors Summit has been able to reach wider audiences and to showcase entrepreneurs, ventures, products and services that were more evolved than before. The year 2021 has been difficult for everyone. Entrepreneurs have worked tirelessly to create products and services that help the masses, to impress the jury with the sheer quality of the entries.

In picking the best technology companies of the year, the jury pondered on the extent to which a problem a startup was attempting to solve was difficult. Bikhchandani expounded on the other criteria considered by the jury. The jury also considered the ease of use of the product or service. He said, “You need to create technology that is useful to your target group and make it simple to use. If you are able to do that, you will get adoption and if you get adoption, you will find success. The issue is not to build technology, but to build technology and then make it simple and relevant to use.”

Technology is not limited by education or class. People from all walks of life use apps such as Tik Tok for entertainment and WhatsApp for business, he went on to explain. He also emphasized the importance of clients.

“The future of tech startups is very bright. It is not about tech, but about applying tech to solve a client’s problems, that is when people will buy your products and services. That is when you will make money and viable business that can grow. So, it’s tech plus a customer. You need both,” Bikhchandani said at the summit.

Other factors that were taken into account in selecting the awardees was the impact, innovation, growth and potential growth of the ventures. Technology is very empowering and to empower people, we must invest in technology-driven entrepreneurs. Bikchandani said he believed in sharing wealth, recognition and credit.“Weshareprospectivewealthsothat everybody achieves together, otherwise great things don’t get done,” he said.

Bikchandani’s advice to entrepreneurs was, “I think the best ideas for businesses come from prospective customers. As someone who wants to do a startup, observing and interacting with your prospective customer is important, and you may be that customer yourself.” In these times of crisis, healthcare startups will definitely see the most investment, but the deep tech industry has a lot of prospects too. Even after the pandemic and the lockdowns ease, the dependence on new technology will be here to stay. The post- pandemic environment will most likely be a hybrid of old and new habits. “I believe this Unicorn thing is misleading, you should worry about your customers, your revenue and your profits,” was Bikchandani’s parting advice to the participants.