Cab-Hailers Offering Solutions That Matter India

Indus OS, the homegrown smartphone operating system, and Ola, the cab aggregator and transportation company, in a joint statement, on Wednesday announced that they have entered into a partnership to provide a new mobility experience for Indus Operating System (OS) users.

#DigitalErra Thought Corner

The integration with Indus OS makes the Ola platform available in English and 12 regional languages. This ensures that their driver partners have access in a language of their choice.

Rakesh Deshmukh, CEO of Indus OS said to YourStory that Ola has been integrated with Indus OS through the inbuilt intuitive messaging app of their OS, which apart from access to Ola’s cab booking service also invokes suggestions based on the context of the message.

The partnership aims to expand the user base of those who can avail of mobility solutions from just Ola app users to a larger user base of Ola users, which also includes Ola’s Progressive Web App users.

Nitin Gupta, VP, Engineering at Ola, said in a statement,

“Mobility is for everyone, irrespective of language and location. The growth story of Ola is thus, based on innovations, built to cater to unique needs and challenges of India and Indians. This partnership with Indus OS is a step in catering to such use cases and ensuring that access to reliable mobility solutions reaches everyone who needs it in the most contextual and intuitive experience.”

Unique Solutions for India

Cab hailers such as Ola, Uber and others have been working out to solve the unique needs and demands of India with innovations such as offline booking, Progressive Web App (PWA), and others.

In the past, Ola has also partnered with players like Zomato and Practo to leverage cab bookings for their app users in a more intuitive manner. Besides, it is also expanding Ola Play, a content platform, as well as its nascent electric vehicle business to differentiate its services.

Unlike in US, Ola’s biggest rival Uber, charted a different path in its fastest-growing market ‘India’. Here, private vehicles can’t be used as Uber cabs unless they secure a transport vehicle permit. So, Uber tied up with banks and auto-companies to finance those looking to buy cars to join their platforms. While, Uber has now integrated UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments on its platform, the biggest country-specific initiative Uber introduced in India, though, was to accept cash.

“As we look to expand operations in India, we have understood that cash payments will be a crucial factor in driving that growth,” quoted an Uber spokesperson.

Other unique initiatives include “Dial a Uber” feature, introduced in August 2016 for those not using the app. This feature lets customers register on the Uber website with their phone numbers and hail a cab. It also started a referral system called UberDost where individuals can refer Uber drivers and earn money, another India-first initiative.

While Internet connectivity in India is steadily improving, there are still many areas with poor connectivity. Often, low connectivity can be a problem in urban areas too. In such situations, alternative means to book a cab can come handy. Other aggregators such as Meru and TABcab have multiple ways of providing service to the customer. These operators rely more on calls and website bookings.

Ride-hailers understand that in order to scale business in India, they need to understand the real needs of folks out here. One will see more innovations from these players in areas like payments, bookings and rider & driver experience.

The time is to get imbued with the best ways of developing customer centricity and loyalty through innovative and unique solutions. And hence, eTailing India will be hosting one of a kind ‘eCommerce & Retail Conference & Exhibition’ on 13th September, 2017 at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi. Click to learn more!