9/12/2019 Artificial Intelligence Technology to Find the Right Service Expert

Arti cial Intelligence Technology to

Find the Right Service Expert
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Sep 9 · 5 min read

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9/12/2019 Artificial Intelligence Technology to Find the Right Service Expert

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Vasanth, based in Mumbai, is keen to seek advice from a professional lawyer

for a civil matter. The matter relates to a property dispute that he is having
with his own family. He requires expert advice on how to handle the matter.

Sushmita, based in Bangalore, is looking to pursue a bachelor’s degree in

engineering or medicine in Germany and is interested in seeking help from
an admissions counselor. She is located in Indira Nagar and is keen to find
someone in her neighborhood to help her.

Aarthi, based in Chennai, is looking for a catering service to help her with
the food for an event that she was going to host. The event is a birthday
party and she needs the service as soon as possible. She has a preference for
vegetarian food and is expecting about 70 people in total to attend. She
wants to make sure that the vendor will be able to provide the service in
Alwarpet, where she lives.
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9/12/2019 Artificial Intelligence Technology to Find the Right Service Expert

The Services sector today contributes about 55% of India’s GDP and is
growing 9–10% per year. Expert Services power an estimated $110B of the
services sector of Indian’s economy. All ‘expert’ services above share a set of
common characteristics that make them very different from on-demand
services.

Customized and Complex: Expert services by nature are customized to

each customer’s specific need. Overseas education counseling needs are
different based on the country of education, discipline, course, financial
constraints, and visa restrictions. Similarly, Service Providers in this
domain, unlike cab drivers, specialize in specific combinations of overseas
counseling.

High Involvement and High Touch: For ‘expert services’ the customer is
involved in the service delivery and cares about the identity and
qualifications of the service provider; they look for Service Providers who
are qualified, matched to their specific requirement and available to serve at
a reasonable cost. Service Providers, on the other hand, take pride in their
expertise and aspire to develop a personal reputation through their service
delivery; they will not subordinate themselves to a brand and provide
service wearing the uniform of the brand.

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9/12/2019 Artificial Intelligence Technology to Find the Right Service Expert

Medium to High Cost: In most on-demand categories, the service costs a

couple of hundred rupees and customers are ready to buy without
negotiating. In the case of expert services, the cost tends to be several
thousands of rupees to, not infrequently, several lakhs of rupees. For
example, when a new homeowner is looking for an interior decorator to
help with the design and execution of a new 3 BHK residence in the swanky
part of the city, one would want someone trustworthy and who has
delivered similar projects in the past in the neighborhood.

Not Urgent and Delivered Over a Period of Time: Most expert services
are not required urgently like in the case of restaurant food delivery and the
service happens over a longer period in sharp contrast with the nature of
on-demand services.

Expert Services are powered largely by individuals and small to medium

businesses (SMBs). These Service Providers, across cities and categories,
are handicapped by the following factors:

Looking for More Work: Most do not have a sufficient number of

engagements to occupy themselves and their few employees full-time. In a
small fraction of cases, those who have their hands full are eager to grow by
expanding
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9/12/2019 Artificial Intelligence Technology to Find the Right Service Expert

Low Name Awareness or Credibility: Unlike big brands, most SMBs are
not well-known with established credibility for customers to choose them
without third party endorsement or careful evaluation.

No RoI-Accountable Medium: Most media available to SMBs today — e.g.,

TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, etc. — to promote themselves and grow their
business tend to be marketing media, suited for brand-building among all
audience. SMBs are primarily interested in channels that will directly help
them grow their business, reaching city-category targeted customers.

Not Enough Capital: Most SMBs do not have sufficient capital to invest in
growing their business and look for affordable means to cultivate
customers.

Service Provider SMBs are looking for affordable, accountable and

actionable marketing and sales channels to reach out to a targeted customer
base and grow their business. Customers of these services, in turn, look for
qualified and verified Service Providers who are matched to their specific
needs and eager to serve them. Since customers have varied expert service
needs and are always short on time, they look for a platform that helps
them reduce the time, cost, risk, and hassle in getting their jobs done
through the ‘right’ Service Providers. In most cases, customers look to
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9/12/2019 Artificial Intelligence Technology to Find the Right Service Expert

evaluate and compare a small list of verified and matched Service Providers
before choosing one to give the job to.

When we look at the requirements of both Customers and Service

Providers, they are two sides of the same coin. Given the customized and
complex nature of both the service requirements of Customers and the
service profile of Service Providers, an enormous chasm exists in each to
find the other.

There exists an enormous opportunity in bridging this chasm and helping

Customers find the right counterparty Service Providers and vice-versa.
There also exists an enormous opportunity in helping Customers with
information and tools to help make the right choice (e.g., knowing what is
the median price for a specific service) and in helping Service Providers
with information and tools to improve their profile, expand their services
and in marketing themselves.

Since not every Service Provider can serve every Customer given the
customized nature of both the need and the provider, the matchmaking
platform must not only be intelligent leveraging technology, it must also
adapt continuously logging and analyzing data for the ‘machine learning’
and become continuously better.
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9/12/2019 Artificial Intelligence Technology to Find the Right Service Expert

Cheap smartphones, inexpensive data, ubiquitous digital payments can help

such digital platforms usher in an exciting era of frictionless and cost-
effective growth for the most powerful engine of India’s growth: the Service
Sector SMBs. In the process, it wouldn’t be surprising for this “four-fecta”
for Service Sector SMBs — smartphone, data, payments, matchmaking
platforms — to push India’s GDP growth past 10%.

. . .

Originally published at https://www.entrepreneur.com on September 9, 2019.

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