IT Services Implementation Strategy for an

Indian Political Party -Indian Republican

Congress (IRC)
MBAZG541 (Assignment)
BITS Pilani Consultancy Practice
Pilani|Dubai|Goa|Hyderabad Group #1

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GROUP-1

MEMBERS:-
1. AADIL MOBIN----------------------------------2018HB58084
2. AASHNA GUPTA------------------------------2018HB58014
3. ADITI SETHI------------------------------------2018HB58067
4. TEJASWITA BHARAT PARADKAR-------2018HB58019
5. ABHIROOP MATILAL-------------------------2018HB58082
6. AKHIL REGHUNATH--------------------------2018HB58023

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Indian Republican Congress (IRC) - Client, a major
nationalist political party with an average vote share
percentage of 26 in the last 3 central elections have
been relying on traditional political communication tools
of Speeches, Meetings, posters and print media.
Their political rivals excelled much better in the recent
election with the use of IT services and social media.
The same pattern was noticed in the recent state
elections also.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

In order to be competitive, IRC has sought consultancy
help from MGSPMR Consultancy Services (MCS) for a
proposal that would:
1. Outline the best practices in the IT industry on
outsourcing.
2. Outline Methods and ways to outsource IT
services to an IT service provider.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

IRC is a very old political party and have recognizable
presence in all the 30 states.
IRC have a massive base of loyal party workers from
booth level to charismatic top level leaders.
IRC have a reserve fund of 140 Cr INR. Annual fund
inflow is 220 Cr INR.
As per Election Commission a political party can spend a
max of 25% of the sum of its reserve fund and annual
funds received for a financial year on digital promotion.
There are two major parties in the center with varying
vote share, other regional parties have almost constant
vote share over the years.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Industry Analysis on global

In recent times all major political parties around the globe have
turned towards social image building and digital promotion.
The success rate is also very high.

France President candidate Nicholas Sarkozy was the first

politician to use IT services in the form of digital media for
campaigning. It got wide popularity by US President candidate
Barak Obama during his reelection campaign in 2012.

Based on the results of these elections all major political

parties of the world were encouraged to use IT services
extensively in image building, reaching out
to people with their manifestos, criticizing bad policies of rivals
and reaching out to party workers for policy/agenda
formulation etc.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Industry Analysis in Indian
scenario..
In recent times use of digital platforms for expression and
entertainment has increased a lot in India.
Number of smart phone users is estimated to be 340
millions and annual growth rate of this sector is 15.8%
Data suggests that almost 300 million Indian citizens are
registered Facebook users.
Around 34.5 million people use twitter.
An average Indian spend 4x times higher on online
activity over offline activity.
Almost 80% of mobile data of an individual is spent on
social network and entertainment.
63% of users share/retweet political content. Which
shows high level of political involvement of Indian voters.
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Industry Analysis in Indian
scenario..

Twitter users in India (34.6 million*) Facebook users in India (300 million**)
* https://www.statista.com/statistics/381832/twitter-users-india/
** https://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/top-15-countries-based-on-number-of-
facebook-users/ 8

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Competitor Success Analysis..

Competitor Success Analysis:- The main rival party of

IRC, Indian Janta party (IJP) extensively used IT services in
the form of digital publicity through YouTube videos,
Facebook video and message shares and tweets criticizing
IRC (then in government) to get a massive boost in its vote
share.

Party 2009 vote share (%) 2014 vote share (%)

IRC 28.9 19.3

IJP 18.5 31

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Competitor Success Analysis..

Hence there is a massive jump of +68% in vote share of IJP

from 2009 to 2014 general elections. However the change in
IRC vote share is only -49.7%, which means IJP was able to
manipulate other neutral voters also towards it.
The major success of IJP was due to their vigorous use of IT
services in digital marketing and perception building.
However, the traditional method of speeches and meeting
skills, printed press and posters still enjoy a reasonable share
of political publicity but digital media has taken a large chunk
of it in voters perception building and have affected the neutral
voters the most.

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Potential Target Voters
Total smartphone users =340 million
Total users with access to Facebook/YouTube/Twitter =310 million

Average of Total Voting Percentage in last 3 elections = 61.4 %

Cumulative percentage of voters with access to

Facebook/YouTube/Twitter =310x0.614
=190.34 million

Voters Loyal to IRC (voted in 2014 elections) =190.34 x 0.289

(foe Maintenance Communication) = 55 million

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Total Neutral voters with affinity towards IRC =190.3x0.096
(migrated to other parties in 2014 elections) =18.27 million

Potential voters which can be influenced and

Manipulated (IJP Voters in 2014-IJP voters in 2009
-IRC voters migrated to IJP= 31-18.5 - 6.7 = 5.8) = 190.3x2.9
(for conquest communication) =5.52 million

Voters to be targeted on a personalized one to

One basis (conquest + maintenance communication) =55+18.27+5.52
= 78.79 million
Voters with General approach = 190.3 78.79
= 111.51 million
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Benefits of IT Service in
Industry....
The major benefits of use of IT in Political industry are:

Ease of use Relatively easy to use as compared to traditional

methods of political campaigning.
Versatility It is highly susceptible to change as per users wish
and demand
Speed Literally the fastest mode of communication at present
times.
Wide span The span of use and influence is limitless
Flexibility- Highly flexible to changes

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 website, their Facebook Posts and their Tweets. They are
1. Rival Political Parties
2. Media Houses
3. Political Experts and Analysts
4. Genuine Party Supporters

Rival Political Parties does that with intention to gather information

and prepare their own strategy to counter opposition.

Political experts and analysts does that to provide their expert

opinion to media houses/rivals.

can engage rivals for extra attention.

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

MGSPMR Consultancy Services suggests to Develop a strong, centralized
and professional IT service platform for IRC. Which shall continuously
perform and monitor the following activities:

Revamp of political website- updating with trending party activities,

recorded speeches of leaders and highlights of
Facebook/Twitter post/tweets links on an hourly basis.
Develop, maintain and update a strong internal communication system for
interaction within the party framework.
For the above two a centralized IT services center for designing/ executing
in Hindi/English language and a decentralized IT center at all state
headquarters for communication strategy in regional language.
Develop an interface of maximum web security with suitable firewall.
Handle Social Media Communication and that of high Profile
FB/Twitter/Myspace posts/tweets.
Digital Data mining of political ideology and differentiation for
maintenance/conquest communication strategy.
Development of a dedicated social media platform/application of IRC party
workers, voters and like ideology people.
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Implementation of the above shall be done in the following manner:

At the central level IRC need some professional and sound web
developers. To target the regional voters at local center an IT services
center at every state capital with capabilities to communicate the local
voters in regional language and local tough. This will help party to
penetrate deep in the mainstream life of people and connect with its local
party workers as well a supporters. A strong IT team for developing and
maintaining will be required.
Internal communications within the party both Bottom to top - for policy
and manifesto preparation, candidate selection feedback by booth level
workers and Top to Bottom Communication of strategy, future
prospects. An IT team for developing and maintaining will be required.
A very strong team for development of firewall for all web based
communications and digital hacks of website and social media
accounts.
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

A dedicated team for handling and top Social media
handles to comment on social issues, respond to Government's policies,
counter damaging posts/tweets from rivals. Monitoring rivals
posts/tweets also for tracking public reaction and connection with rivals.
Data mining and Keep the platform highly active on a daily basis.
A highly expert team for Data mining, looking for potential online users
who are attached to the party (for maintenance communication) and
those who have an affinity towards ideology, manifesto, leaders
and those potential voters drifting away from rival party (Conquest
communication.
A very strong team for developing a devoted social media
platform/applictaion for party workers, leaders, potential supports
and admirers. This will help understand strength and presence in
common public. Direct and quick feedback/reports from voters.

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Strength

Weakness

Opportunity

Threats

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 The best practice of an IT industry outsourcing includes:
Make a Plan: just decide on what outsourcing, but why
outsourcing. Create clear, realistic objectives with well-defined
timelines. This gives you more control over your project. It also
allows vendors to create realistic, well-defined proposals.
Choose A Provider You Can Trust: someone you feel comfortable
sharing details and Party secrets with, or the project progress.
Get a Dedicated Team: Dedicated teams give you a consistent team
for the lifetime. While initially more expensive, you save
money in training and on boarding costs
Go Agile: Agile development is done in multiple short iterations. Each
iteration only lasts a few weeks and involves creating, testing, and
releasing new versions. It has high success rate.

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 Base Your Decision Just on Price: The key is to find a vendor
less expensive than an in-house team, but offers the same
level of expertise and service.
Document Everything: Documentation is key to tracking the state and
progress of your project.
Communicate Clearly: A clear communication reduces cycle time and
risk of failure.
Own the project: Even though another company is working on it, this
is still your project. Treat it as if it was being done in-house.

As the sensitivity of information and data being handled is very high,

MGSPMR Consultancy Services would suggest to recruit a team on
permanent basis for operation. However, Implementation and
operations support can be outsourced.
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Although a continuous process but developing the initial setup
will take some time. As per market research and existing practices
breakup of timeline shall be:

Total initial time estimate will be (1800+240+45600) 47640 man

hours. Most of the above activities needs regular monitoring and
control. Hence, a dedicated team of experts is required for all the
above activities on a regular basis even after commercial operation.
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Manpower Engagement..
The service provider will depute his team as per the terms & conditions of
contract, timeline of project completion or else Liquidated damages shall be
charged. IRC need the following team for proper monitoring and support of
the project.

1. Central project coordination Team (42 members- 12 for national level

and 30 for each state implementation)
2. Separate team at state level (6 members each, so total = 180)

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Cost Analysis
Based on the nature of project as it needs continuous support, potential IT
service providers will charge less for initial implementation with future
support business in mind. So the trick will be to see the overheads
throughout the project.
Manpower Cost Estimate : 119 M INR
Software Cost : 50 M INR
Infrastructure support cost : 150 M INR
Other Overheads : 50 M INR
Total : 369 M INR

Budget available : (2200 + 1400) X 0.25

: 900 M INR
Operating cost with operations support : 40 M INR
Hence the Project is within available Budget

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Assumptions and Out of

Assumptions:
Hierarchy level at all the states is similar to centre.
Same level of cooperation at state level in all the states.
Manpower cost for support is 25% of cost of manpower during
implementation phase.
IRC have a separate PR Team taking care of PR till date
Higher manpower cost due to Urgency

Out of Scope:
Terms and conditions of security of internal information shared with
vendor
Level of engagement of vendor in assignment, Gantt chart schedule
Terms and conditions for after commissioning support
Cost and time delay in govt. approval of the project
Cost predictions for future improvements
Training cost of Party workers to use social media interface
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

A few risks involved are:

As IRC is totally unaware of the work processes, the vendor may misuse
this for their benefit and manipulate them in buying unnecessary
software packages.
Leakage of valuable internal confidential data, shared to vendor which
may affects political position if came in public.
Chances of Miscommunication in between the central IT centre and
regional IT centres.
Chances of leakage of strategy to rivals as a good numbers of
outsiders (vendors) are involved.
Cost implications in other projects of the Party
Training of aging leaders may backfire as clash of ego
The rate of success is based on current market research and the actual
results may vary.
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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 When an outsourcing initiative has a clear, well-understood goal
and it serves a strategic purpose, then it has a good chance of
succeeding.
Will Weider Ex-COO/GE

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BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 BITS Pilani
Pilani|Dubai|Goa|Hyderabad

Thank You

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