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Since October 2009, MICRA has been leading Product Development exercise on behalf of Bank Andara. Bank Andara was created with the objective of realizing poverty alleviation goals through the sound and profitable operation of a wholesale banking institution supporting the Indonesian microfinance industry. The bank was designed to provide for and actively promote the wide scale use of mobile financial services for poor populations that lack access to financial institutions. Bank Andara is working to achieve this goal through the creation of scalable, effective, sustainable and replicable mobile banking products and support services.
MICRA has contracted MicroSave, the leading technical assistance, training and technical resource centre, to assist MICRA's team in designing and managing a range of market driven, technology based financial services.
Overview of Assistance
- "MicroSave’s Introduction to Product Development" training provided an overview of a systematic approach to product development and ensured that the teams involved in the process understood the context of the work being implemented;
- On the basis of the market research, MicroSave assisted the teams in developing two product concepts in MicroSave’s standard 8Ps format (Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Positioning, People, Physical Evidence, Process);
- MicroSave then helped take the two product concepts to the field to run them past prospective clients and refine them into product prototypes ready for pilot-testing. This included both management interview and end user focus group discussion (FGD) including relative preference ranking methodology;
- The finalized concept was then mapped on a process by process basis using a four-tiered framework that encompasses: a) Flowcharting the core operational processes for the two products, b) Describing the processes, c) Analyzing the risks in the processes and identifying process improvements, and d) Analyzing the internal controls and other risk management strategies to manage the risks;
- Development of two detailed pilot-test plans and supporting documentation including: a) Composition of the Pilot-Test Team, b) Defining the Objectives, c) Documenting the Product Definitions and Procedures, d) Developing the Testing Protocol, e) Modelling the Financial Projections, f) Preparing Marketing Plan/Customer Marketing Materials, g) Installing/Instilling All Systems, h) Training the Relevant Staff, i) Commencing the Pilot-test Test, and j) Monitoring and Reviewing the Pilot-test per the Protocol.
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This intensive 55 days program has provided MICRA team with a formalized framework for Product Development that enable us to offer high quality, full cycle, and market driven product development services to various type of clients.
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