March 21, 2018
Accenture Labs and Grameen Foundation India Use Emerging Technologies to Help Increase Adoption of Financial Services Among Low-Income Women
New applications leverage the power of artificial intelligence and augmented reality to improve financial capacity and decision-making for and by the poor
NEW DELHI, India; March 21, 2018 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Grameen Foundation India have collaborated to develop two new applications that help overcome the barriers to financial services adoption among women and other low-income populations in India. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, the applications help users better understand financial products and services, enabling them to make informed choices that positively impact their financial and social well-being. Grameen Foundation India plans to roll out the applications across 300 villages in the states of Maharashtra and Odisha.
“This is a tremendous example of how technology can help bridge the vast cultural and educational divide in places like India, having a real impact on the way people work and live,” said Sanjay Podder, managing director, Accenture Labs India. “Our collaboration with Grameen Foundation India is part of our Tech4Good initiative to apply disruptive technologies in new and unique ways to address complex social challenges.”
“Access to financial services gives women greater control over their lives, enabling them to start small businesses, invest in their local communities, and better cope with crises. But barriers – ranging from illiteracy to a lack of bank branches in rural areas, coupled with a lack of confidence and access to information – hinder adoption for millions of low-income women in India,” said Prabhat Labh, CEO, Grameen Foundation India. “The breakthrough use of these new technologies will enable Grameen Foundation India to work even more effectively for the economic empowerment of women.”
New apps from Accenture Labs and Grameen Foundation India use
AI and AR technology to increase adoption of financial services
Accenture Labs in Bangalore began working with Grameen Foundation India last year as part of its broader corporate citizenship focus on using Tech4Good. Leveraging its expertise in emerging technologies – including AI, AR, speech recognition and computer vision – coupled with Grameen Foundation’s expertise in human-centric design and e-learning to solve the problems of poverty, two applications were developed:
- Emotional Analytics for Social Enterprises (EASE) – an AI-based web and mobile app that helps microfinance advisors gain real-time insights on the emotional and cognitive status of their clients, based on video and audio inputs. Helping to improve cross-cultural communication, the tool provides deeper insights on precisely what topics or key words attract attention, or cause clients to disengage. For instance, the tool could help detect whether a woman applying for a loan is being pressured to do so by someone else – making it an unnecessary burden, or whether she would find it to be of genuine use.
EASE app uses AI technology to provide finance advisors with emotional insights about clients
- Grameen Guru – a smart phone-based multi-lingual chatbot that leverages AR technology to help clients who can’t read understand written materials. Using the app, a user can hold their phone over a brochure that details available financing options, for example, and the Guru virtual assistant will pop up and prompt a conversation in the local language to explain the material. The intuitive interface and simplicity of use makes it accessible to people with a wide range of abilities and can result in better engagement.
“Our mission is to empower the poor – especially women – to end hunger and poverty by creating breakthrough solutions that leverage digital technology and our local partner networks to bring people the tools and opportunities they need to help themselves,” said Steve Hollingworth, CEO, Grameen Foundation. “Working with Accenture Labs enabled us to take advantage of cutting edge technologies to create entirely new solutions for financial education and financial inclusion.”
The new applications build on Grameen Foundation India’s successful implementation of its new e-learning platform, G-LEAP, which is being used by more than 1,000 frontline microfinance workers who have trained and equipped over 58,000 women beneficiaries to use digital financial services. These women perform digital transactions worth over a crore of rupees (Indian Rupees ten million) each month.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 435,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
About Grameen Foundation India
Established in 2010, Grameen Foundation India (GFI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Grameen Foundation. Grameen Foundation India’s mission is to enable the low income segments, especially women, to create a world without poverty and hunger. We provide strategic and technical expertise to leading social enterprises, financial services providers and technology providers to extend financial services and information to underserved communities, especially women. For more information, please visit- www.grameenfoundation.in
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Contact:
Kiran Balasubramanian
Accenture
+91 988 6771250
kiran.bala@accenture.com
Liselle Yorke
Grameen Foundation
+1 202 794 7327
lyorke@grameenfoundation.org
Prateep Chakraborty
Grameen Foundation India
+91 124 4100702/3
pchakraborty@grameenfoundation.in