Anusha Subramanian, Author at GOQii

March 29, 2017 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

GOQii yet again Numero Uno -IDC

Features in Harvard Business Publishing as a management case study

GOQii, the world’s leading Health and Wellness Company has once again made it to the no.1 position in the Indian wearable market with a 15.5% market share in Q4 2016 as per the latest report from IDC. It’s the unique model of a fitness tracker combined with an integrative service ecosystem that consists of a personal coach, doctor and diagnostic that puts GOQii in this position. GOQii clearly does not operate as a wearable business alone but is in the business of helping people get fit and changing their lives. In three years it has been able to expand itself into a full-fledged health ecosystem.

It’s not only about being a market leader quarter after quarter but, recently, GOQii added another feather in its cap by getting featured as a management case study in Harvard Business Publishing platform for educators. Since its inception, GOQii has been creating a disruption in the Indian healthcare industry and has partnered with companies in various areas of healthcare to build a complete health eco-system.

It understood that HBR editor gets hundreds of submissions a year but barely 2% have the chance of making it into the magazine. As is reported earlier, it is understood that the editor of HBR does not look at a single company telling its own story but looks for an academic who has pulled a lot of research together to draw conclusions. Why does a busy executive in another part of the world need to read this piece now? Who does this theory apply to? What are the implications of it?

This is precisely what the case authors of GOQii have done. The case study authored by Dr Sonia Mehrotra, Associate Professor, Welingkar Institute of Management, Development and Research andDrArun Pereira, Clinical Associate Professor, Indian School of Business has been extensively researched and focuses on the entrepreneurial skills of Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO, along with highlighting the factors on which an entrepreneurial opportunity is dependent. The case authors have made sure that the study is a piece that would matter to anybody other than the firm itself.

“As I interacted with Vishal and learnt more about GOQii, I was convinced that this represented a fascinating case study for management students. He had the ability to think ahead of time and launch GOQii, which has over time been developed as a comprehensive healthcare program with its own ecosystem. Every step of the case study development process revealed new insights on GOQii efforts to generate positive customer experience,” says DrMehrotra.

“It is not every entrepreneur who has the vision and the ability to ‘see around corners’,” says Dr Pereira. Further, he adds, “I believe Vishal is one of a few, and it was wonderful to capture his entrepreneurial approach through this case so that it can be brought to the classroom.”

The case study also showcases the healthcare industry in India and the competitive advantage that GOQii has attained to meet the customer requirements.Commenting on this achievement Vishal Gondal, CEO and Founder says, “It is indeed a proud moment for us that GOQii has received recognition in a short span of time and that the student community is looking at the success of GOQii as a benchmark for their management program”. “Our venture captured as a case study for management education and listed on the Harvard Business Publishing platform reinstates our vision of healthy living and preventive healthcare. We hope that through the case study we are able to create strong leaders for the future,” Gondal adds.

With a focus on higher education, Harvard Business Publishing serves as a bridge between academia and enterprises around the globe through its publications and multiple platforms for content delivery, and its reach into three markets: academic, corporate, and individual managers.

Description of the case studies are available here

https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/ISB079-PDF-ENG and https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/ISB080-PDF-ENG

February 21, 2017 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

Sports for Social Inclusion

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do”—– John Wooden

GOQii supports Social Premier League (SPL)

Sports they say is a great leveller. It can bring the privileged and the underprivileged on the same platform to compete with each other in true spirit. Sports can very well be used as a tool for social inclusion and to bring about a social change. Some anecdotal evidence suggests that when applied correctly, sport can create bridges where boundaries usually exist, giving participants a lesson in teamwork, empathy for their teammates and respect for their opponents. It helps develop a strong sense of morality; and the development of an appreciation of diversity.

Sport is clearly not just about competition and exercise, but also regulates behaviour and creates a feeling of belonging, which in turn leads to the strengthening of democracy.

Singing Footsteps Foundation (SFF), is one such organisation in Patna, Bihar that is trying to bring about a social change through sports. The organisation started by Toni Sharma, a professor at NIFT and currently pursuing PhD (ECONOMICS) at IIT aims at bringing about true equality in human lives as well as balance in the ecology, using sports as the driving force to bring together the youth and achieve the social balance.

Sharma is a strong proponent of an egalitarian society, a philanthropist and a social activist at heart. He also mentors startups and advises various incubation centres. His idea with SFF is to showcase and effectively address the most burning and plaguing issues of our society at a large scale, on a single platform.

He says, “Our vision is to bring about social change by harnessing the power of youth and sports. We are constantly focusing on social changes through innovative strategies. We believe in the intent backed by invention”.

So what does SFF do with sports? It has started a league cricket game called ‘Social Premier League’ (SPL), to bring together the virtues of sports to fight the inequities of the society.SPL is a cricket tournament involving the entire youth and corporate fraternity to effectively spread the message of social integration and awareness. It is an initiative that endeavours to bring together the youth from all backgrounds in a relaxed and natural environment that are ideal for harnessing the power of sports to engage communities and change lives.

This year’s SPL that was held at the beginning of this month included Autorickshaw drivers, slum children and, girls and boys of premier colleges.

By way of the cricket tournament, SFF has been able to bring about a behavioural change among the auto drivers such as being more responsible on the road, minimising honking etc. “We have seen a tremendous change in the attitude of the auto drivers since they have been playing this tournament. They have developed empathy and we realised that we can create awareness about lots of issues along with them. If we enable them with the right tools they can help us in disseminating information and creating awareness,” says Sharma.

As participation in the league tournament, each of the auto drivers teams was also asked to pick a social cause that they would like to create awareness about. The two issues that the auto drivers were keen on creating awareness about was Cancer and Malnutrition. They carried messages on these issues in their auto.

SFF is now working towards a financial inclusion of these auto drivers by opening bank accounts for them and after this, they will conduct health check-ups for their children and family as a whole.

According to Sharma, “Sports is the most powerful and the only stimulus in the world that can help build a positive attitude, instil fearlessness and leads to significant overall development.”

“We believe that to make a significant contribution we need to employ the best of youth to uplift those at the lowest rung of the society. We believe in concentrating on the weakest. We believe in mutually beneficial relations that help us raise resources in a way that others can’t. And yes, we don’t settle for the second spot, in order to give the best to those who need our help the most,” Sharma concludes.

As a company, GOQii has been supporting several causes through its Karma Platform. As part of our ongoing efforts to do good karma in the society and get our players to do the same. Supporting SPL and SFF is one such initiative in this direction. GOQii believes that giving to others gives an inner happiness to one while also improving one’s own health.

February 21, 2017 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

Know your HeartBeat

Heart disease has been a leading cause of death for both men and women. Bad lifestyle is one the main reasons for people developing heart ailments at a young age.It’s remarkable that heart attacks are so common and cause so much pain (emotional and physical) disability when they can more often than not be prevented.

The good news is that people are getting aware of the risks of a bad lifestyle leading to many taking to fitness and indulging in activities such as running. They have become more conscious of their well-being and their bodies. With the heart being one of the most vital organs, they at every juncture are keen to monitor their heart rate.

What is heart rate? Heart rate is the number of heartbeats per unit of time. Simply put, it is also how well your heart is able to pump oxygenated blood.

Keeping in mind the above factors and also as a part of extending their services, GOQii, one of the leading health ecosystem and preventive healthcare platform has launched its latest service offering-GOQii Heart Care which focuses on cardiovascular health.The key feature of this service is its ability to connect consumers to cardiovascular specialists through the GOQii application and a new GOQii tracker which has capabilities to monitor heart rate.

Today, there are so many devices generating huge data most of which is essentially junk if not analysed and acted upon. “When we launched the GOQii service, we launched it precisely with personal coaching so that the user is aware of the data and the coach can help him or she follow a routine and lifestyle based on that data. Similarly, the GOQii Heart Care is a one-stop solution that tracks and analyses data generated by the Heart Rate trackers and can connect the GOQii user to the GOQii doctor who can help make sense of the data. It is a unique offering as compared to any other wearable device or service available in the market,” says Vishal Gondal, CEO, GOQii.

To use this new feature, all that the GOQii users have to do is share their health and heart rate data via the new GOQii tracker with the GOQii Doctor for his analysis. The doctor will go through this data and provide specific inputs to the users on how to maintain good heart health. In specific cases, if required the GOQii doctor will refer the user to a cardiac specialist at Max Hospital and other partner hospitals. GOQii has partnered with max Hospitals.

The constant rise of cardiovascular cases across the globe was one of the primary reasons behind the development of this specialised offering. With this new service, GOQii aims to create the world’s leading health eco-system which connects the GOQii users to leading professionals in the fitness and healthcare space. Having said that, the heart care service is not a replacement for a regular doctor and does not apply to any emergency medical or chronic situations.

Consumers can upgrade their existing wearable devices with the new service as well. With regards to third party hardware which includes the Heart Rate Monitor, consumers can avail of the service by paying a nominal consultation fee. The services along with the new GOQii Heart Rate tracker will be available at a subscription Rs 2999 for 6 months and 3999 for 12 months respectively.

February 10, 2017 By Anusha Subramanian Leave a Comment

How to train for High Altitude Trekking?

Almost a decade ago when I started trekking in the Himalayas, it was just a few enthusiasts who did this. It was not considered normal and people were under the impression that this is meant for only those who were super fit. Trekking is normally associated with arduous trudging on some hard and uneven ground, climbing and walking on moraines and all that’s associated with laborious tasks amidst hostile environments with bare shelter, food and clothing essentials.

While trekking you might come across situations where you are stuck and most times hit by the sheer untouched beauty of a picture perfect image that embeds itself permanently in your memory as you are exposed to the wilderness for a longer duration in a day. This beauty can be seldom enjoyed while in a car.

Having said this, trekking is not tough. If you know to walk then you can trek as well. But, this does not mean that one ventures into unknown territories on their own to explore the unknown. Walking along a trail around with a backpack does not require exceptional skills but does require certain amount of physical fitness, planning, the right clothes, shoes and above all old common sense.

For high altitude trekking it requires much more physical and mental preparation. At higher altitudes, the air is thinner, there is less available oxygen and it becomes more difficult to breathe. There are serious risks involved with high-altitude hiking, including altitude sickness, acute mountain syndrome that can lead to pulmonary or cerebral edema, all of which can result in death.

Therefore, before you go on a high-altitude hike, you need to train your body to work efficiently and effectively in environments with less oxygen.

Here are few steps that will help train for high altitude:

** Begin training at least four tosix months in advance. This is especially important if you plan to hike at altitudes of more than 14,000 feet.

**See a doctor for a medical checkup in the early stages of training to ensure that high-altitude hiking is a safe and recommended activity for your age and physical condition.

** Hike as often as possible. The best thing you can do to prepare for higher-altitude hikes is to hike closer home as often as you can and at higher altitudes if available. Start gradually, increasing the distance and altitude of your treks with each week of training so that your body and lungs can become accustomed to functioning at increasing levels of altitude.

** Participate in interval training. Interval training is a method of training the cardiovascular system by elevating the heart rate significantly and then allowing it to recover for a period before elevating it again.

** Interval training could consist of running sprints, running hills or using the interval setting on a treadmill or exercise bike. Choose one day of the week for interval training and doing six repetitions of whatever exercise you have chosen. Each week, increase the intensity by running a faster sprint or a steeper hill. You also can train with your back pack with about 6 kgs in it to add weight and simulate the weight that you might be carrying during the high-altitude hike.

** For trekking you should work on developing a breathing rhythm and deep breathing. Your ability to control and conserve your breath and expand your breathing capacity will come in handy when the oxygen supply is reduced. Developing a breathing/stepping rhythm will prevent you from overexerting yourself at higher elevations. It also recommends practicing deep breathing on training hikes.Whenever you begin to feel breathless, concentrate on taking deep breaths and smaller steps until a more normal breathing pattern returns.Yoga asanas such as Kapalbhati, Vastrika, Anulom Vilom all of which entail breathing exercises.

** Lastly, you could also train with professionals who are trained in mountaineering to learn few basic techniques and nuances that may help while trekking.

My final advice: Try not to skip your work out if you can help it. Your safety and success depends on an how fit you are.

GOQii yet again Numero Uno -IDC

Know your HeartBeat

How to train for High Altitude Trekking?

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