{"id":17272,"date":"2016-11-18T01:17:10","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T06:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/bringing-the-solar-system-home-and-making-it-smarter\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T01:17:10","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T06:17:10","slug":"bringing-the-solar-system-home-and-making-it-smarter","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/bringing-the-solar-system-home-and-making-it-smarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing the solar system home\u2026 and making it smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bringing traditional electricity to every home is a massive undertaking in many parts of the world.\u00a0 Over 600 million people in Africa alone live in homes not connected to a grid. The Economist<\/em> predicts that connecting all of these homes would require additional annual infrastructure investment of over $50 billion. Off-grid systems, particularly solar, have emerged over the past few years, growing rapidly as VC funding has responded to the development of both more cost-effective products (solar panel costs have dropped 80% since 2010, and more energy-efficient devices have been developed) and new business models that address some of the barriers profitability in the sector. [1]<\/a><\/p>\n

BBOXX is one such business.\u00a0 It offers \u201cSMART\u201d solar power generators to individual households, promising customers an easy to install, reliable, and cost-effective way to power lights, fans, phone chargers, and even low-power TVs.\u00a0 Thus far, BBOXX has provided off-grid electricity to over 350,000 people across Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia[2]<\/a>, with a goal of reaching 20 million people (or 4 million units installed) by 2020.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 BBOXX\u2019s success and potential to scale is driven its operational decisions around developing and deploying SMART units.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The use of global SIM cards allows for easier logistics for the business as well as increased reliability for the customer<\/strong>.\u00a0 To enable the SMART technology, each unit is installed with a Vodafone machine-to-machine global SIM card that is connected to BBOXX\u2019s global network.\u00a0 The SIM can work in low-network areas and can roam on whichever network is strongest in that area.\u00a0 This simplifies the logistics for BBOXX but also increases BBOXX\u2019s reach, being able to reliably serve customers outside the range necessary for more data-intensive products.\u00a0 The SIMS are also preconfigured to block calls, texts, and data, reducing an incentive for someone to use it for other purposes.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Finally, using a single supplier of SIMs makes it easy for BBOXX to quickly expand into new markets, simplifying the integration of new geographic sources of data into its global system3<\/sup> (at least, according to Vodafone, who may be slightly biased…).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The use of SMART technology allows for more reliable payment for the business as well as more manageable payment for the customer.<\/strong>\u00a0 A fundamental problem facing for-profit solar providers is managing customer payments.\u00a0 To illustrate, in Pakistan, a BBOXX system (including the control unit, battery, solar panel, tube light, and light bulb) costs $330.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Almost none of the target market can afford to pay this sum up-front, but the lack of credit history and remote nature of most customers make it challenging to extend credit and enforce collections.<\/p>\n

Because all BBOXX units are enabled with two-way data transmission, the company is able to remotely shut off the unit if a payment is missed.\u00a0 Without this system, the customer could continue use until an agent personally arrived to turn off or retrieve the system.\u00a0 Once the customer had paid, there would be another wait for someone to show up to turn the device back on, reducing willingness to start paying again.\u00a0 Remote control has a substantial impact on repayment: BBOXX now has over 90% of payments made on time for its SMART systems, compared to 55% for its non-SMART systems.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The use of SMART technology allows for decreased personnel costs as well as increased product value for the customer.\u00a0 <\/strong>Remote shut-off and shut-on is not the only way that SMART simultaneously reduces BBOXX\u2019s personnel requirements and adds value for the customer.\u00a0 BBOXX also installs updates and checks for problems remotely.[3]<\/span>\u00a0 Not only can BBOXX easily determine whether a customer-reported issue can be easily solved without an employee trip, the company can also run regular check-ups and proactively reach out to customers to solve a problem they may not have even reported yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SMART can enable so much more.<\/strong>\u00a0 BBOXX has started to think of the impact of SMART beyond improving its core product offering, but mostly as it relates to using data to attract potential investors.\u00a0 BBOXX is collecting enough data to build a detailed view of energy consumption that can be mapped by socio-economic status and geography as well as personal repayment histories, which could be used in the development of new products and features.\u00a0 Household repayment information could be invaluable to the growing credit scoring industry, hungry for this type of data on consumers with limited formal purchasing history.\u00a0 Finally, could the same SMART technology be deployed on completely unrelated items in a pure data-collection service (e.g., phones, other consumer electronics, etc.)?<\/p>\n

The majority of the above suggestions may be far enough removed from BBOXX\u2019s core competencies that it may not make sense for the company to undertake them itself, but there may still be substantial opportunity for partnership with others who could take advantage of the technology.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(788 words)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> “Africa unplugged: small-scale solar power is surging ahead,” The Economist<\/em>, October 29 2016, http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/middle-east-and-africa\/21709297-small-scale-solar-power-surging-ahead-africa-unplugged.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> “BBOXX pursues its ambitious growth with successful $20 million fund raising,” PRNewswire<\/em>, August 30 2016, http:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/bboxx-pursues-its-ambitious-growth-with-successful-20-million-fund-raising-591708211.html.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> “BBOXX ensures reliable energy for remote communities worldwide,” Vodafone case study, April 2015.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> “Energy solutions for the developing world,” Wireless Logic<\/em>, 2016, http:\/\/www.wirelesslogic.com\/case_study\/bboxx_remote_solar_\/.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> “Mobile for development utilities: EcoEnergyFinance distribution of solar pay-as-you-go in Pakistan,” GSMA Mobile for Development Utilities<\/em>, 2014, http:\/\/www.gsma.com\/mobilefordevelopment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/M4D-Utilities-EcoEnergyFinance-Distribution-of-Solar-Pay-as-you-go-in-Pakistan.pdf.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> “SMART Solar Case Study: Pay Plan Officer,” BBOXX<\/em>, September 2015, http:\/\/www.bboxx.co.uk\/smart-solar-case-study-pay-plan-officer\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How BBOXX is bringing the \u201cInternet of Things\u201d to off-grid energy solutions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1987,"featured_media":17273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[955,1930,511,994,2037,184,179,2112],"class_list":["post-17272","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative-energy","category-energy-distributor","category-international-development","category-remote-technology","category-smart-home","category-solar","category-solar-energy","category-solar-power"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/digitization-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nBringing the solar system home\u2026 and making it smarter - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/bringing-the-solar-system-home-and-making-it-smarter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bringing the solar system home\u2026 and making it smarter - 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