The Delivery Economy' is easy, but comes with risks

Bengaluru: Saritha (name changed) customarily starts her day at 9.30 am every day. In her stint of four years as a beautician, she has been honing her skills to the needs of the job. And with e-services entering the market and the demand for home services growing, she decided to join in and make use of a home services platform. At the customers’ beck and call now, she is in Indiranagar one day, Munnekolala the other and Vidyaranyapura the next.

“I have even travelled to areas I didn’t know existed. The demand is good, but being a woman is not,” she says, looking away. The sadness in her eyes is hard to miss. When asked why, she opens up after much persuasion. “The ‘offers’ we get in this job are disgraceful.

Customers who use the app to ask for our services sometimes take us for granted. Once someone asked if I was willing to offer a body-to-body massage. I was hurt and soon left the place. But now I have learnt  to take such insulting overtures philosophically,” she says.

For many like Saritha, the e-market has opened up a new world of opportunities. While several have found their feet , others like her are still stumbling along. It’s not hard to see why.  The home services industry is a different ball game altogether and still looking to establish quality, professionalism and discipline, observes innovation catalyst and start-ups’ mentor, Naveen Lakkur.

“This is an unorganised sector with vast opportunities. Even the not so tech-savvy people involved in the business get visibility on this platform. While some companies associate with service providers through references, many opt for background checks. The biggest challenge, however, is to streamline needs and opportunities,” he says.  

Although industry insiders say that only a  few professional firms are particular about background checks of service providers, companies like Housejoy claim they spend nearly three months verifying their credentials. Explains its CEO, Saran Chatterjee,  “Customer feedback, rating and experiences become important to rate a service provider.

The service provider’s safety too is quintessential. For instance, if a beautician is in an uncomfortable situation, she can press the SOS button on our app and help will reach her immediately. In some cities, female beauticians are accompanied by drivers.”

But what  about customer safety? How can people feel confident about letting a stranger inside their homes? Mr Pravin Agarwala, co-founder of Better Place, which provides background checks through data analytics, claims that the service provider’s personal, professional and social credentials are taken into consideration while profiling it.

"We  typically use advanced technology to make a social graph of a person. All the checks are done with trust as the focal point. We don’t predict a person’s character, but merely check for integrity and assess for right social behaviour.”  

Checking for any past history of crime, trailing digital footprints, and collecting anecdotes from relatives and friends all form  part of the background verification process. Interestingly,Mr Agarwala says that since the home  service industry is an on-demand business, sometime firms do not mind hiring people with a dubious past.

“Of course, they are given less riskier jobs or are constantly monitored. But again it all depends on the  company in question. The more professional firms do not take any sort of risk,” he adds.