Iridium Interactive Blog » Announcements

Iridium Interactive Wins Google Innovation Award for Health Care Delivery

iridiumInteractive — Wed, 29 May 2013 20:43:51 +0000

The 2013 Google Innovation Award recognizes and honors innovation and excellence delivered by Iridium Interactive in the area of Health Care Delivery in Kenya through a comprehensive, patient-centered, tuberculosis management platform called TIBU. TIBU in Kiswahili means“to cure” or “treat medically.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Kenya ranks 15th on the list of 22 high-burden tuberculosis (TB) affected countries in the world. With over 150,000 people suffering from the disease, TB remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya.

Speaking on this occasion, Sriram(Sri) Bharatam, Iridium Interactive CEO and Founder said, “The best part about the TIBU solution is that it simplifies the delivery of health care services for patients and health workers alike and provides a cost-effective platform to reach every person requiring treatment across the country.”

TIBU is the only comprehensive disease tracking and health information system available globally. TIBU seamlessly integrates treatment and monitoring from patient to health facility to county and provincial health offices, and finally to Ministry of Health in Nairobi. This hybrid solution connects patients and providers through Android devices and Internet Cloud infrastructure and can successfully operate even in remote locations where there is no electricity and mobile signals. TIBU’s real-time mapping, data analysis and reporting capabilities empower Ministry of Health staff at all levels to monitorand take immediate corrective actions, such as re-supplying warehouses when drug shortages arise or reallocating staff when patient demand increases.

In less than four months of national roll out across Kenya, TIBU captured electronic medical records for 75% of all Kenya’s TB patients and has reimbursed over US$300,000 (approx. Ksh. 28 million) to patients through more than 146,000 mobile payments via M-PESA. Android tablets are used to access electronic health records and to deliver short training videos developed by Iridium interactive to Ministry staff on how to operate TIBU, how to use the tab device itself, and how to gain or update medical knowledge and skills.

With the financial support of USAID, theKenya Ministry of Health provided the policy and technical direction to Iridium Interactive to develop TIBU, a Comprehensive Solution for Healthcare Delivery in collaboration with its innovation partners, Safaricom and Tangazoletu.

TIBU provides real-time TB and Leprosy data into DHIS 2 or the District Health Information System, Kenya’s National Health Data System and has done so by connecting information systems used by other MOH units or projects. Thus, the TIBU platform has the potential to expand into other disease verticals in Kenya, such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria, or be scaled geographically across Africa.

The 2013 Google Innovation Awards Winners were announced at the “Connected Kenya 2013” ICT event held at the SarovaWhite Sands, Mombasa on May 27-30, 2013. The Connected Kenya Summit is the brainchild of the Kenya ICT Board in consultation with industry players and key government decision-makers. The Summit provides a platform for collaboration, capacity-building and priority sharing between government and the IT sector to link and accelerate implementation of government IT projects to world class standards. The Connected Kenya Summit has been successfully held since 2009. The theme for the 2013 Connected Kenya Summit was “The County Citizen. Served“

iridiumInteractive Wins Kenya’s ICT Board Tandaa Grant for Local Content Innovation

iridiumInteractive — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:44:59 +0000

Innovation has led iridiumInteractive to make its mark emphatically in the Kenya’s agenda of dynamic growth. Receiving the Tandaa Grant for Local Content innovations touches new frontiers. Tandaa is a brand of the Kenya ICT Board that promotes the creation and distribution of locally relevant digital content through the Tandaa Symposium and seed money to ICT entrepreneurs. Digital content is any content that can be consumed from an electronic device eg. Personal computer, mobile phone, game console, and digital TV. Such content is easily and effectively distributed through the Internet and can consist of services, entertainment, data or information.

‘Connected Kenya‘ Summit , a landmark event on Kenya’s educational horizon celebrates Kenyans who have developed ICT Solutions that drive economic growth and social development in Kenya’s “Vision 2030” . iridiumInteractive stole the limelight by bagging one of the Nation’s top innovation awards. These awards were jointly given by the Kenya ICT Board and the Kenya Vision 2030. All the applicants to the awards were required to be registered as a business in Kenya and it was mandatory to have had their products in the Kenyan Market for at least six months. There were 400 applications for various categories from all over the country . The competition was tough and the applications were reviewed by a high ranking team of independent judges, who represented the ICT private sector, academia, public sector and civil society.

iridiumInteractive won the award in the most hotly contested category of the “Best Innovation in the Education and Training Sector”. Sriram Bharatham, CEO and Founder accepted the award. Speaking on this occasion, Sriram Bharatam (Sri) said, “This recognition is a testimony that we are in the right direction and is a great motivator to the 50+ team members at iridiumInteractive across 20 locations in Kenya, to now scale this idea and reach out to transform as many Kenyan small business owners as possible.”

An enriching experience for the team, a giant leap forward towards reaching their goal.

Africa turns new desi IT hotspot

iridiumInteractive — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:35:51 +0000

As Featured in Deccan Chronicle July 18, 2011 Hyderabad

African countries are fast emerging as the preferred business destination of IT companies back home. Since the governments of African countries (specifically in East Africa) are laying stress on developing their IT infrastructure in a big way, a sizeable amount of work is being outsourced to companies in Hyderabad.

The US, which was the biggest business destination for IT companies here, till a couple of years back, has now given way to other countries like Africa, China and Bangladesh. Among them Africa is the ‘next upcoming destination’ and outsources IT Development and Product Development work to companies in Hyderabad.

“Africa is presently in the same situation we were in about ten years back. They are now planning to set up IT parks and SEZs and provide a lot of opportunities to companies here. East African countries like Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are today where Hyderabad was 10 to 15 years back. They are growing exponentially and with good IT and Mobile Infrastructure, it would take them just 5 years to reach where we are today. This is the right time for Indian IT companies to set up shop in Africa. We have acquired over 200 clients in African countries within a span of one year,” said Sriram Bharatam, CEO of iridium Interactive, a NASSCOM member company.

Having realized the potential of African countries like Namibia, Sudan, Tunisia, Angola and Zambia, the Software Technology Parks of India’s Hyderabad chapter has also been collaborating with officials from the African Embassy to help interested companies get in touch with the industry in Africa, indicated a Nasscom member.

Good to Great-How iridium Interactive made the Leap

iridiumInteractive — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:12:00 +0000

Marching to their own beat

SANGEETHA DEVI DUNDOO (Hindu )

A quirk of fate made Sriram Bharatham and Bharathi trade their lucrative jobs for social entrepreneurship.

The office space in iridium Interactive is cluttered and spacious, all at once. We walk through a maze of cubicles where employees are busy at their workstations and then walk through a long pathway with plenty of natural light streaming in through the huge glass panes. On a row of bamboo modas, a long winding sheet of paper rests bearing a long list of names. “We celebrated the company’s eleventh anniversary recently and this list has the names of each and every one who worked with us in all these years,” says Sriram Bharatam, the CEO, as he greets us.

The spacious walkway is where ‘Iridium’ites have their morning huddle and the creative and logic teams come together to share ideas. Sriram Bharatam is an engineer who went on to studyinternational business, pursued higher education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, returned to India to join Hewlett-Packard JV, New Delhi, working in the strategy and consulting practice. He swiftly rose among the ranks when in his 20s and then, by a quirk of fate, turned a social entrepreneur with Cause an Effect (CnE) and Iridium Interactive. Giving him company is his wife Bharathi, a chartered accountant, who never got to do accounting but revels in the social pursuits of Cause an Effect.

Ripple effect

The devastating cyclone that hit Orissa in 1999 triggered the change for Sriram and Bharathi. “We were both in New Delhi a year after our wedding. Sriram was pretty much a jetsetter. He lost his passport and we came to Hyderabad to get a duplicate passport,” Bharathi rewinds. The news of the cyclone made them want to do their bit. “We walked into a cyber cafe and created a portal for Cause an Effect and helped in raising funds for victims through Prime Minister and Chief Minister relief funds,” says Sriram. Within days, they had gunny bags full of cheques. They raised nearly 1.5 million dollars as contribution from 18 million people. “We felt responsible and accountable. We channelised the cheques to the respective relief funds,” adds Bharathi.

The effort that went towards building a global community of 18 million in just 45 days through CnE won Sriram the Kauffman Community Award for social entrepreneurship in 2004. The cushy, high paying job in New Delhi soon became a thing of the past. Sriram and Bharathi stayed put in Hyderabad and spearheaded Cause an Effect, which became a non-for-profit organisation with a focus on sustainable livelihoods, women, health, childcare, disability and much more.

Within no time, iridium Interactive was also born. While iridium became a commercial enterprise, CnE thrived on social entrepreneurship. “During the tsunami, we understood that more funds were flowing in than manpower. People needed temporary livelihood measures than anything else. We produced seven movies on topics such as mushroom cultivation, vermi compost, how to repair mechanised boats, kitchen farming, etc in four languages and shared them with our partner NGOs including NASSCOM Foundation, who in turn trained people in their centres. Around 1500 to 2000 volunteers were trained in each module; they in turn spread the message among people affected by tsunami,” says Bharathi.

From a one-room office to an enterprise that now meets requirements of more than 2000 clients within Hyderabad alone, iridium has come a long way. Even within the commercial setup, Sriram and Bharathi have donned their Good Samaritan hats. One of the many things that Iridium is credited for is the process of making websites ‘accessible’. Accessibility refers to developing websites that can be navigated by differently-abled users. What’s more? The company has employed visually challenged software developers. “It’s high time companies look beyond employing differently-abled people merely as telephone operators. Some of the people trained by us in mainstream work are now well placed in larger companies and the NASSCOM inclusion team, where there is more scope to grow,” says Sriram. In fact, Iridium is now in the process of creating voice-enabled websites to make the Net accessible to the hearing impaired.

SWOT, modules and mobile streaming

Sriram recently spent a few weeks in East Africa, testing new modules. He lets us in on what’s brewing: “We are working towards capacity building exercises for micro and small entrepreneurs. A company that has just two people also has needs policies, regulations, HR, accounting, finance management, etc but doesn’t know how to handle diverse portfolios. These are companies that aren’t able to make steady progress and reach out to new clients. We faced these problems when we started off and know what it takes. Ideally we shouldn’t have taken this long to reach where we are today.”

Sriram’s team has created ‘How to…’ modules that help small and micro entrepreneurs. Modules such as how to evaluate balance sheets and how to review a company through SWOT analysis will be soon streamed through mobile phones. “We did pilot projects in East Africa involving five countries and more than 200 clients,” informs Sriram. If logistics are worked out, expect similar modules to be introduced in India as well.

Their office is a mix of professionals with different core strengths. “We don’t strictly go by qualification. We look for people who are passionate about their work and those who can look beyond mere technology,” echo Bharathi and Sriram. And those passionate about doing out-of-the-box work have been knocking at their doors, even from premier institutes. “Right now, we have a few interns from IIT Guwahati,” smiles Sriram.

He hastens to add, “But now and then we are faced with the situation where candidates are compelled to move out because their parents want to see them placed in larger companies with fatter paycheques. Though the candidates themselves are very happy with their work, parental pressure takes a toll. Culturally, in India we are conditioned to believe that it is rude to say NO to our elders.”

Sriram and Bharathi know firsthand about parental perceptions. “Even today, our respective parents feel we should have done what our peers did — be ‘well settled’ in the US. For us, that seems like the worst thing. We’d rather work here and create opportunities for others than run away to the United States,” smiles Sriram.

As Published in Hindu

Network with a cause – Public Health Global Network Goes Live !

iridiumInteractive — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:16:58 +0000

At II every day there is a new story, a new learning, new paths explored. This time around its a website with a dfference. A networking tool which creates not a social networking site for fun but a tool that actually creates social awareness in the public health sector. The website: http://www.publichealthglobal.org was designed and developed from its infancy to its current status at iridium Interactive’s Noida den.
This platform has been created to generate new learning and initiate a multilevel and plural dialogue between academics, researchers and public health practitioners across the globe so as to gradually build up strong partnerships towards south-south cooperation; through this network, schools of public health, stakeholders and the community of practice can share experiences and curricula, transfer best practices, caution against replication of failed models, exchange learning resources and, wherever feasible, strengthen public health capacity through inter-institutional faculty exchange and joint research.

The website intends to be a common platform to debate and analyze the challenges faced by public health, development of common as well as complementary sensibilities, exchange of ideas and researchers, and mapping the needs of these countries for developing a common plan of action to address public health challenges.

When i say website with a difference it is not just the website and its concept, its also about the team behind it. A team of extremely dedicated iridiumoholics put together this website in just a matter of few months. The team – Nitu, Shabbu, Samar, Rajeev, me with special mention to Shiv and Kamil, would daily have internal meetings, con-calls with clients with endless inputs from the client by the minute. This often called for stretching beyond normal official hours which the team never hesitated to abide by sometimes even working on weekends. Endless dedication of the team has indeed made this project quiet a success in a very short span of time. Within its first week of going live internally there were almost 100 member registrations from within the organization. We are sure once its open to the target audience it is sure to create a wave globally amongst the public health practitioners and bring them together to educate the world about the importance of public health.

With this we march ahead with yet another signature success story to talk about.

viagra online

WagonR Think Big Challenge 2 case study iridium Interactive

iridiumInteractive — Sat, 28 May 2011 18:05:50 +0000

“The Challenge was Bigger and so was our intent”; these lines would be apt for the entire team here which literally gave wings to this activity.

Just a few days old at iridium (Delhi office), I was put in the team to work on this project. We were given a flat 15 days to get the new design and the entire back-end implemented, but kudos to our technical team (also consisting of new joinees) for getting the portal up and running. This year we also ensured active customer support (making sure that we answer each and every query) and extended it to social media (via Facebook); additionally we also used the fan page to generate buzz.

The project received a tremendous response of 40,000 business plans got submitted on the website.

The project exposed me to the absolute vastness in terms of budget, impact, brand awareness and connect and the impact such an activity could have. There was a lot of cross functional synergy required, a lot of fire-fighting (at times), a lot of unlearning and learning and hard work and all of this was worth when our team got the chance to attend the Grand Finale and to watch the participants we have interacted with/supported/helped deliver those business plan presentations. It was like reliving the entire 4-5 months of working on the project.

And then came the big one, the announcement of the Grand Finale winner! It was a great feeling for us to have helped someone to win a brand new WagonR and Rs 10 Lakhs.

In the photograph, this is our team with Ms. Aparna Bhatnagar (winner of the WagonR Think Big Challenge).

Not to forget we (our team) got a chance to meet Madhavan (aka Manu of Tanu weds Manu) and we even got a photograph clicked with him ☺

Overall it’s been a kick ass experience and we are already looking forward to its next edition.

Aide et Action South Asia signs up iridium Interactive as Social Media Partner

iridiumInteractive — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:58:44 +0000

How powerful is the voice of the social public? It demonstrated considerable might during issues such as the Iran election, Haiti earthquake and the Pepsi refresh project. Now it’s time to use this medium for a much broader social change.

Aide et Action [South Asia], an organization working to empower people by providing quality education to all, has launched an initiative called Punni Ki Kahaniyan, a series of short films that uses the voice of a young girl to tell children stories built around the values of multiculturalism, communal harmony and education. The first of the series, an 18 minute film, shows children the bright side of cultural harmony and the pitfalls of ragging, bullying and racism. By showcasing the varied cultures that represent India through the eyes of schoolchildren, the film is a teaching aid that also opens the eyes of adults to the fact that we are one people and that a herd mentality that propagates racism and divide is to be shunned.

Support Punni through social media!

Aide et Action South Asia has partnered with iridium Interactive as a Social Media partner to create Awareness and Buzz for Punni Ki Kahaniyan and reach out to students, teachers, parents and the society at large. The objective is to start a strong movement that promotes cultural harmony through social understanding and integration. iridium Interactive is promoting and connecting with all the stakeholders using the social platforms like facebook, twitter, youtube, vimeo etc., to promote the film and supporting Aide et Action South Asia to take the message to millions of school children across India.

You can aid this mission by:

1. sharing the movie and/or showcasing it in your neighboring school

2. demonstrate your support on facebook and take this initiative to parents and educators, the key influencers of young children

3. actively sharing your ideas on how to increase the impact of this initiative

On 26^th October 2010, Punni ki Kahaniyan is formally launched at Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad with 1000 children representing 35 odd schools who will watch this movie and, we hope, learn the importance of unity. Sania Mirza, ace tennis player, is an enthusiastic supporter who is attending the launch of this event. Ravi Pratap Singh, Regional Director-Aide et Action South Asia, Sriram Bharatam, CEO and Founder at iridium Interactive and Ranga Reddy, RM-The Hindu would also be part of this event. Our endeavour is to reach out and promote this movie to as many children as possible and along the way, sensitise the general public so that they too imbibe these values and create an ecosystem that shuns regressive beliefs and promotes unity.

So come, join Punni as she takes the lead and tells children value driven stories that will make them better people.

Punni has been covered by The HIndu in today’s newspaper. Click here to read the full article. The Hindu is an official media partner in A.P for Punni Ki Kahaniyan. You can reach Punni on her facebook page and on her twitter account

For further details contact:
Mohammed Salahuddin
salaudin.m at iridiuminteractive dot com
+919989234334

Follow iridium Interactive on twitter and facebook and stay current with the latest on social media and campaigns.

iridium Interactive at the Common Wealth Games!

iridiumInteractive — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:25:37 +0000

Before you jump the gun, no we’re not managing the IT infra of the Games or their website or their online branding but instead, an associate from our Noida office was part of the performance at the globally hailed opening ceremony of the Common Wealth Games, 2010. Janhavi Rajaraman, Project Coordinator at iridium Interactive was part of the Tree of Knowledge group showcasing the cultural heritage of India in the forms of Classical dances like Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniattam and Kathak. Janhavi was part of the Bharatnatyam performance and was right a the front of the group of the 20 lead dancers. Well we were proud to be called Indian for hosting these prestigious games and Janhavi has sure gives us another reason to say Jai Ho!

Candle Walk to Support The First National Mental Health Awareness Day by Cause an Effect foundation

iridiumInteractive — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:46:46 +0000

Cause an Effect Foundation conducted the 1st Mental Health Awareness Day in Hyderabad yesterday, the 6th of August. The evening began with enthusiastic participation by over 80 people. We started the program first with a brief introduction of Cause an Effect and how the organization came into being.

Presentation of the first National Mental Health Awareness Day by Bharathi of Cause an Effect

We then went on with a presentation on the Erwadi Tragedy and about the activities done by WMFI and Banyan Tree Team. On 6th August 2001, two dozen hapless mentally ill patients were roasted alive in Erwadi, Tamil Nadu, when a fire engulfed the Moideen Badusha Mental Home. Chained to poles, they were unable to escape and their charred remains were found the next day. We then explained about the efforts by the Whole Mind Foundation of India and the The Banyan Tree in bettering the conditions of the mentally challenged in India.

We had the participants pledge support to the Mental Health Awareness Program by reading out a pledge and everyone put a green ribbon on their lapels. After this, participants were given pamphlets and extra ribbons

Candle Walk by Supporters of the Cause for Mental Health patients

which they could distribute to others. About 80 of us then set out to departmental stores, bus stops, parks etc in the vicinity of the iridium Interactive office and pinned the ribbons to others and gave them a little information about what we were doing and why they should spread the word about these efforts. Then we lit candles at a bus stop and went on a candle walk on the return stretch to the office. At the office we read out a prayer for the mentally ill and pledged to do all we could for their betterment.

This is a very small step in bettering the conditions of millions of such patients who need our care and supports and instead are languishing in institutions and subjected to inhuman conditions. Join us in spreading the word about this pressing but understated issue. Join us in making 6th August known as the National Mental Health Awareness Day.

If you would like information and support in taking up this cause mail us at bharathi@causeaneffect.org.

iridium Interactive gets the coveted Online Partner of NASSCOM status for third consecutive year…

iridiumInteractive — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:32:37 +0000

As the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum (NILF) convenes from Feb 9^th to Feb 11^th this year, it gives me great pleasure to be present in Mumbai for the 18^th edition of this annual conference as NASSCOM’s official online partner. iridium Interactive got this status for the third consecutive year. We have partnered with NASSCOM to create a SOCIAL Networking product, called NASSCOM Connect, to add value to every NASSCOM NILF delegate’s experience. NASSCOM Connect is a social networking platform which is a combination of Linked-in and Facebook, that will help attendees and delegates to maintain ties and continue their dialogue in the virtual space. A unique platform, the NASSCOM Connect enables the delegates to touch base with each other before the event kicks off on February 9th at Mumbai this year.

I completely look forward to this epic forum since it is undoubtedly Asia’s largest leadership conference with a diverse mix of inspirational experts from the industry. Flooded by the outpour of registrations, NILF boasts of a record registration of 1650 delegates this year from countries all over the world and India. This is going to be one opulent event with the stalwarts of the IT industry who will be present there.

Exactly this time around last year when the economy was caught in the clutches of recession the theme of the event was mainly focussed on how to tackle the downturn. This year holds particular importance as the industry recovers from the financial slowdown, we look forward to new times, new dimensions, new outlooks and the opportunity to explore new directions which is also the theme of this event this year ‘New Times, New Ideas, New Directions’

Do check this out….

The NASSCOM EVENT online destination: http://indialeadershipforum.nasscom.in
NASSCOM EVENT BLOG : http://indialeadershipforum.nasscom.in/blog
NASSCOM EVENT NETWORKING PORTAL : http://indialeadershipforum.nasscom.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=92

You can also avail the live updates from NILF from : http://indialeadershipforum.nasscom.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=207&Itemi d=262