Frame
Secondary research and field guides focused the inquiry on customer relationships in all three sectors.
01 · The brief
What if public services learned from mobile?
Mobile voice had made connectivity work at scale. The project asked what its customer-service lessons could offer electricity and governance.
Commissioned by LIRNEasia and carried out by CKS with IDRC support, the study examined customer relationships across Colombo, Dhaka, Patna and Delhi. Its focus: urban bottom-of-the-pyramid micro-entrepreneurs, whose livelihoods depend on services that are often difficult to access, understand or challenge.
The team mapped everyday experiences across three sectors, compared good and failed service moments, and translated the evidence into design opportunities.
How might service providers make it easier for micro-entrepreneurs to access services, speak up when something breaks, and stay informed?
02 · My contribution
I led the Colombo research stream.
As a Design Researcher at CKS, I took point on the Colombo leg while contributing across the wider programme—from getting the right people into the room to turning field evidence into a coherent report.
- Led Colombo field researchDirected the city-level research across micro-entrepreneurs, service providers and sites of service provision.
- Supported recruitmentHelped build the participant mix needed to see services from both customer and provider perspectives.
- Supported innovation workshopsHelped move opportunity areas into concepts, then refine them with sector experts.
- Co-authored the research storyContributed to analysis and report writing across countries and sectors.
03 · Research approach
From lived experience to service opportunity.
Immerse
Ethnography at service sites captured interactions, processes, artifacts and breakdowns in context.
Listen
One-to-two-hour interviews explored micro-entrepreneurs’ businesses, routines and service experiences.
Make together
Community workshops surfaced good and bad experiences and invited participants to redesign artifacts.
Synthesize
Experience maps, use cases and failure cases revealed leverage points for concept development.
Both sides of the counter
Micro-entrepreneurs were interviewed at their places of work. Frontline service providers were interviewed at customer-service sites—grounding the analysis in both user needs and delivery realities.
Four contexts, one comparative lens
The same research architecture across Colombo, Dhaka, Patna and Delhi made it possible to see what was local, what repeated, and what one city or sector could teach another.
04 · Sensemaking
A system view of the breakdown.
Instead of stopping at pain points, the analysis linked what people experienced to the structures producing it—then used comparison to find openings for change.
A
Experience maps
Made process flows, deviations and moments of friction visible across cities and sectors.
B
Use cases
Captured successful service patterns and coping mechanisms that could travel to other contexts.
C
Failure cases
Traced breakdowns to attitude, technology, architecture, process, information and organisation.
D
“Voice” and “exit”
Used Hirschman’s framework to distinguish speaking up to improve a service from abandoning or bypassing it.
E
Cross-sector transfer
Asked how working patterns in telecom could inform customer relationships in utilities and government.
05 · Design response
43 concepts, organised around practical levers.
The report documented a portfolio of concepts, refined through internal concepting and a collaborative expert workshop. Select examples are shown below; use the sector filters to explore them.
More control, less effort.
Confirm value-added servicesUse IVR or SMS confirmation before activation.
Log coverage gapsCollect network reports by USSD or SMS to guide improvements.
Preserve complaint contextDigitize issues in real time so a dropped call does not restart the story.
Simplify service controlLet customers activate or deactivate services by SMS.
Make access and accountability visible.
Portable power accessOffer trolley meters to qualifying temporary shops.
Record every complaintReduce frontline discretion and create a traceable service record.
Readable billsProvide local-language bills and clearer consumption information.
Remote meter reportingAllow meter readings to be sent through SMS.
Reduce friction, uncertainty and repeat visits.
Simplify registrationUse fewer documents, more access points and temporary receipts.
Make information reachableOffer call-centre guidance in English and local languages.
Build peer supportEquip experienced micro-entrepreneurs to guide others through registration.
Notify every stageUse SMS to track progress on a trade-licence application.
06 · What the work produced
An evidence base for more inclusive service delivery.
A multi-country service map
Comparable views of acquisition, complaints, payment, “voice” and “exit” across three sectors.
A defined customer segment
Micro-entrepreneurs framed as an addressable market with distinct service needs.
Actionable opportunity areas
Access, information, control, tracking, transparency, infrastructure and policy.
A concept portfolio
43 documented service concepts spanning telecom, electricity and government services.
07 · Capabilities demonstrated
Leading locally. Synthesizing across systems. Designing beyond the obvious touchpoint.
Research leadershipEthnographic researchStakeholder interviewsParticipant recruitmentService-site observationWorkshop facilitationExperience mappingSystems analysisCross-cultural researchConcept developmentExpert co-designResearch storytelling