Just My Neighbour Has Created An Entirely New And Innovative Arena For Resident'S Communication
Param Sidhu
Founder, Just My Neighbour
An increasing number of housing societies in metropolitan cities are now acquiring their own individual space on the web. The trend can be determined by the inception of creating web portals for housing societies to facilitate their functioning as communities. This new innovative trend of making residential housing societies go online can be gauged by Gurgaon- based software company- Just My Neighbour.com. Mr. Param Sidhu, Just My Neighbour Co- Founder share his experience of creating new mode of communication for residents and establishing an entirely new sector of industry.
Metroplots: What made you come up with this idea of Just My Neighbour.com?
Param Sidhu: We all are living in an era of technology where everyone has fast moving lives that are devoid of communication majorly at the place we live. While there are some active members in a society, on the other side there are some members who hardly know about what is happening around them. Hence, we came up with Just My Neighbour to bridge this gap so that close user group can be connected for communication. It is one stop solution for residents who can browse online regarding any major piece of information whether it is notices, events or any other news related to their society.
Metroplots: Why did you choose to bring your services online?
Param Sidhu: Basically all the three Co- founders (Mr. Param Sidhu, Mr. Abhishek Jain and Ms.Jessica Singh) of Just My Neighbour.com come from an online environment. So choosing online medium was not much of a hassle. Also, number of internet users is growing. Internet has now become the easiest and safest way to reach out to people. It saves time and cost and as a piece of evidence, we already had 13 million auto generated mails this year till now which proves the online usability is fairly good.
Metroplots: What is the idea behind creating personal web portals for societies?
Param Sidhu: We wanted to redefine community living by creating online portals for Residents Welfare Association so that they can voice their opinions and give suggestions engaging more number of people. It is a single window platform where residents can do networking with the association of the society. The portal provides discussions forums for residents to discuss common topic of interest and offer suggestions.
Metroplots: Are your services free of cost or do you charge for them? If yes, then what is your source of revenue generation?
Param Sidhu: Yes, most of the times we create free online portals for societies. Nevertheless, in other cases society can also buy our services depending upon services provided to them. Apart from this we have official sponsors like Airtel, Apollo Munich, Metlife, Intel including many others which is our source of revenue generation.
Metroplots: How many societies are you working with?
Param Sidhu: Currently, we are working with more than 2700 societies pan India. But the transition to reach this 2700 from 1 has been extremely tough. We understood the market and analysed that the need was similar in every city including metropolitan like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai etc along with sub-urban cities like Pune, Jaipur, and Ranchi among many others. We created rich modular portals through ERP system that was widely accepted by everyone.
Metroplots: You have broken the conventional norms of advertising. How do you think it is beneficial for advertisers?
Param Sidhu: The most difficult task for advertisers is to reach out to their target audience. Though big brands even today largely advertise through traditional methods of television, print and radio, but for many brands this is a costly affair. And the certainty to reach out to target audience is also very apprehensive. Hence, by creating online portals for websites, we give the advertisers a space to advertise thereby reaching the right target audience. This also acts as a revenue generation for us because advertisers like Airtel, Kwality ice cream etc wanted to enter societies. And this stood as a safe platform for them. While they advertise on the portals created by us, it acts as a source of revenue generation for us. Not forgetting, advertisers too have earned to Rs 3 lakhs per month after advertising with us.
Metroplots: It is a comprehensive website that offers an array of options. How hard is it to manage?
Param Sidhu: Managing all depends upon the workforce that any organisation has. We have more than 8200 people working with us across 13 cities pan India. We also have a dedicated team allotted to individual service. Hence, right from pool cab service to giving them information about nearest florist and grocery etc, to playing online games like Tambola we have different services. Prizes for these online games are sponsored by different partners.
Metroplots: You have been the pioneers in such a service. What are your key milestones?
Param Sidhu: We want to cover all mini metros and major cities by the end of 2015. We are currently on fast track for expansion because we want to cover 50,000 societies pan India in near future. As a matter of fact, fair amount of market is available so we can to capture the entire market. The idea has not only been picked up in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore etc but nonetheless, small towns are also picking pace.
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