1. CycleTel™ in India: From
Proof-of-Concept to
Deployment
Meredith Puleio & Victoria Jennings
Institute for Reproductive Health,
Georgetown University
mHealth Working Group Meeting
January 18, 2011

2. CycleTel™ Concept
Facilitate use of the
Standard Days Method® by
alerting women of their fertile
days via SMS
Target Audience
Women/couples who:
- are non-method or
traditional FP method users
- own a mobile phone
- send/receive SMS

3. From Formative Research to
Deployment
Continuou
Product s M&E
Launch
Test
Market
Technology
Developme
nt
Proof-of-
Concept
Testing

4. Structure of CycleTel Proof-of-Concept
3 Phases Objectives
Focus Group  Understand phone use patterns
 Determine potential interest among
Discussions target audience
54 participants  Explore appropriate messaging and
preferences for the service
Cognitive Interviews  Verify comprehension of messages
18 participants  Adapt and finalize messages
Manual Testing  Enroll women for 2 cycles to assess
26 women/couples in feasibility, satisfaction and correct
Lucknow method use (using FrontlineSMS
80 women in New Delhi open source software)
 Troubleshoot problems and
determine how to improve service
 Determine target audience

5. Value of Formative Research ―I am mostly free
at that time of
―This is an idea day. It maintains
Established Need & Demand that can change privacy.‖ –
 Both men and women are interested your life!‖ –Male Female
 100% wanted to continue the service
 All would recommend to friends
Determined Product Design
Before Investing Significant
Resources
 100% said it was the right # of
messages
 Timing of messages should be
between 5-10pm
 Messages should be in Hinglish
 Hotline is a necessity
 100% of users would pay for the
service on top of the normal cost for
sending messages (range: Rs25-50
per month)

6. Beyond Proof-of-Concept: Identifying
Partners
 Software development company
 Hosting environment
 SMS gateway provider v. telecoms
 Call center support
 SMS aggregator
 Research organization(s)
 Marketing agencies
 Donors
 Ministry of Health? Government Officials?
 Non-profit organizations

7. Mapping Development & Deployment
Partners

8. What’s in a Tech Partner?
 Agile—constant feedback & communication
loops
 How do they describe & embody innovation?
 Local knowledge of technology/mobile
environment
 Importance of global scope
 Social impact interest

9. Planning for Sustainable Scale-up
 Decide ―ownership‖
 Establish technical
advisory group
 Apply a model for scale-
up
 Plan for M&E of scale-up
 Test business models
 Identify & mitigate risks
along the way
The ExpandNet/WHO Scaling-Up Model
Refer to http://www.expandnet.net/tools.htm

10. Key Considerations for Launching an mHealth
Application
 Value of formative research & leveraging open source
software
 Deployment environment is much more complex than
anticipated
 Don’t underestimate timeline of events & value of solid
partners
 Plan, talk, listen, plan: People are willing to help!
 Look to ―new product development‖ literature
Citation: Chris Blow, Ushahidi
Community Member
Available at:
http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/
2010/05/19/allocation-of-time-
deploying-ushahidi/

11. Thoughts? Ideas? Email
mp447@georgetown.ed
u