Hashtag Hotline Business Canvas - Hongzred/HashTag_HotLine GitHub Wiki

Value Proposition:

Pain Points

Often, utility companies, civil engineers and local government ask citizens to dial a phone number to call in problems. For example, ConEdison urges New Yorkers to call 1-800-752-6633 whenever there’s a smell of gas in the city streets. This is problematic for both ConEdison and concerned citizens who might call because

  • Few New Yorkers know the ConEd number by heart
  • Ascertaining a caller’s location takes time
  • Callers might not speak clearly (or their English might be less than perfect)
  • Any data to be recorded from the calls (eg. locations of frequent gas leaks, in this case) must be recorded manually each call. This introduces unnecessary human error.

Gain Points

Hashtag hotline is a dashboard application with a live feed and map to show where the public is reporting problems. Benefits include:

  • Exact GPS location of a tweet along with an attached image can down the time needed to find the source of the problem.
  • Most New Yorkers can spell @ConEd
  • Instead of calling and waiting on the line to report a problem, a concerned citizen can quickly tweet and then get on with their day (if they're not observing problems in their own neighborhood.)
  • We can notify customer with any updates of the issue in real-time providing peace of mind (through a Twitter bot)
  • Data acquisition is simplified, which means analysts can now produce heatmaps to find where leaks tend to recur, or otherwise investigate trends that could reduce the cost of maintenance.
  • Call centers cost money, and Hashtag Hotline could help reduce dependence on them.
  • Access to a large userbase (Twitter) for companies.
  • Not having to install another app, for consumers.

Customer Segments:

Our customer segments include Public and Private sector maintainers of distributed systems (roads, pipelines, electrical grids) where repairs might be needed along with the general public, who need an avenue to quickly report the problems that endanger them.

When the customer is a utility company, Hashtag Hotline could be used to report flickering streetlights, power outages, and steam leaks. If the customer is the DOT, it could be used to display reports of potholes or icy roads that need to be salted. Essentially, For companies, issues can be view based on location, on maps, and on other graphical tools.

Customer Relationship:

Our minimum viable product is a map and Twitter dashboard combination. However, as a contractor to larger organizations, we will be able to add new features and tailor the application to their needs with various add-ons. Heatmaps come to mind, along with illustrations of seasonal trends, summary statistics, etc. Hashtag Hotline aims to keep customers by being extensible, flexible and effective.

For the users tweeting their concerns, they may not even know that Hashtag Hotline is being used. However, what they will recognize, through interactive Twitter bots, is how quickly their message is being heard, which will reflect well on the company that uses it.

Revenue Stream:

The revenue model will be subscription-based for the un-customized Hashtag Hotline, while company-specific add-ons can be paid for with a direct sales model.