Summer Internship Project Report

On

“Study of Market Potential of new product launch: Vlink Care”

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Two Year Full Time
Post Graduate Diploma in Management

By: Under the Guidance of:

Student Name: Abhinav Shankhdhar 1. PROF.DURBA ROY
I.T.S- Mohan Nagar
Enrollment No: 2019004 2. MR.PANKAJ VERMA
Batch:2019-2021 (Industry Mentor)

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 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby declare that this Summer Internship Project is my own work and that, to the best
of my knowledge and belief, it reproduces no material previously published or written
that has been accepted for the award of any other degree of diploma, except where due
acknowledgement has been made in the text.

Abhinav Shankhdhar
2019004
Date: 18/08/2020

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INTERNSHIP CERTIFICATE

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. / Ms. ……………………….. PGDM (2019-21 Batch) a student
of Institute of Technology and Science has undertaken the project on “Project Title”. The
project has been carried out by the student in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the award of PGDM, under my guidance and supervision.

I am satisfied with the work of Mr. /Ms. …………………………..

Date:

Faculty Mentor’s Name: …………

(Signature)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satiation and euphoria that accompany the successful completion of this project
would be incomplete without the mention of the people who made it possible.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank and express my deep sense of gratitude to
my corporate mentor Mr.Pankaj Verma and my faculty mentor Prof. Durba Roy. I am
greatly indebted to both of them for providing their valuable guidance at all stages of the
study, their advice, constructive suggestions, positive and supportive attitude and
continuous encouragement, without which it would have not been possible to complete
the project.

I would also like to thank Prof. Anil Kalra who in spite of bust schedule has co-operated
with me continuously and indeed, his valuable contribution and guidance have been
certainly indispensable for my project work.

I am thankful to Prof. Durba Roy for giving me the opportunity to work with Vlink India
Private Ltd. and learn.

I hope that I can build upon the experience and knowledge that I have gained and make a
valuable contribution towards thi industry in coming future.

Abhinav Shankhdhar

PGDM 2019-2021

Section A

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The objective of the project was “to understand the telemedicine consultation market &
develop the market positioning for Vlink Care” for Vlink India Pvt. Ltd., for that we have
to understand the customer needs (doctors and hospitals), pricing constraints,
response, emotions and beliefs regarding the product, so that they can contribute their
valuable inputs for introducing the “Vlink Care” in India for the company. The objective
of this study was to analyze the online consultancy practice of the available players in
DELHI AND NCR region with respect to the survey in the best hospitals of the city .

The project was started on 11st of May after knowing all the relevant information
regarding the project, under the guidance of Mr. Pankaj Verma (Business Development
Manager). The first part of my project involves the study of the online consultancy
services, Understanding the functioning & their mechanism of action and how it will
help to meet doctors and patients online. For this I used Internet as a primary source of
information for study, also attended a day with Mr. Pankaj Verma discussing the topics.
Along with the detailed study of telemedicine , the study was more focused on
technology and AI.

My work started as Market Analyst at Vlink Infotech in which my work was to research
about the consultancy mode used by hospitals and multi-service provider clinics in
Delhi/NCR. The main aim was to identify the market potential and create awareness for
a new product (Vlink Care) which is going to be launched very soon. Extracting data
from hospitals during pandemic was very difficult task, but it provided an exposure and
enhanced my performance. While performing my job I got to know about the existing
market players and their strategies. Data was extracted from more than 100 hospitals
and all facts were kept in mind while preparing this report.

Since, the next part of my project was to develop the questionnaire respected to market
positioning for Vlink Care and conumer preferences of current modes available. Hence,
the detailed study provided me a rough idea in developing questionnaire and my
corporate mentor guided me in finalizing the questionnaire. For this the questionnaire
was prepared which gave the vague idea about the customers, who were really
interested in practicing the new mode and wanted to know about the availability of that
mode in the country.

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 INDEX

1. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……… ……….…………….9-24

1.1. OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY……………………………………………………………….10

1.2. COMPANY PROFILE……………………………………………………………………………….15

1.2.1. About the company

1.2.2. Corporate overview factsheet

1.2.3. Areas of expertise

1.2.4. Fast facts Vlink Inc.

1.2.5. Diversity and Inclusion

1.2.6 .Vision

1.2.7. Mission

1.2.8. Values

1.3. Telemedicine Consultation……………………………………………………………………..17

1.4. Vlink Care……………………………………………………………………………………………… 18

1.5. SWOT ANALYSIS of Vlink……………………………………………………………………… .19

1.6. Competitors of Vlink……………………………………………………………………………… 20

1.7. Key Emerging Trends in digital health…………………………………………………… 22

1.8. Customer of Vlink………………………………………………………………………………… 23

1.9. Vlink Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy……………………………………………………… 24

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2. CHAPTER 2 : OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……..25-28

2.1. OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF STUDY…………………………………………………………..26

2.1.1. Objective of the study

2.1.2. Scope of the study

2.1.3 Managerial Usefulness of the study

2.2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………………27

2.3. Limitation of the study……………………………………………………………………….... 28

3. CHAPTER 3 : DATA ANALYSIS………………………..……...29-41

3.1. Methods and techniques of data analysis………………… …………….30

3.1.1. Data Analysis Concepts

3.2. Data Interpretation and analysis………………………………………….31

4. CHAPTER 4 : FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION………………42-45

4.1 Findings and recommendation……………………………………………43

4.2 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………… 44

4.3 SUGGESTION………………………………………………………… 45

5. CHAPTER 5 : REFERENCE AND ANNEXURE………………46-50

5.1 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………… …47

5.1.1. Reference Books

5.1.2. Website References

5.2 Annexure………………………………………………………………….48

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

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 Overview of the Industry
“Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution the time will come when
medicine will organize itself into an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of
healing to doctors and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille
of medical science.”
― Benjamin Rush

Healthcare Industry In India

Healthcare has become one of India’s largest sector, both in terms of revenue
and employment. Healthcare comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials,
outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance and medical
equipment. The Indian healthcare sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its
strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well
private players.

Indian healthcare delivery system is categorised into two major components -

public and private. The Government, i.e. public healthcare system, comprises
limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in key cities and focuses on
providing basic healthcare facilities in the form of primary healthcare centres
(PHCs) in rural areas. The private sector provides majority of secondary, tertiary,
and quaternary care institutions with major concentration in metros and tier I and
tier II cities.

India's competitive advantage lies in its large pool of well-trained medical

professionals. India is also cost competitive compared to its peers in Asia and
Western countries. The cost of surgery in India is about one-tenth of that in the
US or Western Europe. India ranks 145 among 195 countries in terms of quality
and accessibility of healthcare.

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Market Size
The healthcare market can increase three-fold to Rs 8.6 trillion (US$ 133.44
billion) by 2022.
Indian medical tourism market is growing at 18 per cent y-o-y and is expected to
reach US$ 9 billion by 2020. There is a significant scope for enhancing
healthcare services considering that healthcare spending as a percentage of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is rising. The Government’s expenditure on
healthcare sector has grown to 1.6 per cent of the GDP in FY20BE from 1.3 per
cent in FY16.
Health insurance is gaining momentum in India. Gross direct premium income
underwritten by health insurance grew 17.16 per cent y-o-y to Rs 51,637.84 crore
(US$ 7.39 billion) in FY20.

Investment
Hospitals and diagnostic centers attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth
US$ 6.72 billion between April 2000 and March 2020, according to the data
released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
Some of the recent investments in the Indian healthcare industry are as follows:

 In May 2020, Jubilant Generics Ltd entered into a non-exclusive licencing

agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences Inc to manufacture and sell
the potential COVID-19 drug Remdesivir in 127 countries, including India.

 In May 2020, Carlyle Group acquired 74 per cent stake in animal health
focused pharmaceutical company, SeQuent Scientific Ltd, for about Rs
1,580 crore (US$ 224.15 million).

 In April 2020, first COVID-19 sample collection mobile lab of the country,
namely ‘Mobile BSL-3 VRDL Lab’, was launched, which can process more
than 1,000 samples in a day and enhance country’s capabilities in fighting
COVID-19.

 The value of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals across hospitals jumped
by a record 155 percent to Rs 7,615 crore (US$ 1.09 billion) in FY19.

 In August 2019, Microsoft India and Apollo Hospitals Group entered in

agreement to set up a National Clinical Coordination Committee for AI-
powered Cardiovascular Disease Risk Score API

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  In January 2019, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved Tri-
County Premier Hearing Services Inc’s planned to acquire Bhilai Scan and
Research Pvt Ltd (BSR) Diagnostics Ltd for Rs 67 crore (US$ 9.29
million).

 India and Cuba signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to

increase cooperation in the areas of health and medicine, according to
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
 Fortis Healthcare approved the de-merger of its hospital business with
Manipal Hospital Enterprises. TPG and Dr Ranjan Pal could invest Rs
3,900 crore (US$ 602.41 million) in Manipal Hospital Enterprise.

Government Initiatives

Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government of India to promote Indian
healthcare industry are as follows:

 In Union Budget 2020-21, Rs 35,600 crore (US$ 5.09 billion) has been
allocated for nutrition-related programmes.
 The Government has announced Rs 69,000 crore (US$ 9.87 billion) outlay
for the health sector that is inclusive of Rs 6,400 crore (US$ 915.72
million) for PMJAY in Union Budget 2020-21.
 The Government of India aims to increase healthcare spending to three
percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2022.
 In February 2019, the Government of India established a new All India
Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Manethi, District Rewari, Haryana
at a cost of Rs 1,299 crore (US$ 180.04 million).
 The Union Cabinet approved setting up of National Nutrition Mission
(NNM) with a three-year budget of Rs 9,046 crore (US$ 1.29 billion) to
monitor, supervise, fix targets and guide the nutrition related interventions
across ministries.
 On September 23, 2018, Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri
Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), to provide health insurance worth Rs
500,000 (US$ 7,124.54) to over 100 million families every year.

 In August 2018, the Government of India approved Ayushman Bharat-

National Health Protection Mission as a centrally sponsored scheme
contributed by both center and state Government at a ratio of 60:40 for all
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 States, 90:10 for hilly Northeastern States and 60:40 for Union Territories
with legislature. The center will contribute 100 per cent for Union
Territories without legislature.
 The Government of India launched Mission Indradhanush with an aim of
improving coverage of immunisation in the country. It aimed to achieve
atleast 90 per cent immunisation coverage by December 2018 and cover
unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children in rural and urban areas of
India.

Achievements

Following are the achievements of the Government:

 As of July 2019, around 125.7 million families enrolled as beneficiaries

under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). The scheme enrolled
16,085 hospitals, including 8,059 private hospitals and 7,980 public
hospitals. It included 19 AYUSH packages in the treatment scheme.
 As of September 2019, about 50 lakh people received free treatment
under the Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
 The number medical colleges in India increased to 529 in FY19 from 381
in FY13.
 According to Sample Registration System Bulletin-2016, India has
registered a 26.9 per cent reduction in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)
since 2013.

Road Ahead

India is a land full of opportunities for players in the medical devices industry. The
country has also become one of the leading destinations for high-end diagnostic
services with tremendous capital investment for advanced diagnostic facilities,
thus catering to a greater proportion of population. Besides, Indian medical
service consumers have become more conscious towards their healthcare
upkeep.
Indian healthcare sector is much diversified and is full of opportunities in every
segment, which includes providers, payers, and medical technology. With the
increase in the competition, businesses are looking to explore for the latest
dynamics and trends which will have positive impact on their business. The
hospital industry in India is forecast to increase to Rs 8.6 trillion (US$ 132.84

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billion) by FY22 from Rs 4 trillion (US$ 61.79 billion) in FY17 at a CAGR of 16-17
per cent.
The Government of India is planning to increase public health spending to 2.5
per cent of the country's GDP by 2025.
India's competitive advantage also lies in the increased success rate of Indian
companies in getting Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) approvals. India
also offers vast opportunities in R&D as well as medical tourism. To sum up,
there are vast opportunities for investment in healthcare infrastructure in both
urban and rural India.

Note: Conversion rate used in April 2020, Rs 1 = US$ 0.013123

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 COMPANY PROFILE
About The Company
VLink is well known for delivering the highest quality and most cost efficient IT services
and workforce management solutions to their clients. The consultant base has extensive
expertise in virtually every specialization within the IT value chain. The teams can
quickly assess your company’s specific requirements and work with us to deliver a
tailored and cost effective solution. They welcome the opportunity to take on even your
most challenging situation and deliver the desired outcome with a significant ROI.

The ability to leverage our global technology resources allows us to provide high quality
and cost-effective IT solutions to our worldwide client base. Vlink clients include
Healthcare, Insurance, Banking and Financial Services, Retail, Telecom, Manufacturing
and Public Sector organizations.

Corporate Overview Fact Sheet

Founded in 2010 by Jagdish Dalal , Vlink has emerged as one of the renowned
companies providing software and IT services in USA, Indonesia and India. The company
has approximately 400 employees worldwide serving customers in more than 3
countries. Vlink is headquartered in South Windsor, Connecticut, USA.

Areas of Expertise:

# DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

# CLOUD AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

# APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTAINANCE

# ANALYTICS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FOR BUSINESSES

# STRATEGIC IT STAFFING AND OUTSOURCING SERVICES

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Fast Facts Vlink Inc.

Chairman and CEO: Sharad Patney

Corporate Headquarters: South Windsor, Connecticut, USA

Global Delivery Center: Udhyog Vihar, Gurugram, Haryana

Number of Employees: Approximately 400 worldwide

Revenue: $ 80 million

Countries Coverage: USA, INDONESIA, INDIA

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Diversity is in the DNA.
Diversity includes everyone.

VLink is a global company that serves clients around the world. They utilize the best and
the brightest talent no matter where they call home. For them, diversity is their strength.
The company openly embraces the fact that every individual is unique and that we all
bring distinctive talents to the table which add value and make us stronger as a whole.

They believe in the idea of inclusion, knowing that it is the combination of individual
characteristics that makes our company stronger.  At VLink, they have worked hard to
build an open, innovative, and collaborative work environment that spurs creativity and
enthusiasm.

Embracing the diversity of ideas not only leads to a more motivated and productive
workplace but ultimately benefits our clients.

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Vision

To become culturally diverse and most trusted partner in the global IT services industry.

Mission
To nurture engineering minds to solve complex IT problems across the globe with local
flavors.

Values

 Integrity
 Respect
 Trust
 Collaboration
 Diversity
 Innovation
 Accountability

Telemedicine Consultation
Telemedicine is simply defined as, “the remote delivery of healthcare services“. There
are 3 common types of telemedicine, which include but not limited to:

 Interactive Medicine – which allows patients and physicians to communicate in

real-time while maintaining HIPAA compliance
 Store and Forward – which permits providers to share patient information with a
practitioner in another location.
 Remote Patient Monitoring – which allows remote caregivers to monitor patients
that reside at home by using mobile medical devices to collect data (e.g. blood
sugar or blood pressure)

How is telemedicine set up?

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It can be simple or complex for a provider to implement telemedicine into their practice.
For solo practitioner and clinic, most just require a basic HIPAA compliant video
conference software to start delivering telemedicine consultation.

For providers looking to have a more complete virtual clinic solution, they need to
consider their existing workflow and incorporate the telemedicine software solution into
their practice. Usually these software need to have waiting room, EHR and payment
function.

For large medical group or hospitals, they usually requires custom tele-health solution to
fit into their existing workflow to lessen the disruption of adopting telemedicine as its
harder to train large number of physicians to change their behaviour.

Besides the software part, it’s advisable for provider to do due diligence on the tele-
health regulations, and reimbursement policy for their country or state.

Organizations will have to change operationally and have knowledge of the regulations,
legalities, and technological aspects of implementing telemedicine. Many organizations
decide to partner with a telemedicine company to make the transition and implementation
easier.

Vlink Care:

A new product which is going to be launched by Vlink Infotech is “Vlink Care”. It is an

upcoming online aggregator application which will remove the barriers between the
doctors and their patients. It is fully updated application with lots of new services which
will create a difference among its competitors. Earlier, the e-consultancy appplications
were just providing video conferencing services but for prescription there was no proper
module. The patients have to wait for the doctor’s reply over chat, which consumes a lot
of time. Vlink Care has came up with e- prescription module with the help of which the
patient can directly download the prescription made by the doctor. The main feature of
Vlink Care that it is fully customizable, the consumer can have application of its choice
which will provide him full control over the app. Moreover, Vlink doesn’t promote it’s
name on the display of application like other modes available, which provide a security to
patients. As in some modes a third party (the company) is involved which may provide a
sense of insecurity to the patients. Vlink Care provide direct communication between
doctor and patients without any involvement. The company charges a one time amount
and handover the application to the user. And if in case, the user is not satisfied or want
some changes the company will make further changes as per the requirements of user.

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Consumer satisfaction is the key mantra of the company for which they provide best
swrvices to the user.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF VLINK

Strengths:
 Strong brand name in the Financial services market
 Well known in developed countries and being established in developing countries as
well.
 Leader of innovations
 Success various products in the market
 Highly skilled resource pool with diverse skill sets
 Loyal satisfied customers
 Affordable prices of various IT solutions and other enterprise solution in the market
 Certifications in various platforms
 Strong partnerships with some of the world’s most renowned technology companies

Weaknesses:
 New in the IT market
 Supply chain management is weak
 Availability in very few countries
 Brand awareness is low which is also a reason for it’s low sales.

Opportunities:
 Broaden its range to capture more market share.
 Capture more market share by introducing solutions in new markets with Improvements
and innovations so it will help to establish them in those markets.
 Increase its brand awareness through excessive marketing and better market
communication.
 Establish itself in Global market as they are currently present in only 3 countries all
over.
 Take risk willingly in product innovations to capture more market share and increase
the sales.

Threats:
 Dominant competitors of Vlink.

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 Promotional activities of competitors are stronger
 Brand name of competitors are well known for eg: PRACTO, LYBRATE etc.

COMPETITORS OF VLINK

Practo: It is the oldest telemedicine company in India. It was founded in May 2008. It
solely works as a gateway for doctors/hospitals to book medical appointments or
consultations, to get the insurance, to store the health records, or for medicine delivery,
all through its mobile applications and website for the people who are seeking medical
assistance. It allows doctors to make their presence stronger, get established further, and
engage patients more deeply than ever.It has built trust in millions of people for
providing genuine and healing services. It helps people by assisting them with regular
health services like finding a good doctor, getting blood tests done and managing their
health records or learning new ways to live healthier. Practo has its presence in over 15
countries with their consumer and software business.It had around 200,000 doctors listed
with them, with 50M appointments every year. The doctors listed on their platform are
verified for a medical license, qualification, and specialization. They also follow the
HIPAA compliance act to maintain the patient’s privacy and confidentiality

1mg: It is primarily an online medicine provider and was founded in 2015. They provide
accurate, authoritative & trustworthy information on medicines and assist people to use
medicines effectively and safely. 1mg delivers medicines and other health products at
home in 1000+ cities across India from licensed and verified pharmacies. Once making
their presence as an online medicine provider, they also started providing lab tests at
home and telemedicine service as well. As they have already gained trust as an online
pharmacy provider, it became easy for them to make their presence in the domain of
telemedicine services.They provide an unlimited free consultation with the verified
doctors within 30 minutes. Since they started practicing telemedicine on their platform,
they have 20 verified doctors listed with them and have done around 30L+ consultations.
They are compliant with industry standards to ensure that all the patient’s details are
secured privately to maintain confidentiality.

Lybrate: It was founded in 2013, and it was India’s first mobile healthcare
communication and delivery platform. It helps the patient to make informed decisions
about health and makes the doctor consult seamless and smooth. It provides a wide range
of services to both patients and doctors. To patients, it provides a platform to ask queries
for free or get into one-on-one interaction with doctors on an online payment basis. They
also post health feed from healthcare experts, aimed to keep the patients healthy and fit.

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To doctors, they ensure that it enhances their practice effortlessly and increases their
popularity in the online community and in the medical fraternity by getting
recommendations from their patients as well from peers for the fine services they
provide. Lybrate also allows doctors to manage their patient’s information from different
clinics with an online multi-specialty telemedicine platform. They have 90K+ verified
doctors on their platform.

Medlife: It was founded in 2014 and aims to make healthcare accessible and affordable
in the country. They address all the health needs with their online consultations, medicine
delivery, lab test, and health record storage services. They have collaborated with online
digital payment portals like FreeCharge and Mobikwik. Online consultation with a doctor
can be availed in 1 hour and is available 24/7. They follow a stringent selection process
to get the verified and experienced doctors, highly rated by patients on their platform.
Only those doctors are assigned who have consistently received positive patient feedback.
They serve in 29 States and provide around 30+ specialties with around 1000+ doctors
listed on the platform and have consulted more than 10 million customers.

Portea Medical: It was founded in 2013, and it provides home healthcare services that
include primary care, chronic disease management, physiotherapy and counseling that
aim to make primary healthcare more accessible, affordable, and accountable to the
patients. They provide various services including doctors, nurses, and physiotherapists
for home visits. With new regulatory guidelines, they’ll now prescribe medicine as well,
until now they were only providing consultation over the phone. All the practitioners who
provide home visits have had their backgrounds and medical knowledge verified by
senior doctors. With this initiative to provide essential healthcare services at home,
patients are able to stay in their homes longer, save money, and have peace of mind. They
have their services in around 16 States and have served around 2.5 million patients. They
have partnered with 50 hospitals, pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

Above mentioned names are the giants which are ruling the Indian telemedicine industry.
They have a huge customer base around the world and have gained the trust of customer.
They are already in market for quiet long have established themselves. As per the above
information I can say that Vlink have to work hard and it will take time to establish in the
market as competition is very high.
As per my research Practo is ruling the online consultation services during this pandemic
situation. The company has also started to boost it’s presence on social media and on
television. Practo advertisement are running on all the tv channels and it will definitely
help in generating awareness and attracting customer to their application.

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Key emerging trends in digital health
Digital health is an innovative, ever-changing area in healthcare. With the potential to
ease the demand on overstretched healthcare systems across the world, while
simultaneously offering patients the opportunity to control their own disease
management, digital health offers an opportunity to improve healthcare for patients while
helping doctors to be more efficient.
From the ever-increasing availability of new apps aiming to help the management of
chronic disease to the increasing popularity of video doctor appointments, digital
technologies offer improved accessibility and ease of use for patients. As digital health
continues to become increasingly important for the healthcare sector, we take a look at
four key trends.

# There is an app for that: How doctors and patients are using apps to regulate and
manage illness.
With the world now operating ever more increasingly in the digital sphere, mobile apps
are becoming an integral part of how patients, and doctors, manage illness.
Whether designed to help patients manage chronic disease, keep on track of their
medication or even book doctor;s appointments, mobile apps are well on the way to
becoming a standard aspect of healthcare.

# The emergence of home- based clinical trials: offering a new solution to high dropout
rates.
A major issue facing the pharmaceutical industry is the growing costs of research and
development of new drugs, with clinical trials shouldering much of that expense.
One solution could come in the form of remote or ‘home-based’ clinical trials. Not only
can a home-based clinical trial possibly reduce the costs of clinical studies, but it could
also remedy the high dropout rate observed in trials across a range of therapy areas.

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With these technologies, patients can be provided with daily, if not hourly, reminders of
when to take medication, with the further option of increasing patient interactions with
researchers through video calls or instant messaging.

# The doctor will see you now: The increasing popularity of video appointments is a
new standard of virtual care could be hugely beneficial, if not slightly dystopian, for
many patients, as video appointments become more popular among the general
population.
For many patients the emergence of video appointments offers a new level of
convenience in the day-to- day management of health, cutting out the need for
unnecessary and often long travel or waiting times.

# Bridging the gap: the growth of video-conferencing as an educational tool for

surgeons
The use of video is a technology that is becoming more widely used in operating rooms,
thanks to the emergence of laparoscopy and other minimally invasive surgery techniques.
A growing trend, however, is the use of video as an educational tool for aspiring surgical
students and qualified surgeons to refine and develop their skills.
The resource, dubbed ‘telementoring’, allows surgical videos – either recorded and live-
streamed – to be shared for educational purposes. Instead of crowding into a lecture
room, trainee surgeons can access live feeds of surgery from anywhere, regardless of
physical location.

Customer’s of Vlink:

#Healthcare
#Financial services and banking
#Insurance
#Manufacturing
#Telecommunication

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#Retail

Vlink Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy

Vlink Product Strategy:

Vlink Care is an application and interface which connects consumers to doctors
and medical clinics. In the B2C market, Vlink offers solutions to the patients by
connecting them with verified doctors to seek medical advice online, read
medical articles, book medical tests, order medicines or view their medical
records. In the B2B market, Vlink offers database management softwares and
cloud services for storing the data to the business customers such as doctors,
clinics and hospitals. The various products offered for this segment are Vlink
Profile, Hospital management software and Business intelligence and predictive
analytics software.

Vlink Price/Pricing Strategy:

Practo offers paid services to the B2B and B2C customers. The patient can seek
consultation from the doctors online. The major source of revenue for Vlink is from the
B2B market with its cloud services and health management softwares which have been
priced competitively to attract more customers to shift to their services. Vlink services are
offered as a free trial initially after which the customers can choose to continue using
these services on subscription basis.

Vlink Place & Distribution Strategy:

Vlink can be accessed from anywhere through any device with an internet
connection such as Windows, Android, iOS, Mac. Vlink is headquartered in
Connecticut but has operations in 3 countries USA, INDONESIA and INDIA as a
part of its marketing mix place strategy. The website and app is available in

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English language only but its database management softwares support multiple
languages.

Vlink Promotion & Advertising Strategy:

As Vlink is a new competition in India, the company is still working on it’s
promotion strategy.Due to this there is a lack of brand awareness about Vlink in
the market. It promotes itself to the B2C segment by offers free profile creation
of doctors and provides free-trials of its softwares for the B2B customers.

CHAPTER 2
OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
25
PORTER’S FIVE FORCE MODEL

Management

 Strategic Workforce Solutions

OBJECTIVE & SCOPE OF STUDY

Objective of the Study

The main objective to conduct this research is to understand online consultation market
& develop the market positioning for new product launch i.e. Vlink Care

Primary Objective
⮚ To find out the awareness level about online consultation in domestic market

⮚ To understand and get the concept of Marketing of online service provider

⮚ To study and understand the concept and process of marketing research.

Scope of the Study

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The project scope involves the study of the market positioning of online aggregator
application. Understanding their mechanism of action and virtual use application in
treating patients. The project scope also involves the finding of customer preferences in
current modes available with the marketing research and developing a market positioning
for Vlink Care from the above collected data.

Managerial Usefulness of the Study

This study helps to understand marketing research basic terminologies & different
strategies for different market situation

Research Methodology
Since it is basically a market research project along with study of product potential
various market research methods are used to accomplish its goal. I conducted a market
survey to know about the consumer behaviour towards online consultation services in
India.

The stepwise methodology that was used is: RESEARCH DESIGN USED IS:
DESCRIPTIVE

Sample Size used is 100

SOURCES OF DATA: PRIMARY (through Questionnaire and Interview Method)

SECONDARY (Newspaper, Manual Reports, Brochures)

COMPONENTS OF RESEARCH DESIGN:

● Information obtained from primary data and secondary data. Secondary data
involves external data such as published material and computerized databases.
● Method of administering questionnaire-Questionnaire Schedule.

27
 ● Scaling techniques nominal and ranking order.
● Nature of questionnaire structured.
● Length of the questionnaire 20 questions.
● Sampling size 100

EVALUATION & ANALYSIS PROCESS: Studying the company’s strategy and for
knowing it’s potential, a questionnaire is designed for that purpose. Analysis is done
graphically & evaluated in terms of percentage.

The findings, conclusion, suggestion, analysis of the report is based on the primary data
collected through survey method and secondary data is collected by me.

For the survey of Vlink, a Google form was circulated. Then further analysis &
interpretation of collected data were made and finally the report is being prepared.

The secondary data is collected through various magazines, books, company’s personal
manuals reports, websites etc.

❖ A pilot survey was conducted before finalizing the questionnaire.

❖ Data collection was also done with the help of personal observation.
❖ After completion of the survey the data was analyzed and a conclusion was
drawn.
❖ At the end all information was compiled to complete the project report.

Sampling:

Selecting the sample: Population that was taken as a sample included randomly selected
customers of telemedicine consultation

Sampling Technique: Simple Random sampling

Primary Research: primary research was conducted through surveys via:

● Interacting with different people and knowing their perception about online
consultation.
● And via floating Google form.

28
Preparation and tabulation of data: after the data has been collected, it was entered into
the Microsoft Excel and was prepared for analysis.

Data Analysis: The data so collected was analyzed in Microsoft Excel with the help of
bar diagrams, pie charts, etc.

Finally, the information thus obtained from the survey was used to discover the potential
segment for generating new business for the organization and thereby devise strategies to
generate the new business from that potential segment.

Limitation of the Study

 The sample area and sample size has been limited due to time constraint.

 Consumer (respondents) are reluctant for their feedbacks & opinions, and authenticity
of their statements can’t be verified too.

 All the observation and recommendation will be made on the feedback obtained from
survey.

CHAPTER 3
DATA ANALYSIS

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 METHODS & TECHNIQUES OF DATA ANALYSIS

Data Analysis Concept

Data analysis is a practice in which raw data is ordered and organized so that useful
information can be extracted from it. The process of organizing and thinking about data is
key to understanding what the data does and does not contain. There are a variety of ways
in which people can approach data analysis, and it is notoriously easy to manipulate data
during the analysis phase to push certain conclusions or agendas. For this reason, it is
important to pay attention when data analysis is presented, and to think critically about
the data and the conclusions which were drawn.

Raw data can take a variety of forms, including measurements, survey responses, and
observations. In its raw form, this information can be incredibly useful, but also
overwhelming. Over the course of the data analysis process, the raw data is ordered in a
way which will be useful. For example, survey results may be tallied, so that people can

30
see at a glance how many people answered the survey, and how people responded to
specific questions.

In the course of organizing the data, trends often emerge; modeling the data with the use
of mathematics and other tools can sometimes exaggerate such points of interest in the
data, making them easier for the researcher to see. Charts, graphs, and textual writeups of
data are all forms of data analysis. These methods are designed to refine and distill the
data so that readers can glean interesting information without needing to sort through all
of the data on their own.

DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

OBJECTIVE- To extract the data that how many of the people use any online platform
to consult a doctor.

31
INTERPRETATION-

As per the above pie chart we can conclude that majority of the public use online
platform to consult a doctor. 84% of the customer voted in favour of the objective which
clearly denotes that offline opd is now less used as compared to online opd. It is in favour
of Vlink Care as now they have to attract the public on online platform.

OBJECTIVE-To know about the platform being used by the potential customers.

32
INTERPRETATION-

According to above diagram majority of customer uses Practo as the platform to consult
doctor followed by LYBRATE and Hospital Website. As I have clearly mentioned that
how practo is attracting customer towards it’s application, it is the main reason why
traffic is shifting towards practo. Vlink have to work hard to build it’s potential and
reputation in the market. It may took time to establish as a competitor in the market.

OBJECTIVE- To know about the overall quality of online consultation.

33
INTERPRETATION-

According to above diagram we got to know that majority of customer feel that they get
excellent quality on online consultation followed by fair quality. It shows that how these
applications have developed themselves in such a way that customer are getting excellent
quality over internet. Vlink has to work on it’s quality such that it can give competition to
such giants.

OBJECTIVE- To know about the technical quality of the online consultation.

34
INTERPRETATION-

According to above diagram we can conclude that majority of public gets excellent
technical quality over internet followed by poor quality. It can be stated that quality
differs in location and network. Metro cities can have excellent quality but tier 1 and tier
2 cities may face technical problems which may ruin their experience. Vlink have to
work in a such a way that they can provide high speed quality in whichever area required.

OBJECTIVE- To know about quality of care delivered by the online consultation

services when compared to the quality of traditional care.

35
INTERPRETATION-

According to above diagram we can conclude that majority of the customer feels that
there is equal care delivered in both the cases. There is no biasness in any of the modes
and people can use any mode to consult doctor. But there is similar opinion among
people who feel that these services are better or not as good as traditional. In this case
Vlink has an opportunity to convert better opinion people in it’s favour and can have
growth in the market.

OBJECTIVE- To know about the comfort level while attending online consultation.

36
INTERPRETATION-

According to above image we can infer that majority of people feel somewhat
comfortable, followed by people who think that it’s uncomfortable. So in this case we can
suggest that there is a scope of improvement as if some changes are made people can feel
somewhat comfortable. Companies should work on their innovation process and take
initiative to attract the customer.

37
OBJECTIVE- To know that how online consultation may influence the health status of
patients.

INTERPRETATION-

As per above diagram we can conclude that majority of people feels that online
consultation have no change on health followed by people who think that it can lead to
improved health. In my opinion it is based on the problem of the patient. If the problem is
minor it can be treated through online meet but if in case there is serious issue one can’t
take help of online consultation. Moreover, it is also based on perception as many
patients don’t feel good until and unless they meet the doctor directly.

38
OBJECTIVE- To know about customer opinion that wether they will use online
consultation services or not in future.

INTERPRETATION-

As per above diagram we can infer that majority of customer feels that there is a scope of
improvement in online consultation services. They will be using online services but they
want some upgradations and improvements. Some on other hand will still use these
services in the same way. They are satisfied with the services being provided. Vlink has
to be perfect in it’s technological aspect as many people feels it need to be changed.

39
OBJECTIVE-To know about customer opinion that wether Vlink Care (as a new
product) can give competition to the existing players.

INTERPRETATION-

According to above diagram we can conclude that majority of the customer are not sure
that wether Vlink will stand infront of those giants or not. As the product is new and not
been used by the public they are not sure about it’s performance. But a good part of
customer also thinks that Vlink can give competition to these companies. Vlink can get a
motivation from these people and can fulfill their expectations by performing best in the
service.

40
OBJECTIVE- To know about customer opinion that will AI be the major reason for
growth of healthcare industry.

INTERPRETATION-

According to above diagram we can conclude that majority of people feel that AI will
maybe the reason for growth of healthcare industry. These people are those who still are
not aware of AI services being provided. But 35% of these people also feels that AI is the
main feature which will lead healthcare industry to heights. AI is used in each and every
sector helping and reducing workload from the company employees. In my opinion AI is
the next big thing which we are not aware of.

41
OBJECTIVE- To know about customer opinion that wether online consultation is the
future of healthcare services.

INTERPRETATION-

According to above diagram we can conclude that majority of people confident that it is
the future of healthcare industry, these people can may be from metro cities and are quiet
aware of everything. But a large section is also not sure about that online consultancy is
the future of healthcare industry or not. They may have not used these services before or
are not aware of these facilities. It requires a lot of brand promotion and awareness to
generate the traffic.

42
 CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS, CONCLUSION
AND SUGGESTIONS

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION

43
Since this is a very important and new phenomenon it is recommended that a further
research to study this phenomenon would be appropriate. From a company perspective
there is a huge market potential in online consultation service and with the resources that
Vlink have got they should consider expanding their network and promotional strategies
to include online surveys and Blogs for product reviews, for example writing opinionated
content on the blogs would enable the company to initiate conversation which will
enhance the level at which people would want to engage with the brands. Vlink should
measure its marketing metrics, for example if they want to measure awareness, they
would need to monitor growth, likes, subscribers and brand awareness. As for loyalty the
thing to look at would be engagement, influence and referrals. Engaging customers online
to solicit suggestions would also give the company insight to co-innovate. The company
can also use the power of digital medium to implement other vertical services that could
instantly bring value to the company in terms of sales. Therefore the online strategy
should focus on building a strong online community in India that targets the big hospitals
and multi service clinics.

1. The awareness for the brand is seriously lacking and the company must
immediately increase its marketing for the project.
2. The lack of awareness between men and women is almost the same and hence the
company must focus on both the genders equally and create an advertising
campaign which is of relevance to both the genders.
3. Interest towards such services was most positive from the age group of 20-25 in
both the genders, but this is also the group with maximum unaware people. A
strategy to change this must be adopted, carrying out promotional activities at
colleges, malls and residential areas must be introduced immediately as this is the
bigger chunk of the market.
4. Maximum interest is shown by the age group of 20-25 and hence there should be
more concentration towards them promotional activities must be carried out
across Delhi to reach more of the same age group. The activities must consider
the characteristics of the age group and therefore have elements of tech , AI and
software development..

CONCLUSION

44
As a result of this, more and more people in India are going for online consultation and
online meeting platform has been increasing. The rise in technology has gave an
opportunity to all the customer to use digital services and save their time and money. But
as per the statistical data available, the total percentage of the online consultation market
for doctor meeting in India is still not more than twenty per cent. Whereas, in developed
countries like the USA, Germany, France, China, Canada, and many others, this service
is gaining in multiple billion dollars.

The study shows how technology has become an important tool for online opd and
consultation. In fact it is foreseen that in the near future there will be a paradigm shift
from traditional care to digital care platforms. The study also identified some challenges
the company has faced like lack of brand awareness and promotion, unlike in the study
where there have been so many challenges reported. Evidence presented suggests that the
peer group online consultation platform can potentially influence patients decisions
because of its viral nature. This industry is still in the early stages of growth so more
brand building is required.

Based on the survey results, it is clearly exposed that there is a lack of brand awareness of
Vlink but has enormous potential in market. This could be explained through the lack of
identification of a target market and the development of promotional campaigns
addressed to it.

SUGGESTIONS
45
1. The company must increase its awareness program so that more and more social
media users become aware of all the services of the company because 65% of
respondents said that they are not aware of the company and the services provided
by them.

2. Companies must give employees some power to innovate and be creative as the
employees at the moment have very less creativity permitted as they most of the
time follow the orders of higher level management.

3. Advertisements on mass media like television and radio should be executed as

they have a wider reach and can be a great tool in order to create brand awareness.

4. As there is fierce competition in consultation industry, having and maintaining

uniqueness is very important and should be stressed on as unique and innovative
things are a major attraction for the users.

5. There is a large gap in terms of the brand existence and its awareness which needs
to be filled at the earliest. There is almost no promotion and advertising for it,
companies must let go of the fear of failure and spend some money on creating a
marketing campaign with appropriate advertising and promotion being
implemented immediately.

46
CHAPTER 5
REFERENCE AND
ANNEXURE

47
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference Books
# Marketing Management, Philip Kotler 14th Edition

# Research Methodology, C. R. Kothari Second Edition

#Strategic Marketing Management, Richard M. S. Wilson, 3rd Edition

#Medical Journals

#Clinical Literatures

Website References
 www.wiki-meds.com

 en.wikipedia.org

# www.vlinkinfo.com

#www.zaubacorp

48
 ANNEXURE

SIP SURVEY
Study on Market Potential for VLINK CARE (an online aggregator application) in
healthcare industry.
*Required

Email address *

Your email address

Name*

Your answer

Age*

Less than 18
18-25
25-35
35-50
Above 50

Gender

Male
Female
Prefer not to say

Do you use any online platform to consult a doctor ?

Yes
No

Choose the platform which you use-

Hospital website
Practo
Lybrate
Docsapp

49
Omnidoctor
Other:

How do you rate the overall quality of the telemedicine consultation ?

Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor

How would you rate the technical quality of the telemedicine consultation ?

Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor

How do you rate the quality of care delivered by the telemedicine service when
compared to the quality of traditional care ?

Better
About the same
Not as good
Not sure

Were you comfortable during the telemedicine consultation ?

Very comfortable
Somewhat comfortable
Somewhat uncomfortable
Very uncomfortable

Do you feel that the telemedicine consultation service may influence the health
status of patients ?

Improved health
No change
Negative effects on health

Would you continue to use the telemedicine service ?

50
Yes, in the same way as the sevices has been deployed
Yes, but with improvements
No

Do you think that Vlink Care (as a new product) can give competition to the
existing players ?

Yes
Maybe
No

In your opinion will AI be the major reason for growth of healthcare industry ?

Yes
Maybe
No

Do you think that online consultation is the future of healthcare services ?

Yes
Maybe
No

51