OCEOwater: Simplifying Water Purifying And Thriving Online
Almost 80% of human body is water and about 71% of the earth is covered with water.
However, much of the earth’s water is drinkable? Poor quality drinking water leads to multiple waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, salmonella, and more.
We spoke to Vikram Gulecha, Co-Founder of OCEOwater, an IoT enabled Smart Water Purifier that makes water clean and consumption-friendly.
1. What inspired you to start OCEOwater? What’s the story behind the business?
While the availability of drinking water continues to be a problem, assuring that it is safe and affordable is a challenge by itself. With a big problem around us, we saw a huge opportunity to build a sustainable business.
I sat with family, discussed with many friends how can we invest in the right technology to create more efficiency, build a sustainable business, and above all, impact the wellbeing of a wider population.
It felt like the perfect intersection of wellness, sustainability, and technology. Our desire was to deliver clean water that everyone deserves.
With our intervention, we have successfully demonstrated the near future revolution in an extremely crowded market place. OCEO stands out as a clear challenger to the existing Water Purifier Industry and will disrupt the Packaged Drinking Water Market as well.
2. How is your business tackling the current global crisis? Do you have any tips for other businesses?
We at OCEO WATER are fully aware of the importance of our role as an essential service provider. Our top priority has been the health of our teams as well that of our customers from day one.
In these exceptional times, we owe it our teams across the supply chain to operations, customer support to service engineer for doing everything possible to ensure safe drinking water was available all time to our clients.
Despite the COVID-19 sending people and companies into a panic mode, it is not too late for businesses to prepare for a worsening outbreak. Apart from setting up remote workforces, every business – small or medium should come up with a disaster preparedness plan.
It will also be important to plan business financing when no one is investing or lending, identifying supply chain alternatives and many such aspects to ensure business continuity.
Starting An Online Business? Buil It On .Online!
3. The COVID-19 pandemic has put an extra emphasis on sanitization and hygiene. Have you taken any steps in educating your users about this?
As the COVID-19 has grown to pandemic level—impacting our daily lives at work and home—we kept our employees and customers in communication with the steps undertaken for the safety and well-being of the communities in which we live, work, and serve.
We closely monitored the COVID-19 public health emergency and followed all recommendations from the Central and State Government, the World Health Organization (WHO), and local officials. In many cases, this involved our employees avoiding mass transit, minimizing or eliminating site visits, and conducting their business remotely.
It’s paramount to us that our customers continued to receive the same level of support they are accustomed to and have safe drinking water at all times. With requisite measures put in place, we could mitigate this risk together with extreme support from employees and customers without causing any business disruption.
Regardless of how current events unfold in the future, OCEO water will continue to respond to e-mails & calls promptly and be completely available to its customers, exemplifying the client service and responsiveness we are known for.
We are optimistic that by working together with the community around us, we can preserve your safety and ours, and help curtail the spread of coronavirus.
4. As an entrepreneur, do you have any tips for other business owners on how to navigate tough economic times?
What many of today’s disruptive innovators have in common is their willingness and ability to leverage technology as the driver of change.
Instead of using technology to just create new products, they have instead employed technology to address market inefficiencies, to rethink business models and reconsider the way things have always been done.
The secret to surviving a down economy is cash flow. Do lookout for opportunities to leapfrog the competition. Be open with your employees and set up realistic goals and plan for being in survival mode for perhaps 2 or more years (not just the next few months).
5. Why did you choose a .ONLINE domain for your business?
OCEO is an IoT enabled Smart Water Purifier offered on a pay-per-use model to its customers. Besides the word “Online” being relevant to our core business idea, www.oceowater.online as a website address provides us with an outstanding online brand presence.