According to statistics, only half of the population of our planet has access to the Internet. At the same time, 50% is an average value and if this indicator is quite high in Europe - more than 80%, the number of online users in Africa for example exceeds slightly 20%. Cellular is available to 68% of the world's population. Thus, more than a billion people on the planet have only cellular communication without access to the Internet.

One billion potential users are a gigantic number, and various platforms have been created to satisfy that part of the population that does not require a data connection.

In 2007, Kenyan residents began integrating electronic payments into their daily lives. In 2012, almost half of Kenya's GDP was transmitted electronically. The technology is called Mpesa. Today it is used in Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, South Africa, Fiji, DRC, India, Mozambique, Egypt, Lesotho and Romania. It is a payment service for subscribers of a mobile operator that does not require a data connection. Nearly 80 percent of the Kenyan population today uses it to perform all types of electronic transactions.

Africa is called the Silicon Valley of banking sector. Mpesa is an excellent example of how technology should be adapted to all segments of the population. Limitations and market problems, the idea of making electronic payments a reality was born while Google and Apple did not even consider mobile payments as a profitable business.

After the introduction of the Mpesa technology, the Gramene Foundation has also developed a platform that does not require a data connection: a GSM signal is enough. Farmers in remote areas of Uganda were able to receive important information via SMS, such as warnings of adverse weather conditions, epidemics, and even methods of diagnosing and treating diseases of agricultural crops and animals.

Radical thinking is the fuel of planes powered by solar energy. Mpesa and the Gramene Foundation use traditional SIM card services that do not require a data connection, allowing millions of people to securely make and receive electronic payments so that farmers can be reassured about their crops and can have important information for their crops.

It is this type of radical thinking that we must reorientate towards modern technologies in order to increase the reach of our audience.

There are two different approaches to solve the problem of how to act under the current conditions:

• You can simply wait for access to the Internet in developing countries to allow sufficient penetration, or
• You can find a way to reach these millions of potential participants.

At AZN, we believe that this last approach is more advantageous and correct. We must learn from the example of Mpesa and use modern and widely used technologies in new and more innovative ways. We are using the latest development in AI cognitive services and Business intelligence to create solutions which are as “future-proof” as possible.