HYDROMAP: ENCOURAGING HEALTHY HYDRATION HABITSINTRODUCTION

Dehydration is dangerous. Short-term effects of dehydration can range from fatigue,

headache or dizziness, right through to extreme thirst and can be fatal. Chronic dehydration

can lead to kidney failure, an increased risk of infection, and decreased blood supply to the

vital organs, including the brain (European Hydration Institute, 2013). So it is obvious that

hydration whilst performing endurance exercise is extremely important. In fact, you need at

least 250mL of water every 15 minutes in order to remain adequately hydrated while

exercising for one hour or more (Quinn, 2011). HydroMap is an app compatible with Apple

iOS, as well as Android devices with the aim of revolutionising how people stay hydrated.

3. BUSINESS SECTION

3.1 Vision

To encourage healthier lifestyles, and be responsible for a physically and mentally healthier

world.

3.2 Industry Analysis: Health and Fitness App Industry

Industry: Health and Fitness App Industry. Porter’s Five Forces was used to look at each

component of the industry and determine the attractiveness of the industry.

Force: High/Low: Justification:

Buyer power: Low Only a few apps are in a similar vein as

HydroMap, but they do not support New Zealand

users.

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Supplier power: Low There are vast numbers of multiplatform app

developers and graphic designers for our

organisation to choose from. A Google search

produces around 678,000 results for “app

developers in Auclkand”, and 180,000 for

“graphic designers in Auckland” (Google, 2014).

Threat of new entrants: Low The market for specifically health-related apps

seems to be quite small. In Apple’s top 50 iOS

apps, Health and Fitness apps only take up 3% of

that market, so it is unlikely for developers to

delve into this market (Apple, n.d.).

Threat of substitutes: Low For people to get the same benefit without

HydroMap, they would need to carry a map,

heart monitor, and know where public water

stations are, among other totally impractical

things.

Rivalry among existing

competitors:

Low Although there are a few apps with similar focus

on hydration, none are compatible with the New

Zealand market. ‘Quench’ by TVO Apps is the only

app to offer water station mapping, but is only

available to the Greater Toronto area (Apple,

n.d.). Our aim is to eventually support global

locations, but our starting point of New Zealand is

untapped.

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Overall attractiveness of the industry: Relatively attractive. Buyers have few options in the

way of substitutes or competitors, and as the threat of new entrants is also low, it is likely to

remain this way. In addition, we have a huge amount of choices regarding suppliers, so we

can choose those offering the best value for money.

3.3 Customers and Their Needs

Our customer base is segmented into three distinct groups: ‘Regular Endurance Athletes’,

‘Health-Conscious Non-Athletes’, and ‘Rehabilitative Exercisers’.

‘Regular Endurance Athletes’ need to know the optimum amount of water to drink at the

perfect frequency for them to maintain or improve their performance.

‘Health-Conscious Non-Athletes’ exercise for their health, to lose weight, or generally stay

fit. Their motivation is taking care of their body, and limiting the risk of diseases.

‘The Rehabilitative Exercisers’ have suffered health problems and would benefit from

gentle, prolonged movement to regain their strength. A recent study (Burtin et al., 2009)

showed significantly higher feelings of functional well-being among participants that did

gentle exercise whilst in intensive care. It is exceptionally important for this group to

maintain proper hydration if they have been unwell.

3.4 The Product and Service

HydroMap is an app for iOS and Android devices that shows users where they can refill their

water bottles on long distance cardio activity. It shows water stations along a customisable

route, taking into account the user’s gender, height, weight, preferred distance or duration,

and the type and intensity of exercise, ranging from a light walk for the ‘Rehabilitative

Exercisers’, through to intense endurance running suitable for marathon training. These

variables are customisable, all or in part by the user to create the perfect exercise and

hydration routine for them.

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3.5 Suppliers and Partners

Our main suppliers are cross-platform app developers to write and develop the code for and

to program the app, and graphic designers to design the user interface and make the app

design user friendly, look inviting and appealing.

We would form partnerships with Google and IBM. Google develops Google Maps, which

will be for HydroMap’s water station mapping function, while also providing Google with

data on the location of New Zealand’s public water stations. IBM is the current developer of

SPSS statistical analysis software. We would require them to develop a system for us to

analyse the data collected from HydroMap’s users.

3.6 Strategy: Focused Low Cost

The app needs to be low cost to encourage customers to purchase it. Customers are unlikely

to pay more than $2NZD for an app for personal use. We will produce a lite, free version,

with limited functionality, and no access to extensions such as heart rate monitor hardware.

These extended features can be purchased separately.

We will target three market segments in the New Zealand market initially, making the

market narrow. However, in the future we intend to expand our app into the Cost

Leadership bracket, which is signified by marketing to a broad market, while retaining the

app’s low cost, by expanding into the global market.

The overall strategy is therefore Focused Low Cost.

3.7 Value Chain Activity: Technology (Research & Development)

The most important value chain activity for this business is Technology (Research &

Development).

Technology is integral for this business. The medium of the product is an app, which

requires technology to develop, design, install and use. Without technology, the value chain

would collapse.

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3.8 Business Processes

3.8.1. USER INPUT PROCESS – Requires the user to enter data to calculate where they can

refill their water bottles on their route and how much they need to take. Users are able to

leave any of the fields blank, although they must enter the type and intensity of exercise.

HydroMap reverts to default values if any or all of the optional fields are left blank. The user

is then required to enter in the location they want to start from, or let GPS find their current

location. HydroMap can then derive a route for the user, calculate the frequency they need

to drink at, and use GPS to locate all the water stations along that route.

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3.8.2. FEEDBACK PROVISION PROCESS – A customer-facing process where users will be given

an optional survey to complete on their experience with the app. The user can postpone

giving feedback either temporarily or indefinitely. We will loosely identify them with a series

of demographic questions. They then rate the various functionalities on a scale of 1 to 5,

and select the one they have found the most beneficial, allowing us to see what functions

we need to focus our time on developing.

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3.9 Functionalities

3.9.1. USER INPUT PROCESS

The user has the ability to either enter the address manually, or to use their current location via GPS.

HydroMap’s core functionality is to highlight water stations along a customisable route.

3.9.2. FEEDBACK PROVISION PROCESS

The user is able to postpone giving feedback for a week, or indefinitely. Rating systems allow each question to be sorted based on these ratings, and

statistical data, such as the average score for each functionality-based question, can easily be derived from it.

3.10 Systems

3.10.1. LOCATION ACQUISITION SYSTEM – Using GPS and Google Maps, the Location

Acquisition System locates the user’s location based either on their device’s location

services or the location the user manually enters. Based on this, and the answers to the

questions during the User Input Process, outcome is a map with all the water stations on the

route highlighted with an icon. The system will calculate how much supplementary water

the user needs to take to drink the correct amount at the correct frequency.

3.10.2. FEEDBACK ANALYSIS SYSTEM – A goal-seeking analysis system. It performs statistical

calculations on the feedback data received during the Feedback Provision Process to find

out extreme ratings, the mean and median rating for each functionality, and organise the

most beneficial functionalities as voted by the user. It will also allow us to sort answers by

demographic factors to identify patterns and trends. A digital dashboard will display a series

of graphs, tables, and sortable lists. We will gain insights into where further development

needs to be focussed, allowing us to improve service while reducing maintenance costs by

only targeting functions actually requiring improvement.

3.10.3. DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – This system can be accessed by the app to derive

the appropriate routes for users. The co-ordinates for each water station will be stored in

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this database, which will be able to be sorted by these two variables. It will allow developers

to easily keep track of entries, make amends, and avoid entry duplication.

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3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value Chain Activity

Processes Functionalities Specific Information System(s)

Broad Information System(s)

Technology

(Research &

Development

)

1. User Input Process

1. Acquire location using device’s GPS feature.

2. Highlights water stations along route.

Location Acquisition System

Database Management System

Transaction Processing System

Enterprise Resource Planning System

2. Feedback Provision Process

1. Ability to postpone giving feedback temporarily or indefinitely.

2. Rating system for questions makes deriving statistical data easy.

Feedback Analysis System

Customer Relationship Management System

Decision Support System

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CONCLUSION

HydroMap is a health and fitness app designed to help athletes, the health conscious, and

those recovering from illness, stay hydrated while they exercise. This is achieved by making

exercise planning easier, by having calculators and maps to show users where to go, where

to get water, and how much extra to take. The use of this app will lead to less dehydration

related hospitalisations and shorter recovery times for those recuperating after sickness.

This app will make the world healthier and more hydrated.

REFERENCES

1. Apple. (n.d.). App Store. Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/nz/genre/ios/id36?mt=8

2. Burtin, C., Clerckx, B., Robbeets, C., Ferdinande, P., Langer, D., Troosters, T., . . . Gosselink, R. (2009). Early exercise in critically ill patients enhances short-term functional recovery. Critical Care Medicine, (37)9, 2499-2505. Retrieved from http://www.wolterskluwer.com/

3. European Hydration Institute. (2013). What is dehydration? Retrieved from http://www.europeanhydrationinstitute.org/consequences_of_dehydration.html?gclid=CjkKEQjwhoGcBRDlu9S3mo7-udIBEiQASEw7QjY8oF90Wt4DccG1D4zwI_3cWB0KRsTi75h04oY5KiHw_wcB

4. Google. (2014). Graphic designers in Auckland – Google Search. Retrieved from https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=graphic+designers+in+auckland&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=AVSAU9OWIqmT8QffzIGoBQ

5. Google. (2014). App developers in Auckland – Google Search. Retrieved from https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=graphic+designers+in+auckland&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=AVSAU9OWIqmT8QffzIGoBQ#channel=sb&q=app+developers+in+auckland&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

6. Quinn, E. (2011). How much water should you drink? Retrieved from http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/hydrationandfluid/qt/How-Much-Water-Should-You-Drink.htm

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