How many login and passwords do you have, how much of what you own is not a tangible item but a digital copy? How do you keep track of all of this, how do you ensure that the important people in your life know about all of these?
Komal Joshi was thinking a lot about this when she had to deal with organising the estate of a loved one. She realised that whilst she was working through reams of paperwork, if it were her estate, she wouldn’t have this much paper. The question stayed with her and inspired her to create Planned Departure.
Once she started researching this area, she realised that many of the 3rd parties that we entrust our valuables with, don’t have a great incentive to inform next of kin that assets exist. Added to this, we have Social Media accounts. I don’t know about you, but I have a few ‘connections’ in my account that I know are no longer with us, but every year, I get the message to wish them a happy birthday. That is the most painful part of social media. I wish it would make me smile to remember them, but then I recall how hard it is for their next of kin to gain access and remove or manage the account. It shocks me how unsympathetic so many companies are to the hardest part of life. I am sure you can come up with your own examples and understand how distressing it can be, especially if bank accounts are frozen. I understand that they need to prevent fraud, but a bit of humanity wouldn’t go amiss!
Komal brings humanity and empathy to her plans to solve this problem. She, and her team, are working tirelessly to create a product and platform to take that painful aspect away and all with bank level encryption. For this, Planned Departure won The Deloitte Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Founders Awards 2013. You can see what drives her and her success in this great short interview.
She has a wonderful impact on those that work with her too. Mahadev Semwal says “She possesses tremendous knowledge of testing technology and is a woman with Intelligence, leadership qualities and insightful character.” Along with tenacity, these are all great skills that will help her on her journey.
I thoroughly recommend taking a look at the PlannedDeparture blog, it has some great insight. The subject is broad and far-reaching and will surprise you about what digital assets you have and want to pass on.
It may be a depressing subject, it is something we all need to think about, consider all those things you want to pass along and thank Komal Joshi for taking on this challenge.
Ghilaine
@LadyGhilaine
Tech Talkfest 