Fluent Forward supports startup to develop innovative healthcare app
The Situation
Having worked in the healthcare industry for many years, this startup founder realised technology could be the answer to remove a painful legacy process and speed up care for patients. With very little experience as a business owner, she sought an investor and mentor willing to support her through the initial pilot phase. Once the funding was in place and an initial agreement from her clients to trial the concept, she set about planning the product and software development. She soon realised she was completely out of her comfort zone – her time was already stretched to build the business, manage the project, and engage the people who needed the solution. To save on cost yet hire experts, the team decided to outsource software development to an off-shore team.
The Task
In such a heavily regulated industry, the startup needed a robust plan to scope out requirements and specifications for the app. Their initial technology suppliers began to develop the software, but they soon found the project was underperforming against agreed milestones. Unhappy with the progress, the business sought external expertise to review the pilot and take over the technical product development. With two pilot sites preparing their IT systems ready to test it, they couldn’t afford to let their clients down.
As they recalled, “We had code arriving from the development team, but we needed someone with strategic technical thinking to see if this code would be good enough to launch the app we had conceived
The Action / Approach
The first step was for Fluent Forward to assess the code and goals for the pilot. Having
checked the technical strategy, Matt made clear recommendations for what needed to be done
and started work on the fixes.
Once the beta application was ready, the Fluent team worked alongside the two pilot sites to
ensure it was installed as planned. Soon after, Matt hosted a stakeholders’ session to explore
ideas for a second version of the pilot software. There were many possibilities for embedding
further technologies to improve the app for users. The workshop was critical to define exactly
what the startup would do next and how it could work. Matt and John from Fluent Forward
took that and designed the wireframes for version two.
Fluent Forward led the development of a credible pilot product and also aided the technical
logistics for the pilot sites. Challenges for the end-users in their day job included coping with
older devices which needed additional support to unlock them and load the application. Matt
went above and beyond to liaise with their internal IT teams, helping them update all necessary
information to enable the application to run properly. To manage the technical delivery, Fluent
Software also provided project management resource, through John’s involvement.
The Result
Matt ensured the implementation of the software app pilot went ahead in both test sites, as planned. He also provided technical leadership for the software development team abroad, giving oversight to ensure each stage of product development was on track.
Investing in technical strategy with Fluent Forward enabled the startup to secure an opportunity to develop the application further. They wholly appreciated the flexible approach by Fluent Forward to help them audit, review and progress their development plan.
