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Data Integration

Reliable Data Integration for Power in 2020

Reliable Data Integration for Power in 2020 768 487 Exist Software Labs

“…and when you connect data together, you get power.” 

– Tim Berners-Lee, computer scientist & inventor of the World Wide Web

Data Integration for Power

Way back in 2018, the world is already at a 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day mark. With the rapid growth in digital transformation and uses of modern-day technologies such as the Internet of Things, the upsurge of this number is simply beyond imagination.

Nowadays, businesses attempt to utilize the collected data and turn it into valuable information to improve their business processes. The process of collecting data has become easier for businesses these days. But the massive outpour of data also posed the risk of data wastage or not knowing how to use it.

In our previous blog, we have mentioned that IoT in power is still on the rise and will keep doing so in the coming years. But most power companies still face their biggest dilemma in dealing with a large amount of data yielded by IoT – data is siloed across different business units.

A data silo is a situation wherein only a selected group can access a particular data set which is isolated from the rest of the organization. The aftermath of having siloed data is problematic for businesses because its non-cohesive nature makes it hard for the teams to view it comprehensively, causing them to miss some useful connections of the collected data. Such also cause the absence of a single source of truth due to data duplication and inconsistent entries under the same account names.

What causes data silos?

According to the Harvard Business Review’s Breaking Down Data Silos, the following causes data silos:

  • Structural – programmers wrote the system application for a particular use or team, and data-sharing is not a requirement in the company
  • Political – there is a sense of proprietorship within the organization that hinders mutual access to the data.
  • Growth – new upgrades are being added to the system, but it is hard to reconcile and integrate the sets of data.
  • Vendor Lock-in – software vendors limit the data access for the users. 

Letting this issue persist in your organization will only make converting data into valuable insights more complex, with much likeliness of being ineffective. That is why combining data from different sources and giving the users a unified view is critical in data analytics. This process is called data integration

In times of the increasing trend in incorporating IoT in different functions of the power sector, dealing with mountains of data have become even complex. As mentioned earlier, the growth, more so, rapid growth, of the system makes it prone to becoming siloed.

It is noteworthy to understand the importance of understanding IoT platforms and the various ways of implementing it and how it could coexist and integrate it with data integration platforms. That way, you will be geared up for the boundless changes that modern-day demands and technologies will present.

Join our FREE Webinar!

Join us from Exist, a premier technology, and innovations company, as we hold another learning session entitled Unlocking the Power of IoT and Data Integration to Boost Transformation in the Energy Industry.

Health. Java. Java Philippines. digital health

Digital Health Is Inevitable in 2020

Digital Health Is Inevitable in 2020 768 487 Exist Software Labs

Like most businesses, the strategies adopted by hospitals and clinics seem self-serving.  Yet oftentimes, the one that successfully brings a good business return in investment, are those that put the customer both front and center. Despite reluctance, digital health is one of those strategies that will greatly empower patients and drive innovations as well.

Improving the Digital Health Access

Improving healthcare access remains elusive and the Covid pandemic has made it even more difficult. The demand for care services is unlikely to dip.  For healthcare providers, adopting innovative strategies like standardized digital practices can create efficiencies and improve service deliveries that will lead to savings which could help drive costs and make care more affordable. 

As if to belabor the point on the fragmentation that has long plagued healthcare, Reddy, and Jannsens write, “the Covid-19 crisis has prepared the ground for widespread adoption of digital healthcare solutions” that requires a fundamental rethinking in the use of digital platforms around key themes that include:

      • Information transparency.  The use of health registries to create a single source of truths for all stakeholders especially the patient reduces administrative burden as well as to enjoin patients in managing their medical care proactively.
      • Interoperability.  Holistic not siloed. Disparate patient records will remain an age-old problem as long as records remain in paper making collaboration and standardization of care difficult and costly. 
      • Claims processing.  One word. Fraud. Transparent systems that support faster validation make a whole world of difference for the operations of care providers.
      • Change from episodic to wellness-oriented care; from service-based to value-based healthcare.  These two healthcare ideals deserve an article of their own but to simplify, these are about preventive health maintenance (prevention cost way less than cure) and results-based care incentives (better, not unguaranteed, care outcomes)  both of which disrupt the payment model.

Overall, digital platforms will change care delivery models, like how telemedicine has abruptly transformed the patient visit.  The world is looking at unprecedented change caused by this pandemic and healthcare players will have important decisions to make if they are to survive, thrive, or perish in this new normal.

https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/digital-health-mission-a-200-billion-opportunity-ndhm-will-greatly-empower-patients/2095337/

Check Out MERX Compliant

Looking for a new clinic or hospital information system? Our MERX Compliant includes an online patient portal for appointments and patient management of records and Rx, a telemedicine module with integrated EMR, with built-in Philhealth eClaims module.  Learn more about it here.

Healthcare. Java. Java Philippines.

The Next-Level Gameplay in Healthcare in 2020

The Next-Level Gameplay in Healthcare in 2020 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The healthcare industry is experiencing an immense paradigm shift as the world battles against the global health crisis.

Such turn of tides pressed health institutions and other concerned parties to rethink how they will carry out their duties, both to achieve more efficient outcomes and to curtail the spread of the unseen virus. In Asia alone, governments are implementing measures differing from one another, which results in contrasting ramifications, both successful and unsuccessful.

Healthcare in the PH Updates

The Philippines’ Department of Health recently issued the Administrative Order 2020-037 or the Guidelines on Implementation of Local Health Systems Maturity LevelsThe order aims to provide local health units with a health information management system that can support the needs of all health care providers in the Philippines during and even post-pandemic. Among the maturity indicators is an EMR system integrated with a telemedicine service.

An account wherein a person snip-snaps on the idea of consulting to a medical professional during this dire time in the health sector is not an untold tale. The pandemic sparked fear of going outside the house, more so, of going to health facilities possibly packed with infectious pathogens.

Virtual visits through telemedicine should now be an option, especially for patients with chronic diseases and those living with immuno-compromised individuals, babies, or senior citizens. Moreover, telemedicine also helps with real-time tracking and monitoring of possible asymptomatic virus carriers.

According to healthcareitnews.com, nearly 80% of cardiology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, and respiratory physicians said that their use of virtual care technology had increased during the pandemic. More than half of which are not using telemedicine before the crisis. Furthermore, more than three-quarters of them said they would continue to use virtual care technology in the future.

The above data clearly shows how COVID heightened the demand for telemedicine services and will continue to support healthcare providers beyond the pandemic. It delivered on its promise of reducing person-to-person transmission, relieving the burden of the overworked care providers, and providing easier access to quality healthcare for patients who cannot meet their respective physicians.

Different countries around the globe have seen how telemedicine can help in reducing the threat/effects of COVID. Indonesia, for example, declared a shortage of protective gears and medical practitioners, with only three (3) doctors for every 10,000 Indonesians, and limited healthcare facilities. The government of Indonesia then directed its citizens to telehealth firms who can offer verified medical guidance, provide consultations via telephone or text, and prescribe medications and have them delivered to the patients who need them.

Vietnam, one of the few Asian countries to manage the COVID threat, also launched its first official telemedicine application as part of its valuable tools/gears in fighting the pandemic.

These case studies show how technology, particularly telemedicine, serves an important role in the global health battle. It is no longer just a band-aid solution but an inevitable future, that although in-person visits have their fair share of benefits, embedding telemedicine as an integral part of healthcare is a must-have level up – an upgrade that all care providers must consider.

Check Out MERX Compliant

Looking to equip your clinic with an enterprise telemedicine solution that goes beyond the virtual call?

Health. Java. Java Philippines. Telemedicine

Telemedicine in 2020 and its Benefits and Disadvantages to Your Health

Telemedicine in 2020 and its Benefits and Disadvantages to Your Health 768 487 Exist Software Labs

If you are not aware yet, the practice of medicine is in the midst of a reckoning forced by a global pandemic with every response designed to reduce the risk of viral transmission. While telemedicine has been around for quite some time, only now has it become less of an option but more of mandatory service. Read below to learn more about the benefits and disadvantages of telemedicine for patients as well as providers.

Telemedicine, or telehealth, is medical care that you can receive digitally often via video conferencing that replaces seeing a doctor in person.

Benefits to Patients 

      • Convenience and Access: The benefits of telemedicine include reducing geographic barriers, improving access to care, cutting down on travel time, and preventing the spread of illness. Even if you live near a doctor, telemedicine can be more convenient than traditional office visits. It eliminates travel time, cuts down on waiting rooms, and allows for more flexible scheduling outside of regular office hours. Telemedicine improves access to medical care especially those with limited mobility, such as people with a spinal cord injury or neuromuscular disorders.
      • Prevents the spread of infection or illness: More people are opting to use telehealth services now because it limits potential exposure to infection. This can be especially useful for those who are considered high risk, like the elderly population or people with pre-existing medical conditions
      • Telemedicine allows for easy management of chronic illness: With remote patient monitoring, some chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure can be more easily managed. For example, some patients can use at-home devices – like blood pressure cuffs, digital scales, and blood glucose monitors – to record vital data that can be digitally transferred to your doctor.

Benefits for healthcare providers

      • Keeps business of providing medical care in business: It’s not just the commercial establishments that are bearing the brunt of a business downturn during the pandemic. Even care institutions are negatively affected by COVID19.  Having to deal with the surge in patients in reference to the adequacy of personnel is well documented. But other than treating infection cases, the need for other medical specializations services plummeted.  Telemedicine enables these providers to continue the medical practice. Providers who offer telemedicine services may incur fewer overhead costs. For example, they may pay less for front desk support or be able to invest in an office space with fewer exam rooms.
      • Additional revenue stream: Clinicians may find that telemedicine supplements their income because it allows them to provide care to more patients.
      • Less exposure to illness and infections: When providers see patients remotely, they do not have to worry about exposure to any pathogens the patient may carry.

However, telehealth can’t completely replace in-person visits for chronic or special medical conditions. Someone with diabetes will still need an annual in-person eye exam and patients who just had surgery will need to be personally seen to check for progress.

Telemedicine has limitations and may not suit every person or situation. Compared to traditional care methods, a doctor cannot “feel” the patient (think abdominal examination), which is why traditional office visits must not be abandoned, but rather supplemented through telemedicine.

The following sections look at some disadvantages for patients and healthcare providers.

Disadvantages for patients

Not all patients can be a good fit for telemedicine. Some drawbacks of this include:

      • Securing medical data: Increased chances of hackers and other criminals to be able to access a patient’s medical data, especially if the patient accesses telemedicine on a public network or via an unencrypted channel.
      • Urgent Care delays: When a person needs emergency care, accessing telemedicine first may delay treatment, particularly since a doctor cannot provide life-saving care or laboratory tests digitally.

Disadvantages for healthcare providers

Healthcare providers may also face some drawbacks associated with telemedicine, including:

      • Technological issues: Finding the right digital platform to use can be challenging. Also, a weak connection can make it difficult to offer quality care. Clinicians must also ensure that the telemedicine program they use is secure and fully compliant with privacy laws.
      • An inability to examine patients: Providers must rely on patient self-reports during telemedicine sessions. This may require clinicians to ask more questions to ensure that they get a comprehensive health history. If a patient leaves out an important symptom that might have been noticeable during in-person care, this can compromise treatment.

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/telemedicine-benefits#disadvantages

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Looking for a complete enterprise telemedicine solution that goes beyond the virtual call?

Telemedicine. Java. Java Philippines.

Telemedicine in 2020: A House Call in its New & Improved Form

Telemedicine in 2020: A House Call in its New & Improved Form 768 487 Exist Software Labs

It used to be that doctors were the ones doing the consult visits and by the patient bedside performing a medical consultation.  In modern times, these were replaced with the patient’s going to doctors’ offices and interaction was now happening across the desk. Factoring infection risks and patient comfort, telemedicine provides a necessary alternative — one which may soon become the norm.

The trip to the doctor, a rather uneasy experience for most people, suddenly turns to be a thing of the past.  The threat of COVID has put everyone on alert that even periodic out-patient visits have to be second-guessed in light of the risks. Unsustainability and population growth have put an end to doctors doing house calls in the same way that the threat of infection prevents people from showing up in clinics or hospitals.

Regardless of one’s attitude towards the use of technology, it is without a doubt that it has been part and parcel of the way that the practice of medicine continues to evolve.   Lab equipment and imaging machines aside, medicine and technology go hand in hand and would continue to do so. Right now, it teams up once again to bring the patient and the doctor together via a screen display.

While there are certain situations where a personal visit is warranted, the use of telemedicine presents a valuable tool in limiting the risks, especially in today’s pandemic.  Though talking to a screen would seem to replace the warmth of face-to-face interaction, the cold reality is that telemedicine provides each participant with a level of comfort by being in familiar surroundings.  Truth be told, it is probably not telemedicine that makes this interaction awkward because talking virtually with friends is certainly something most of us would look forward to.

Telemedicine and its Importance

Whether face to face or virtual, logic dictates that people heighten their guards when discussing serious topics, and talking about a health issue does fit into that category.  A smoker would certainly feel less comfortable being visited in his home by his pulmonologist because it exposes the reality that despite the advice, evidence at home would probably present more of an embarrassment.  For years, the privacy of a doctor’s office serves the patient more than the doctor.  Using telemedicine, a peek into the patient’s environment seems possible – which yields more valuable information (eg. senior citizens and home hazards like stairs, etc.) but only for those patients who have developed stronger relationships with their providers.

“In essence, COVID-19 has allowed us to lower our psychological barriers to the adoption of technology,” Professor Vishall Ahuja says. “All of a sudden, we realize we’re not as inflexible as we thought we were. We’re not as tech-adverse as we were. Necessity is the mother of invention.”

Check Out MERX Compliant

Looking to equip your clinic with an enterprise telemedicine solution that goes beyond the virtual call?

Quality Management. Java. Java Philippines.

Quality Management in Healthcare in 2020

Quality Management in Healthcare in 2020 768 487 Exist Software Labs

If there is a word often used (and abused) in marketing, it is the word ‘quality’.  Why not?  Positive quality connotes class, distinction, and a cut above the rest.  More often than not, it also subtly echoes what being upscale is as opposed to bargain type items as well as services.  From the abstract (one’s life) to the mundane (pencil, paper, computers), there is nothing quite as aspirational as shooting for superior quality.

In healthcare, patients, doctors, and care institutions pursue quality at every touchpoint.  Yet, knowing whether they’re (patient) getting or providing  (doctors, nurses, providers) quality care has always been a matter of debate.  Even medical professionals can’t always judge this. Quality management in health care works to measure the health benefits of doctors’ and hospitals’ work and improve patient outcomes.

Tip:

Quality Management in health care works to reduce errors and improve patient care. The safety and effectiveness of treatment are two of the most critical measures of quality.

Mr. Fraser Sherman writes an excellent piece about the challenge of measuring quality in healthcare.  

Put simply he writes that, “Quality management in health care works to reduce errors and improve patient care. The safety and effectiveness of treatment are two of the most critical measures of quality.”

He writes further that formulating healthcare metrics is complicated in healthcare compared to other businesses dealing with bottom-line sales and revenues. In health care, different patients may have widely different problems, even in the same specialization such as OB-GYN or oncology. Despite similarities, treatment, and services to patients’ conditions have to be individually tailored, not mass-produced.

Despite this, health care quality is measurable!

According to Tefen Management Consulting, it’s the degree to which programs, policies, services, and research produce good health care outcomes and lead to conditions in which people can stay healthy. 

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) describes quality management in health care as a strategy or strategies that meet the needs of the industry’s customers, the patients.

You can read more on the informative piece here: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/quality-management-health-care-62136.html#socialshare

The effectiveness and safety of treatments are particularly important. Prioritizing quality management in these areas yields the best results.

Check out our healthcare product, MEDCURIAL, and see how it helped some of the biggest hospitals in the country provide better patient outcomes.

Retail. Java. Java Philippines.

Importance of Online Payment in Retail

Importance of Online Payment in Retail 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The pandemic has drastically changed the tone of retailing. As a result, retailing businesses have suffered principal losses. The health crisis became a roadblock that leaves retailers, mainly medium and large, with only two options: to take a detour or injure themselves.

In previous years, one of the primary movers of digital transformation in retail is the rise of a more digitally inclined population, accompanied by fast-evolving technology that displayed a threat to traditional, physical retailing. This threat was later on called the “retail apocalypse” which is signified by a rapid hike of sales in online retailing.

The Retail Industry

If we observe, data from 2019 shows that around 9,300 physical retail branches were closed due to excessive numbers of them being built instead of going for online sales (Forbes). Such is just one of the numerous proofs that retailing has already been going online.

We are way past the introduction stage to digital retailing. However, the global health crisis has created a higher demand for change to retail businesses, particularly from customers. 

A tremendous change in consumer behavior, the digital transformation that the pandemic called for is on a bigger scale. There is pressure for retailers to deliver their products through other channels, and still offer the most efficient service they could provide.

Nearly 50% of global shoppers are using digital payments more than pre-COVID. The majority of whom plans to continue doing so even after the numbers depress. E-Wallets and contactless cards are the top payment methods benefitting from this change, as consumers use less cash and make more purchases online (Global Online Payment Methods 2020 and COVID-19’s Impact Report).

The term “dirty money” pertains to not just unlawfully obtained money but to its by-the-book definition – unhygienic. In the United Kingdom alone, the use of cash was cut in half ever since their government banned its usage following the ascent of COVID19. Retailers are obliged to render contactless payments only, creating a cashless economy.

Before-mentioned synopsis emphasizes the pressure for the retail industry to provide more payment options. Retailers, therefore, should anticipate further developments from this point forward. Aside from its timely relevance of diminishing the need to do physical transactions, online payment has more to offer to the different stakeholders of retailing, which includes the following:

Faster transactions

Since it can be done by using the user’s mobile device, capacitating your business with online payments will make way to faster transfer in comparison to a card or cash payment. With the technological upgrades that mobile devices have nowadays, executing the transfer can be seamless and can only take a short while. 

Security

Online payment gateways have now evolved to address security issues that worry the users. They are encrypted, with several layers of security, which include protecting the information of both the sender and the receiver.

Personalized customer experience

It lessens the necessity to wait in long lines and the inconsistency of each transaction time, which is influenced by human factors. It also allows the business to acknowledge customers’ needs in real-time, regardless of their category or level of priority.

Affects buying behavior

The possibility of customers to retreat from purchasing a product may be affected by the unavailability of the payment method that they prefer. So, if a good number of the retail market will go for online payment if it is in place, it will be a grave move not to equip your business with this ability.

As the global health crisis pushes the retail industry to change the ecosystem, shaping your business fit for online payment is a step towards survival.

Get to know ANAHAW, our retail solution specially built to adapt to modern retail business requirements, and to specifically work on providing you an edge over the rest.

Technology Innovation. Java. Java Philippines.

Exist Technology Innovations: Adapting Tomorrow’s Technology In Today’s Retail Business 2020 Webinar Highlights

Exist Technology Innovations: Adapting Tomorrow’s Technology In Today’s Retail Business 2020 Webinar Highlights 768 487 Exist Software Labs

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin

According to Forbes and Microsoft, these are the main technologies in retail in 2020:

      • Chatbots
      • Mixed Commerce (e-commerce X in-store)
      • Loyalty on Mobile
      • Blockchain
      • Data-driven Business
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Augmented Reality

Technology innovation is a key parameter for innovating your business right now. KPMG, a multinational audit firm, recently illustrated a graph of three (3) options to drive retail businesses.

Keeping the business-as-usual model means that you are a legacy type of business. You are comfortable with the tried and tested model that you have right now that has worked in the past but is uncertain to work in the future. It is like ignoring the changes that are happening around you and how the consumer behaves. Remaining in this grey area despite all the shifts that are happening in the industry will lead to becoming irrelevant over time.

However, if you are thinking of leveraging or being the platform for retail, you are responding to the changes, and to different consumer behaviors. That is leveraging technology to respond to new demands, and anticipate those that might occur in the future, making sure that you are still at the growth path.

One example is how Jollibee dealt with the changes engendered by the pandemic.

Jollibee has been opening a lot of stores locally and globally. They have been doing the same growth strategy for decades with less integration of technology on their operations compared to what they developed right now.

Jollibee built “cloud kitchens” to offset the losses that they had during this period. They have invested 7 billion pesos to set up these “cloud kitchens” to continue to bring their products to their customers without the need to build the usual dine-in, brick-and-mortar facilities. Instead, they built delivery outlets located in discreet, low rent sites that serve as hubs. Cloud kitchens are now available in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore. This presented how important it is to be on the lookout for opportunities to innovate and adapt to the possibilities in the market using technology.

When you talk about innovation, you should not only talk about how you can provide your services online. Your business should be encompassing three (3) fronts and is able to empower these three. You have to be smart and have a data-driven strategy. Bringing your business online is just one part.

Customer

      • Seamless Online and In-Store experience (Web-mobile platform, In-store tech hub)
      • Data Source (I.e. CRM – Know your customer, Loyalty Engine – Reward your customer, A.I. – Understand your customer)

Employee

      • Empower your employees with the information. 
      • Seamless Online and In-Store experience both customer and business
      • (Mimic online experience in-store)
      • Data Source (I.e. Real-Time Inventory, Inventory Projections, Smart Suggestions, Special offers for targeted customers)

Partners

      • Engage and enable your partners
      • Data Source (I.e. Supply Chain Automation, Vendor Management System)

Technology innovation does not only cover how you can provide for your customers. It has to be perceived holistically.

So, How do you do it?

There are five (5) stages of an organization’s journey.

Business as Usual (No changes at all)

This is when you are not adopting any changes right now. You might be trying to get by with the tested business model. This puts your business into the risk of being forgotten, of failing, or of suffering drastic losses.

Experimentation (R&D)

You want to learn more and test something to see what fits your business.

Strategic Planning

It is when you are laying out a strategic plan that will fit your business from the data that you have gathered for the past months.

Organizational Roll Out

When you already have a strategic plan, you have to roll it throughout your organization to align every aspect of your digital strategy to every section of your organization.

Full Adaptation

Continuously innovating to see where else can you improve.

Five-step Iterative process

These are the processes to help you out with your journey of being part of the digital economy.

      1. Strategic Intent – you want to inject a digital strategy as part of your objective
      2. IT Feasibility Validation – checking if it is feasible to do in your organization in an IT perspective
      3. Business Unit Engagement – getting everyone on board
      4. Organization Injection – execution, making it part of your business culture
      5. Rapid Release of the Next Generation Business Services

It does not have to happen in one go. Even after releasing your first digital milestone, you may go back to the first step to see what else can be improved.

Case Studies and Insights

Walmart

(in an interview with then CTO, Jeremy King)

      • In 2018 Walmart and Microsoft announced a five-year partnership to drive digital transformation across Walmart, boost shopping speed, and empower retail associates.
      • Customer-facing technologies are in Microsoft’s Azure cloud
      • Machine learning as one of the most important technologies Walmart is using. 
      • Predictive Inventory accurately addresses one of the biggest consumer complaints, which is accurately providing the right availability of items that they have.

Starbucks

      • They incorporated Data Analytics into their Marketing and Sales efforts.
        • what kind of coffee their customers are ordering and adjust their offerings accordingly.
        • Personalize offers and marketing materials.
        • Increase sales and cut costs of ineffective ads and marketing
      • Starbucks Mobile app: Starbucks has been using reinforcement machine learning technology (ML) to provide a more personalized experience for customers who use the Starbucks mobile app
      • IoT – measure consumption of coffee beans in partnership with Microsoft
      • BlockChain – trace coffee beans from its source

Domino’s Pizza

In the mid-2000s, Domino’s was struggling with both brand image…they recognized the need for rock-solid digital strategy to improve customer engagement and overall brand image

      • Marketing and IT  aligned to communicate Domino’s digital transformation story to the users (consumers). This led to the social listening platform Think Oven, a social listening platform which allows Domino to get real-time feedback from their customers. This was launched in the mid-2000s, back when social media is starting to gain dominance.
      • After a successful rollout of their mobile app, they introduced Domino’s Anywhere: customers can order from a plethora of devices including Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri, Smartwatches, Smart TV’s, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Twitter and more
      • Extensive use of Cloud technology via MS Azure’s PaaS, all of their core systems – digital ordering systems, ERP, back-office operations, and supply chain systems in the cloud.
      • Domino is planning to invest in conversational AI and cognitive technologies (NLP) to further enhance the user experience.
      • In 2017, Domino Pizza overtook Pizza Hut to become the largest pizza company in the world generating $12B in global revenue.

IKEA

Cultural Transformation (Interview with Chief Data Officer, Barbara Martin Coppola)

This is how they achieved a digital mindset:

      • “In order to be successful, digital needs to be embedded in every aspect of IKEA. Digital is a way of working, making decisions, and managing the company.”
      • “At IKEA we’ve divided our digital transformation into four main areas:
        • Meeting the customer
        • Empowering co-workers
        • Digital Foundation
        • Digital DNA”
      • “When speaking of digital transformations, it is imperative to think of it as a strategic paradigm shift, and culture can either enable that transformation or it can severely hinder it.”

Technologies per Business Size

Companies or people before put up a small store, and they were only using cash register machines and accepting cash as payment. Now, this CRM is now being replaced by POS. Along with this, people are also changing and tend to use tools like GCash or PayMaya. 

On another part, people who are not able to put up a physical store make use of e-commerce platforms, like Lazada and Shopee, to make it available to the public.

During the pandemic period, people had to adapt and be more creative. They are utilizing Facebook as their channel. People who are doing transactions here usually start with a COD payment method until they have established their customers’ trust, but definitely switch to utilizing mobile wallets.

With all these models of small enterprises, inventory is done manually.

Physical stores become more scattered within the city, across the city, or all over the country. With the utilization of POS, companies are able to control these brick and mortar stores and to communicate with applications in the headquarter. 

Some companies start as e-commerce. But eventually, these retailers would want physical presence and put up physical stores, putting up brick and mortar, and e-commerce to form their mixed channel of selling.

For databases, the structured data will require the use of SQL technologies, while document databases are used for non-structured or semi-structured data.

Examples:

      • SQL Technologies (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL Server)
      • Document Database (MongoDB, CouchDB, CouchBase)

The large enterprise model is similar to medium, but it presents more potential for the company to do more, and utilize more technologies. There will come a point in time that the company will need to use corporate applications/ERP. It handles all of the operations of the business.

In 2019, more brick and mortar stores adopted the use of kiosks to perform other functions.

Large enterprises also have plenty of vendors and need to have applications to manage their operations.

It is expected for such a size of businesses to have an executive information system in place, basically like business intelligence already. When a variety and volume of data come in, Big Data also does because it already has so much data to consider.

There are three (3) types of data analytics:

        • Descriptive (under business intelligence)
        • Predictive (statistical models; used for forecasting)
        • Prescriptive (artificial intelligence; machine learning; draws up specific recommendations)

Greenplum fits best if you want all of these. It is a data hub, a repository for all your data. It has AI and machine learning libraries.

If your system is future-proof, it is capable of putting all of these technologies together.

DevOps should be in place if you are undergoing a digital transformation for a more seamless deployment.

Current to Tomorrow’s Technologies:

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Allows visual recognition or customized image recognition to fit the business needs, It detects and identifies people, emotions in images. In Amazon Go, a person can pick up an item from the store and immediately leave with it. The payment is automatically deducted from the person’s bank account. The same concept is also a running idea for hotels.

Retail use cases:

      • Amazon Go
      • Cardless Membership

Internet of Things (IoT)

A system of interrelated, non-traditional computing devices with unique identifiers, usually IP addresses. It also has the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Retail use cases:

      • Amazon Go’s IoT sensors
      • AWM Smart Grocery
      • Smart Shelves/Shelf Tags
      • Thermostat Control
      • Flonomics’ counting system and retail analytics technology help retailers determine optimal staffing levels for different dates and times, improve marketing strategies, gauge traffic flow, enhance customer service, and more.

Chatbot

A software application used to conduct online conversations, like Alexa, Siri, and more. It provides live contact with a human. An example of this is Globe’s Dude, a chatbot to monitor employees’ health launched during the enhanced community quarantine.

Retail use cases:

      • Tommy Hilfiger Chatbot
        • recommends client based on the information provided
      • Support use
        • Answering queries – FAQs
        • Respond to customer concerns and informing the support team
      • Globe’s DUDE – monitor employee health

Augmented Reality

An interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information.

Retail use cases:

      • IKEA Place
      • Fitting Rooms App

Blockchain

Is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree).

      • Retail use cases
      • tracking shipments, 
      • centralizing databases
      • stopping fraud and counterfeits
      • and increasing transparency

Key Takeaways:

      • Business strategy must include the ability to adapt/embrace change
      • Technology adoption is a major contributor to long term success
      • Digital Transformation will help define and execute the digital strategy road map
      • Choose the technology that best fits your strategy

Get to know ANAHAW, our retail solution specially built to adapt to modern retail business requirements, and to specifically work on providing you an edge over the rest.

Healthcare Solutions. Healthcare. Data. Digital. Java. Java Philippines.

Exist Healthcare Solutions: How Reducing Variations is Key to Improving Patient Outcomes (and Defeating COVID 19) Webinar Highlights

Exist Healthcare Solutions: How Reducing Variations is Key to Improving Patient Outcomes (and Defeating COVID 19) Webinar Highlights 768 487 Exist Software Labs

Speaker 1: Mr. Willex Perez | Exist Vice President for Sales & Marketing; Director of Healthcare Solutions

Our current situation right now is like the rug pulled under our feet. We were forced to transform, and ultimately, change how we will be doing things moving forward.

This can be related to two buzz words we may have been hearing for about 3-5 years already.

The term “Digital Transformation” is felt (more pronounced this time as the use of digital platforms has become ubiquitous. We have heard about this term, but what does it really mean for the organizations that we belong to, and what are the challenges that they encounter? 

Digital is not just a computer and a network connection. While it is true that computers enable us to adjust to this situation, “digital” really means:

      • The ability to take physical work by a person at a place, and be able to take it to a virtually
      • Automating the work to be done by anyone or anything (machine) anywhere. These services are given to the clients to address their needs while providing better convenience and customer experience

Transformation, on the other hand, is predominantly used in Economics and Sociology as this is people-driven. It touches the very infrastructure and the people surrounding it from each socio-economic class. Transformation or change involves people, businesses, and organizations as well as the workforce and the customers, bringing change into new ways of how we conduct our work into our lives using digital platforms.

The biggest challenge for organizations in implementing a digital strategy is providing leadership—a leadership team that understands and is ready to face the challenge. While a lot of resources are being poured towards this transformation, many are failing. A winning team needs to keep its eye on where the ball will be and not where it has been. The question that you may ask is: Are you investing in the future or are you still working on what you currently need? But Technology is only as an enabler. To wield its great potential, great leadership is needed to get the most out of new opportunities it brings, and avoid the dangers that come along with it.

Here are some examples of adoptions of digital solutions that we may, or may not, be aware of, either by force or by choice:

Like mobile Banking, for example, which we take for granted.

Our banking experience is way different compared with that of the previous generation. To transact nowadays, we need not go to a physical bank. Banks will do well to target clients, not just by managing their physical branch but improving their online services which impact how they maintain their presence as well as managing their operational expenses.

Entertainment is enjoying the greatest hit of all industries at the moment with leading providers distributing their multimedia content globally online through streaming platforms such as Netflix.

With the threat of infection, education is now forced to shift online, too. 

Our days begin and end consuming news and information online from our preferred digital platforms. But with the prevalence of fake news nowadays, we are careful about our sources of information and realize how important it is to do fact-checking.

Doctors like yourselves face the same dilemma. As you may observe, doctors (especially clinicians) need a reliable resource to help them as they are always pressed for time to diagnose and treat patients.

Why is your source — for the latest evidence-based medical information to update your medical knowledge and answer your clinical questions important?

The importance of getting reliable information affects the high occurrence of medical errors. This ability to get hold of evidence-based information helps in assisting the doctors at the point of care. When a clinician experiences fatigue and information overload in making a clinical decision.

 

 

This study highlights that medical error is the 3rd biggest killer in the United States.

Yet in 2019, medical errors are about as prevalent as in 1999. “To Err Is Human” was an uneasy read; so is a September 2019 report on patient safety from the World Health Organization.

Among WHO’s findings:

      • Globally, hospital-acquired infections afflict about 10% of hospitalized patients.
      • Medical errors harm some 40% of patients in primary and outpatient care. 
      • Diagnostic and medication errors hurt millions and cost billions of dollars every year.

– TIME BY KATHLEEN SUTCLIFFE NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Things haven’t changed much. Medical errors harm 40% of patients in primary and outpatient care.

The good news is this handling this error are:

      • It is preventable
      • There are tools and digital platforms available, such as UpToDate, wherein information is
            • Evidence-based 
            • Updated regularly by a team of over 6,000 doctors
            • Comes with Graded recommendations
      • Affordable to countries in Asia, especially in the Philippines wherein UpToDate is already being used by numerous clients

UpToDate is the best online resource being used by over 34,000 medical institutions and hospitals with over 1.3 Million doctors across the world. Evidence shows that UpToDate is proven to result in better hospital performance and improve patient outcomes.

Speaker 2: Ms. Amanda Tay | Partner Business Lead, ASEAN Region at Wolters Kluwer Clinical Effectiveness

How we can help and support your institution in delivering the best clinical decisions support resources to enable you to improve patient outcomes as well as improve patients’ safety?

There are studies that support the idea that patients only receive about half of the recommended processes involved in care. This is due to imperfect information flow, different skill sets across the organization, patients who are able to determine what type of treatments they would like to go after as well, and of course inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the approaches that they take, which is apparent in the current day context.

But this also translates into prescribing errors according to this issue of BMJ Quality & Safety. This study shows that 43 million adverse drug events related to medication errors, drug screening misses, or else occur each year around the globe. It’s very appalling to think about what’s the impact on patient outcomes then.

With all these inconsistencies and unwanted variability in care, up to 30% of global healthcare spend is wasted on unnecessary costs on healthcare annually and that’s about $1,700 per person each year. 

With all of these evolving things that are happening around the world, are we in the right position to tackle such unwanted challenges?

Wolters Kluwer’s healthcare team has already started working with their editorial team, making sure that our support allows our frontline healthcare community to be well equipped to handle and tackle challenges like this pandemic.

In January, Wolters Kluwer already released their first COVID19 topic. From then on, there have been countless contributions to the creation of new topics as the pandemic develops.

As they deem this very important, they provided free UpToDate access for two (2) months in March to support the frontline users and non-users, allowing them to access to clinical decision support resources during this sensitive time.

Since January, all the way to July, they consistently contributing evidence-based clinical contents, making sure that it’s credible and well supported. These contents are immediately available to users which is important in providing assistance to healthcare providers in tackling their uncertainties during their in-depth journey. As of now, there are over 500 updates regarding COVID19 topics alone.

UpToDate became the predominant resource when it comes to COVID19, with millions of views of their topics that have been recorded since the spike of cases.

To tackle unwanted variability in care, the improvement in patient outcomes is determined by the quality of care team decisions, and how it aligns across teams. It is also dependent on the care team behavior, and care team alignment.

When you look at care team behavior, you’ll think of doctors with varying experiences, and different team members with different temperaments and personalities. Would they use software to support their clinical decision making? This also determines how efficient they make decisions, and how accurate it is, and they pass it on to their care team in the pharmacy department to proceed with the drug orders, to the patient ward, and others. It is not a one-man effort. It is across various departments.

How do you put everything together to ensure that you are leaning on a consistent, evidence-based resource? At every step at every point in a patient’s journey, you have to make a decision. That is why it is very important to have evidence-based content that is very credible. It is important to think about what other resources can you consider to ensure that you are well supported with an integrated playbook.

Imagine having that across every step of the journey, with different types of tools and resources that play different parts in supporting your care team.

UpToDate is a global leader for evidence-based clinical decision support. It is now upgraded to support physicians by having interactive pathways that can help them in the decision-making process. Laboratory interpretations feature were also added to help the physicians assessing the software to understand the types of scenarios that might occur.

Lexicomp, on the other hand, is a drug referential resource, with a huge drug database that is accessible for the users, which can certainly reduce medication errors as well using the tools available in it. Thousands of hospitals and retail pharmacies lean on Lexicomp as the key drug resource.

What could UpToDate and Lexicomp offer?

 

UpToDate and Lexicomp provide the ability to go into complex cases and go into recommendations. It is graded, thus signifies that it is supported with evidence-based, and unbiased and neutral clinical studies. These two build up a network of thousands of clinician experts, pharmacists, specialists, and more all actively contributing to the contents of these two applications. They are the ones who will help you scour through all journals and clinical studies to provide the synthesized and summarized content so that you don’t need to read every single resource which will save you some time, especially at the point of care.

UpToDate and Lexicomp provide harmonized care decisions throughout a patient’s journey. Information is easily accessible to users at each department. It ties everything together. The whole clinical healthcare team across all the departments are able to lean on a synthesized and integrated playbook, a single source of truth that can support all departments. They get consistent information and have a good discussion with each other through these two.

Japan did a retrospective study across hundreds of diagnostic reports prepared by doctors against a group that did not use UpToDate versus a group that uses UpToDate. What they found was extraordinary in that for those using UpToDate, the diagnostic error was 2%, as compared to a 24% diagnostic error for those who were not. Imagine the impact on the patients who could have benefitted if the doctors referred to UpToDate, ensuring that not many medication errors occur.

In a recent Hospital Insights Asia interview with Asian Hospital’s Dr. Ana Maria Jimenez, she stated that by using UpToDate for two (2) years, there has been a decreasing trend in their ICU mortality ratio.

Meanwhile, The Medical City’s Dr. Rafael S. Claudio said that UpToDate is comprehensive and authoritative with an extensive list of clinical topics available that is easy to use for its simple interface. This supported his physician team on their journey to treat patients.

Also, Wolters Kluwer’s Clinical Information Drug Surveys show that the impact of Lexicomp is definitely broad and overwhelmingly positive.

Another consideration that you might have is if it is recognized/accredited.

 

See full list of accreditations.

It is understandable that training and education is one of the key areas that healthcare institutions focus on. How do you make sure that everyone is well-equipped, and is continuously upskilled? That is why you should consider what other resources are available to support you on this journey. With our efforts to get UpToDate recognized in PRC, we offer continued professional development support.

In summary, these solutions that we offer provide:

      • A harmonized approach to help you support and improve your quality of care.
      • Reduce diagnostic and medication errors to help you treat your patients fast 
      • Quicker and more efficient flow to shorten their length of stay so that you can help more patients
      • Improve patient education and engagement

Check out our healthcare product, MEDCURIAL, and see how it helped some of the biggest hospitals in the country provide better patient outcomes.

Digital Banking. Digital. Java. Java Philippines.

What Sparked the Emergence of Digital Banking

What Sparked the Emergence of Digital Banking 768 487 Exist Software Labs

As we live in the computer age, the existence of online banking appears ordinary to us. Every major bank tailors a system that is capable of online access. The absence of such is almost unimaginable, especially these days.

The evolution of digital technology presented an invaluable advantage to banks as it attempts to address the limitations that the old brick-and-mortar set up brought to sight.

These limitations sparked the emergence of digital banking.

1. Building cost.

Before the rise of digital banking, the banking sector depends on expanding its branches to reach out to a broader market. But the hefty price of building a bank branch is one of the major turning points of gradually moving online. 

More than just the amount the land and construction of the building per se, establishing a physical branch takes into account the landscape/exterior, interior design, technologies, and devices to be used, as well as the security measures to be implemented. Banking businesses, therefore, target building a facility in commercial areas. This scenario creates a boundary between the banks and the possible market from far-flung places.

2. THUS, limiting the bank’s presence in many areas.

The first limitation springs another one. Banking was less accessible to most people outside business districts. Additionally, a physical branch can only attend to as many clients as the store, and its personnel can accommodate.

As banking became more present in the digital ecosystem, the market also had more inclusion. It also fostered a better synergy. Banks can swiftly respond to concerns as fast as users can address their concerns.

3. More customers require more bank employees.

Even before the rampancy of digital banking platforms, banked individuals have always kept increasing, the implementation of digital technology in this industry only accelerated this increase significantly. A corresponding increase in bank staff always comes after the constant growth, or forecasted growth, in the number of banked individuals. The same goes for adding more physical stores.

Digitization allowed processes to speed up as most of it is being automated. This induced changes in the traditional workforce requirements of banks. With the decrease in the need for human supervision in many operations, banks can now concentrate their forces on their core competencies.

4. Incoherent customer journey.

The improvements in the customer journey that digitization presented were also promising. The customer journey begins with awareness. But where does it end? The simple answer is it never does. Continually nurturing the clients even after you have acquired them is one of the most critical steps, if not the most, in rendering a fulfilling journey.

Think of having to do every step of this journey physically. Tedious, right?

Digital banking broke this stigma. The targeting, marketing, acquiring, and now even responding to the market became a lot easier, delivering a more personalized and customer-centric experience.

5. Consumers are online, so should banks be.

The evolution of digital banking expands from the creation of ATMs to going online. Why not? The market is rapidly becoming more inclined to the internet, and they want to accomplish things faster than ever before. The screens became the window to what the world has to offer, either convenience or luxury.

One of the fundamentals of running a business is placing it to where your target segment is situated. The rationale is pretty simple: you should be where your prospects are – keep within the sight. Banks get to be where their market is, a superpower that brick-and-mortar cannot grant – OMNIPRESENCE.

Digital banking was able to hit these pain points and is anticipated to keep driving notable changes in this age, especially as the global health crisis accelerates the demand for more digital services. The current condition advanced the call for virtual collaboration, thus the innovation of the virtual platforms. It is inevitable. It is only a matter of who is going to be the pacesetter – the one at the front of the transformation race.

Exist Software Labs, Inc. is committed to extending our assistance to several banks with their Digital Onboarding requirements. We have been in the business for 18 years, and the mission to enable corporations to go on digital and have a competitive advantage in this fast-changing world is at our core.

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