Ivan Lekushev is the Co-Founder and CEO of the technology company BGO Software, which offers digital transformation of organizations in the healthcare sector in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. BGO registered an entity in Switzerland two months ago and recently announced the opening of its office in Basel. The new workspace of the Bulgarian company is on the campus of Novartis in the innovative park Basel Area – a centre for innovative solutions in healthcare. In this article, Ivan Lekushev shares his thoughts on why the future of healthcare is user-driven and the formula for success when building digital health products and solutions.
BGO Software has been widely recognized for offering digital transformation of organizations in the healthcare sector. For instance, some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Switzerland, as well as the Health Research Authority in the UK are clients of the company.
One of the most impactful solutions developed by BGO Software is HARP – a database, which records and tracks the progress of research applications submitted to the HRA (Department of Health, UK). The system transformed and completely digitized the way the government reviews and manages clinical trial applications, conducts post-approval monitoring, and prepares comprehensive reports. The HARP platform was one of the factors making it possible for the NHS to approve the first COVID vaccine for mass use in the world, faster than any other country.
The market is changing rapidly and technology is shaping an entirely new digital health ecosystem. Among the most notable trends are automation and not only ‘AI’, ‘machine learning’ but software for automating the manual work done by the healthcare specialists. The sector is focused a lot on efficiency and finding ways to provide better care and outcomes for patients. One simple example - the admin time spent filling endless electronic forms is dramatically reduced by the variety of IT systems implemented. Physicians and doctors are now using this time for actual healthcare work and to focus on patients' needs.
However, going from analogue to digital takes time, but it’s not an impossible task. What we have noticed is that unless you focus 100% on your end-users when developing your digital health products, there is a great chance you are not doing your best and your strategy might fail. Going ‘digital’ almost always requires going back to the whiteboard and rethinking processes and user journeys. The steps of an analogue process would rarely match these in a digital one and if they match 1:1 then the digitalization is not done right. It should speed up and optimize instead of just replace.
When developing digital health products and solutions, keep in mind the needs and challenges of end-users you want to resolve. And by end-users, we mean patients, physicians, doctors, etc. The more your products provide painkillers to their everyday problems, the faster they will be adopted and the bigger value they will deliver to society.