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What drives API marketplace success? A strong ecosystem.

Oct 11, 2022

Once you’ve decided to move to an API-first architecture model, it’s tempting to jump right in building APIs, selecting an API gateway service, and standing up an API marketplace. That all takes work and delivers progress — up to a point. But, as some companies find out too late, you can pour months into standing up a state-of-the-art composability framework without really getting to ROI. You could even be increasing your tech debt. To start solving real business problems, you’ll need more than fingers on the keyboard. You’ll need to start with an API ecosystem in mind. Envisioning an API ecosystem within your organization Your API gateway is middleware, not a complete solution. It’s designed to streamline microservices delivery, running in the background to make work faster, easier, and more secure for API developers. Adding an API marketplace can help, by providing more of a storefront approach to sourcing those connections. But you can’t just build APIs and hope the right people come find them. You’ll need to go beyond the technology layer and design an API ecosystem to derive strategic value from those tools. To ensure API gateway or API marketplace platforms reach their full potential, successful organizations put strategy first. As you think about designing a future state API ecosystem to work toward, consider: What business needs your internal and external customers (API and application developers) are trying to solve How your current business processes may be helping — or hindering — those objectives Where you might find opportunities to streamline, remove friction, and accelerate progress Shifting the technology mindset from product delivery to customer experience can dramatically elevate ROI from day one by changing the way you prioritize, design, and implement each component of your solution. Your API gateway and API marketplace are utilities; your API ecosystem is how your business culture uses those tools. Driving value to your API marketplace Moving from a customer experience mindset to effecting real change and boosting the ROI of your API marketplace comes down to processes. A full process audit can help you spot opportunities for growth. First, look for processes that currently rely on APIs or on systems ripe for modernization: Which processes currently rely on APIs? Which rely on aging or end-of-life legacy systems? How might the API marketplace support more rapid composability to streamline modernization of those systems? Next, consider your current development processes: How do our developers publish APIs today? Is the API gateway frictionless, or do developers have to think about it every time? How do others find and use published APIs? If others find the API, is it easy to understand how to use it? Is the API marketplace truly self-service, or do developers waste time hunting details to implement the component? How do we manage the API lifecycle to maximize the value of our API investments? Then, consider how to use your API ecosystem strategy to level up: Reduce friction for API providers and consumers Package API instructions and information in an easily accessible way Make it easy for users to search for and implement the right API or component for their needs Manage your API lifecycle from creation to retirement Whether your business is growing or you’re already a global enterprise, once you get your API gateway and marketplace tools implemented and automated in a way that makes sense for your users and the business problems they solve, you’ll start to see results. The turn-key ability to source, consume, and change APIs makes your API marketplace nearly infinitely scalable, and flexible to evolve along with your business. Finding the right partner For organizations with significant legacy architecture, change comes at a considerable cost. You can’t afford to miss the productivity and efficiency gains that an optimized API marketplace delivers. Whether you need help imagining an API ecosystem or bringing it to life, selecting the right API marketplace or building a custom API gateway, the right partner can bring experience and expertise to get you through the roadblocks. Fusion Alliance specializes in full-spectrum digital transformations — helping organizations around the world find the right technology to fit their business needs and evolve their processes to maximize the value of their technology investments. Learn more about our approach to building a composable enterprise >>

Wearables are changing healthcare: Impact for our most vulnerable

Aug 15, 2022

When it comes to understanding how wearables are changing healthcare, consumer brands serve as a solid leading indicator. Popularized by brands like Apple Watch, FitBit, and Garmin, the global wearable healthcare market was estimated at $16.2 billion in 2021, and is projected to double in the next five years. Healthcare wearables in daily life Although most users rely on healthcare wearables to check texts during spin class or crush their friends’ daily step records, an increasing number of users rely on smartwatches and other medical wearables for life-saving medical information. As the technology evolves, healthcare wearables can now give minute-by-minute EKG readings, monitor blood sugar, check oxygenation levels, and help people use real-time data to manage their health while they go about their regular activities. Wearables also deliver oversight and peace of mind to caregivers, as when diabetic children wear devices that monitor insulin and food intake and link to mobile apps monitored by their parents. These breakthroughs allow patients of all ages more autonomy while providing reassurance to caregivers that the person is safe. Learn more about what wearable devices make possible >> Healthcare wearables in long-term care settings Long-term care presents a gap between that at-home monitoring scenario and the tech-saturated acute care space of a hospital or clinic. Historically understaffed, nursing homes and long-term care facilities struggle with high turnover, increasing rates of preventable errors, and unnecessary escalation of avoidable medical events. In addition to the impact on the patient and their loved ones, these realities impact the facility itself through lower reimbursement rates and increased cost of care. A 2021 American Healthcare Association and the National Center for Assisted Living survey on staffing in these facilities showed that 99% of nursing homes and 96% of assisted-living facilities face a staffing shortage. Harvard University professor David Grabowski says the pandemic only worsened that already critical situation. He notes, “We’ve overlooked and undervalued this workforce for a long time and now we’re at a full-blown crisis…We’re in a crisis on top of a crisis.” Ensuring the right level of care for high-risk and elderly patients amidst staffing constraints formed a critical use case for transformation. Healthcare wearables emerged as a leading option that would give staff the ability to monitor more patients, get notifications when care is needed, and escalate when necessary. Overcoming obstacles to adoption Implementing a program for wearable devices in nursing homes introduced more stringent requirements than consumer wearables, including: Privacy protection: Patient medical information, covered under HIPAA, requires more protection than off-the-shelf iOS and Android systems offer. Usability concerns: Patients under care in nursing homes and long-term care facilities often lack experience with technology, and/or the dexterity to manage new devices. Cost considerations: In addition to the cost of patient wearables and devices allowing nursing staff to monitor and communicate alerts, facilities must also invest in secure data infrastructure and information architecture beyond standard integrations in market-ready smartwatches. Creating a targeted solution Realizing that nursing home and long-term care facilities faced unique barriers to implementing wearable devices, BioLink Systems set out to create a solution. Initially, the company devised a device that could be attached to an adult brief to monitor urination levels and body position. However, early issues with the prototype limited production scalability. Fusion worked with BioLink to architect a cloud-based IoT solution that uses machine learning to exceed the company’s initial vision. Designed with a minimalist aesthetic and user experience to fit the target demographic, the BioLink bracelet and adult brief wearables: Meet HIPAA requirements Monitor patient fluids Track patient vital signs Alert nursing staff when patient vitals fall outside their customized range Escalate alerts if patients are not attended within an allotted timeframe Initial testing and rollouts in nursing homes delivered immediate results, including: Improved patient care Decreased response times Fewer avoidable events such as medication errors Decreased escalation of care level, including hospitalizations Improved oversight Increased compliance with state, federal, and agency regulations Better experiences for the patient and their loved ones Learn more about how BioLink’s wearables are changing healthcare >> What’s next for wearable healthcare devices As facilities gather more data from using these devices, the machine learning algorithm BioLink and Fusion designed will continue to refine unique vital sign ranges for each patient, resulting in more targeted care. Future iterations of the BioLink device will integrate that information with the patient’s electronic medical record, enabling further customization of care. While each device starts with a baseline for normal with each of these vital signs, the more data that is collected, the better the facility can care for the patient. For example, if a patient’s oxygen level is continuously high, the device eventually creates a new threshold for that patient’s vitals and only sends notifications accordingly. Especially with the elderly population, there are many people that can’t communicate what they need or when they feel a certain way. There are endless possibilities for being able to provide better care under these circumstances. With options like dehydration sensors, nursing care staff is better able to not only bring water to patients but ensure that they are actually consuming it. The more variables, the better Ultimately, the more variables, the better the information — resulting in better care and better outcomes. The correlation and combination of all the data from a patient can detect changes and allow for more timely, preventative care. And the more information included, the better the insights from the algorithm. With the right information, staff can prevent different medical events by predicting problems and eventually creating better remedies and treatments to avoid costly medical interventions or catastrophic incidents. As industry leaders and healthcare facilities see the impact of devices like BioLink’s bracelets, we expect to see greater adoption of healthcare wearables to elevate patient care, reduce facility costs, and find operational efficiencies even during times of staffing crises. With the right technology and innovation, we can change outcomes and save lives — with a wristband.

Digital transformation in healthcare: Improving patient experience, care, and outcomes

Jun 13, 2022

As the pace of technological change continues to increase, digital transformation in healthcare often struggles to keep up. Challenges like integrating aging legacy systems, maintaining patient privacy, and leveraging disparate data sources into actionable insights loom large in healthcare, where time and resources are often at a premium. But the same circumstances that make digital transformation in healthcare more difficult are the very things that underline its importance. When patient lives are on the line, digital transformation isn’t just a “nice to have.” Healthcare systems that achieve their digital transformation goals see immediate improvements in patient experience, quality of care, and patient outcomes. From that standpoint, digital transformation in healthcare isn’t just about adding technology, it’s about revolutionizing the processes and systems that drive the health and well-being of the population as a whole. Case study: Life-saving technology in diabetes long-term care >> Putting patients first While individual healthcare providers commonly put their patients’ needs front and center, the system as a whole did not evolve with that mentality. Due to a variety of factors, including payer systems, consolidation, and the regulatory environment, healthcare systems got a reputation for siloed information, duplicate workflows, lack of clarity, and confusion. As healthcare organizations seek to modernize, smart health systems are taking a consumer-centric approach — redesigning patient experiences and pathways while improving care delivery and outcomes using digital technology. Article: Transforming customer engagement in the digital age >> Planning the future of digital transformation in healthcare During the pandemic, industries accelerated digital transformation efforts across the board, and healthcare was no exception. Out of necessity, more medical touchpoints and interactions moved online, from virtual office visits to automated triage to digital paperwork. Now, two years into the new normal, healthcare organizations are taking stock of their progress, appreciating the speed and scale of their efforts, and mapping opportunities for the future. A recent Deloitte study found that 60% of health systems say they are about halfway through their digital transformation journey. In our experience, working with technology innovators and leaders across industries is where things can get messy. Digital transformation is a long game, and organizations often get bogged down at the halfway mark. To keep moving forward and avoid costly wrong turns, healthcare leaders need a fresh vision and renewed roadmap. Evolving digital transformation in healthcare to meet the changing expectations of patients and providers requires a commitment to a digital-first, people-centric approach, but offers great opportunities for continued growth in connection, innovation, and successful outcomes. Based on our experience, we see five key areas where focused efforts can deliver outsized returns for healthcare systems that are mid-way through their digital transformations: 1. Modernize legacy systems to give providers and patients more options While the vast majority of individual healthcare providers and healthcare organizations use an electronic health records (EHR) system, relatively few seamlessly integrate with patient portals. A recent PEW Health Information Technology (HIT) survey found that almost 80% of respondents wanted to access and view their electronic health records through a website, an online portal, a mobile app, or electronically in some other way. Moreover, the same survey highlights a strong desire for their doctors to share information about the patient’s health status. For most healthcare organizations, integrating patient records across practices and within portals is a headache at best. Adding in the other digital interactions that today’s consumers expect — such as automated appointment and prescription workflows, chatbots, pre-filled forms, and instant answers — might seem impossible. Delivering a better patient experience and giving providers greater flexibility with their tools often takes a more strategic view. Rather than layering in more and more technology solutions, smart healthcare organizations take a holistic approach to modernization, creating flexible, modular solutions that give patients and providers more options in the near term while also making future enhancements easier. Case Study: How an AI healthcare company optimized its digital experience >> Article: Modernization challenges and the path forward >> 2. Mitigate risk to build patient trust In addition to technology lag, healthcare systems also struggle to connect patient health information due to regulatory constraints. To maintain HIPAA compliance in the US and GDPR compliance for EU patients, healthcare organizations sometimes limit the very information sharing that would result in higher quality care. To meet patient expectations of data privacy and personal health data security while also delivering on modern expectations for functionality and connectivity, health organizations need to build in best practices for security and governance throughout their technology architecture. While there are myriad ways to approach this issue, a couple of key options deserve consideration: BYOD Policies A 2019 study found that 63% of healthcare organizations sustained a security incident related to unmanaged and IoT devices. Given the rapid acceleration of digital transformation in healthcare since 2020, we suspect that number is much higher today. As healthcare organizations modernize systems and integrate more virtual and IoT solutions into their technology spaces, having a robust and updated BYOD policy becomes more important. Developing a compliant, enforceable strategy is a critical step in your modernization efforts. Case study: Navigating BYOD in a highly regulated industry >> Containerization One way to mitigate risk is to containerize data, workflows, and applications in the cloud. Although the cloud can sometimes get a bad rap for security, a carefully designed strategy puts security first and can prevent any breach from spilling over too far into other parts of your architecture. Article: Maintaining a composable enterprise >> Blockchain Best known in the context of cryptocurrency, blockchain uses a computerized database of transactions to allow secure information exchange without the need of a third party. Applying blockchain technology to the healthcare industry could improve information security management; healthcare data can be communicated and analyzed while preserving privacy and security. Countries like Australia and the UK have started experimenting with blockchain technology to manage medical records and transactions among patients, healthcare providers, and insurance companies. In both examples, decentralized networks of computers handle the blockchain and simultaneously register every transaction to detect conflicting information, keeping records accurate and making them more difficult to hack. Article: Building trust in your data privacy compliance >> 3. Use voice and wearables to enhance patient experience and outcomes Wearable devices and IoT-based health sensors can track a patient’s conditions and activities remotely, from their vital signs and hydration to the onset of a medical crisis event. The data collected can be helpful to healthcare providers and enable them to better guide patient care. Healthcare providers use IoT and wearable data for remote monitoring and preventative care, providing more specific, personalized connections even with lower staff coverage. Machine learning also drives AI-based natural language processing technology in the healthcare space. As more patients become familiar with voice models like Alexa, Siri, and Google Home, healthcare organizations see potential to deploy the technology for tasks like triage and treatment reminders. For example, the UK’s NHS uses voice technology to field common questions, deliver health information, and remind patients to take medication. Case study: Using wearables to improve patient care >> 4. Put data to work for predictive and preventative care Healthcare organizations collect volumes of data but traditionally haven’t used advanced analytics to translate the information into actionable insights. Today’s leading provider systems are exploring how real-time business analytics, predictive analytics, and AI can transform patient experience and how care is delivered. In much the same way that businesses use data analysis to spot trends, forecast consumer behavior, and drive purchasing decisions, healthcare organizations can use the information they collect to understand patient expectations, discover areas of dissatisfaction or waste, and identify opportunities to enhance the overall experience of patients with their facilities. Likewise, providers can use patient data to understand how a unique individual responds to treatment, spot key diagnostic markers, and even predict potential outcomes so that doctors and patients can work together to minimize risk. Article: Data analytics in healthcare settings >> 5. Automate administrative tasks to focus on patient care The growing number of administrative tasks imposed on physicians, their practices, and, by extension, their patients adds unnecessary costs to the health care system. Excessive administrative tasks also divert time and focus away from providing actual care to patients. Tools like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help healthcare systems save time and resources in areas such as administration, billing, and human resources — freeing up more time for face-to-face interaction with patients. When it comes to finding the right applications for automation in healthcare, it’s important to keep patient experience at the center of your strategy. Developing a customer-first automation strategy can help create the perfect blend of automated interactions and human interactions that will meet today’s expectations and delight patients rather than frustrate them. Article: Finding the right use cases for automation >> Evolving patient care through digital transformation in healthcare As the digital tools, apps, and resources pioneered during the pandemic continue to evolve, healthcare leaders must continue to push ahead with digital-first, patient-centric investments in technology, integrations, and solutions. Finding the right balance between patient and provider expectations, maintaining compliance, and enhancing patient care requires a mindset that values the patient’s perspective. Ready to take the next step? Get a machine learning jumpstart >> Get a better view of your data analytics maturity >> Refresh your digital transformation roadmap >> Wherever you are on your digital transformation journey, our team of digital, data, and technology experts can help. Ask us your questions about digital transformation in healthcare >>

Reimagining the skillset supply chain

Jun 2, 2022

The pace of change and unpredictable circumstances of the past couple of years have led many companies to rethink their just-in-time approaches to resourcing tangible goods and materials. But why stop there? To scale and adapt fast, companies also need a new approach to how they resource skillsets. One of our clients, PRECISIONxtract, did just that. By taking a just-in-time approach to their shifting skillset needs, the company was able to scale up fast — and minimize risk — in a changing business environment. A right-fit-first approach PRECISIONxtract’s transformative healthcare market access solutions offer patients and providers unprecedented connection to the right medication and resources in clinical settings. To bring that vision to life, PRECISION could have found a series of single-skill vendors or taken the time to recruit and onboard new employees. Instead, they looked for a cross-functional partner that would be a seamless fit with their company culture and that had the right mix of scalable skills. They found that fit with Fusion Alliance.  Fusion quickly became an integral part of PRECISION’s team, assembling a group of more than 20 strategy, data, and technology experts to deliver responsive support for a growing set of initiatives.  Boosting surge capacity across disciplines Knowing that their flagship product, Access Genius, needed design and functionality upgrades, PRECISION called on Fusion to assess and modernize the application without disrupting the existing business. To avoid downtime and increase speed to market, our team used an Agile process and a model-driven design, in which models from the source code informed modernization efforts. Streamlining the overall architecture not only saved development time, but also made Access Genius easier to deploy to PRECISION’s clients. And, to make the product easier to maintain and cheaper to run, we applied containerization through a microservices model and moved Access Genius to a distributed cloud hosting framework. Our solution provided real-time customer insights that were delivered across a variety of digital channels, in lieu of a people-driven process. This helped take Access Genius: From a complex, cumbersome, legacy monolith into a lightning-fast, distributed, cost-effective, cloud-native solution From a user-driven, database-centric format to a distributed API-based framework, enabling immediate data updates for important cost and coverage changes From a time-intensive customer engagement portal to an intuitive, streamlined, automated process Equipped with a modern, stable, extensible platform, PRECISION was free to explore opportunities for more radical innovation. Disrupting the market with frictionless access to timely data Although Access Genius successfully broke down barriers with data, the solution’s interface required users to navigate a complex dashboard with manual clicks and drop-downs. For pharma teams with limited time to connect doctors to information, seconds count. Working with PRECISION’s product team, Fusion technology experts analyzed the friction point of manual navigation and explored ways to make Access Genius more seamless for the user. Drawing on deep expertise deploying cutting-edge technologies into highly regulated spaces, Fusion suggested exploring a shift away from a traditional web-based interface to an AI-enabled voice functionality that would connect users to the most relevant data and messaging right in the flow of conversation. Changing the way pharma enablement tools go to market At the same time, other Fusion consultants were hard at work rethinking the way PRECISION’s products reached, empowered, and retained customers. We brought in a range of specialists to bring new strategies to life, including: Instructional designers and training developers created an interactive training platform to equip pharma sales reps with greater confidence in provider interactions by deepening their understanding of the Access Genius tool. RESULT: Access Genius IQ, a new training tool that helps PRECISION customers see faster ROI for their Access Genius investment Brand experts, visual designers, content strategists, and web developers elevated visual brand elements and created websites, editorial content, and outreach campaigns. RESULT: New website architecture, design, and content; long-form lead generation content; prospect cultivation email marketing Digital marketing strategists, creative designers, and ad teams implemented innovative ad campaigns in rapid succession as PRECISION had more time to develop and roll out new products. RESULT: LinkedIn ad campaigns generating 3X leads, including 100 qualified leads in the first 90 days Read more about the success of Fusion’s marketing partnership with PRECISION >> Reimagining the skillset supply chain Partnering with Fusion gives PRECISION access to a huge team of experienced consultants with a wide range of skillsets — allowing the company to surge and scale as their business needs and market realities shift. With Fusion bringing in the right people at just the right time, PRECISION saves valuable time and resources, enabling them to be more innovative, more agile, and more impactful for their customers, healthcare providers, and patients. Ready to explore how Fusion skillsets can help your team succeed? Our ongoing work with PRECISIONxtract is just one example of how we help companies build momentum for a digital-first world. We bring big-picture thinkers, technology-minded creatives, data scientists, and technical experts to work alongside our clients, providing a force-multiplying effect that leads to scalable, future-focused solutions for the most complex challenges. Ready to get started? Let’s talk.

Why use Golang for modern app dev?

Apr 6, 2022

Key use cases for Go language development In today’s cloud-focused environments, speed, agility, and security increasingly impact operational success – and profitability. While traditional approaches to application development excused long cycle times, unwieldy code, and eleventh-hour fixes, those habits don’t transfer well to the hyperscaling, multicloud strategies, and workload optimization that companies need now. Modern application development prioritizes reliable yet rapid innovation — and Go (Golang) is a high-performance, developer-friendly language designed to scale for those realities. Why companies use Golang for modern app dev As a programming language, Golang was purpose-built for cloud-native development. Thanks to fast compile times and lower cognitive load, developers can use Golang to quickly and efficiently develop maintainable systems. Specifically designed to overcome downsides found in older programming languages, Golang brings together the most critical needs of modern development. Using Golang delivers the performance of C, the ease-of-use found in languages like Python, the garbage collection feature of Java, and native, language-level support for concurrency. And because Golang is compiled to machine code, instead of being interpreted or having virtual runtimes, it provides significant performance advantages over other languages. Language-based vs. framework-based systems A key driver in Golang’s flexibility is that it’s a language, rather than a framework. In framework-based systems, merging, modifying, and updating code can be time-consuming and difficult. While language-based models like Golang sacrifice somewhat in terms of features, the benefits of available patterns and standard libraries for maintainability are significant. Golang vs. Java, Rust, and other programming languages and frameworks Golang is incredibly robust, and while it isn’t a cure-all for software projects, it does provide building blocks for cloud-native environments and DevOps-focused organizations that want to scale quickly.Golang’s standard libraries address the vast majority of needs and problems. And because it was built to be as simple and clean as possible, in Golang you only add what you need before you deploy, rather than relying on a cumbersome framework mired in dependencies. This helps to avoid spaghetti development that slows down performance over time. Top use cases for Golang development As a compiled language, Golang’s focus is on writing efficient parallel code — making it ideal for today’s multiple processor machines and distributed developer teams. Because it’s designed for excellent performance and collaborative work, Golang is often used for workloads like APIs, web apps, CLI apps, networking, data processing, and cloud-native apps. Using Golang for DevOps Golang makes it easy for developers to adapt quickly to changing requirements, allowing the faster turnaround times IT customers demand. And because popular DevOps tools like Docker and Kubernetes are written in Golang, many companies find the use case for Golang development in cloud-native applications is hard to beat. Golang compiles directly to machine code on a single, standalone binary with no additional dependencies, so it’s faster and better suited to microservices and containerization than other languages. Python, Java, and JavaScript compile into intermediate object code, which slows down and complicates the process. As a result, older languages often can’t match the performance gains Golang delivers, and aren’t as easy to use in a DevOps process. Security — at speed and at scale A critical point in favor of using Golang for modern app dev is its test-as-you-go structure. Because testing is built into the toolchain, developers can find and fix issues before other workstreams are impacted. This radically increases maintainability and scalability in cloud environments. Golang’s guarantee of backwards compatibility, while often seen as primarily a collaborative work and future-proofing selling point, also impacts its reliability and security. Because Golang is backwards compatible, new security fixes can be added to older code without slowing it down or breaking it, simply by adding additional features. Modernizing legacy workloads Golang provides API bridging that can enable legacy workload migration to the cloud or unlock those workloads to inform cloud-based apps. Rather than rewriting and redesigning an entire legacy application for the cloud, or attempting to run it within a container, Golang can add an abstract layer between a legacy backend system and a more modern, cloud-native frontend. Getting started with Golang Use cases for Golang development could make recentering your tech a smart move. But how do you know if using Golang for modern app dev will pay off for your organization? As a tech-agnostic firm, Fusion has the breadth of expertise necessary to deliver expert — yet objective — guidance for your digital journey. Whether you’re considering adding Golang development to a project in progress, or you’re looking for a full assessment of your cloud readiness, we can help. From strategy to implementation to managed services, Fusion adds expertise to your team. Learn more about cloud-native development >> Schedule a consultation >>

Wearables and mobile machine learning change the face of healthcare

Jul 8, 2021

Advances in mobile health technology have transformed the entire landscape of healthcare, including the ability of physician groups, employers, nursing home facilities, and pharmaceutical companies to capture data in the healthcare space. Gone are the days of paper tracking for your glucose levels and blood pressure. Instead, wearable devices like watches and trackers can seamlessly provide real-time data streams to applications and third parties. The data collected from wearables can be used for clinical research, patient monitoring, and wellness tracking, among other uses. Each data point collected can add complexity to your broader data set. Because of the amount and complexity of data, turning to machine learning (ML) can help organizations leverage their data to identify patterns and make data-driven decisions. By applying machine learning techniques to wearable device data, we can now surface patterns in big data and make predictions about behavior. Machine learning enables healthcare-related industries to leverage wearable device data and identify trends, improve recommendations, and define research outcomes. Popularity of wearable devices Wearables are popular, and their adoption continues to grow. Globally, the wearable technology market is expected to grow from $69 billion in 2020 to $81.5 billion in 2021, an 18.1% increase, according to the latest forecast from Gartner. What’s fueling the growth? Demand for smart devices in the healthcare sector is rising, as is demand for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Many devices are not fitness-specific, featuring notification of text messages, push notifications for mobile apps, and the ability to pay for items by scanning a QR code with Google Pay or Apple Pay. As such, they have broad appeal. “As a result of the pandemic, we have seen wearable devices become much more than just activity trackers for sports enthusiasts. These devices are now capable of providing accurate measurements of your health vitals in real time. Improved measurement accuracy coupled with the latest advancements in ML make it possible to detect abnormalities before they lead to a major health event.” – Alex Matsukevich, Fusion Alliance Director of Mobile Solutions Types of data collected by wearable devices There are a variety of brands and categories of wearable devices, from mass-market consumer versions to highly specialized types created for niche uses. Apple, Fitbit, Google, Samsung, Garmin, LG, Sony, and Microsoft dominate the market. Though the concept of “wearables” includes a focus on wristwatches, while exercise equipment, glasses, and textile sensors are also becoming more common. Wearable devices can measure: Sleeping patterns Heart rate Irregular heart rhythms Location/route during exercise Pace, stride, and distance while moving Blood oxygen levels Falls Limitations of wearable device accuracy Wearables do have limitations, and accuracy is a concern. Healthcare decisions made using erroneous data could have outcomes detrimental to a patient’s overall health. A study from the University of Michigan reviewed 158 publications examining nine different commercial device brands. In laboratory-based settings, Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Samsung appeared to measure steps accurately. Heart rate measurement was more variable, with Apple Watch and Garmin being the most accurate, and Fitbit tending toward underestimation. But for energy expenditure (calories burned), no brand was deemed accurate. This does not mean that the results are invalid, but that there is a significant difference between results from wearables and clinical results in a lab setting. Wearable devices are constantly upgraded and redesigned as technology improves. And data collected by wearables does not provide a clinical diagnosis. As such, this data is just part of the larger picture of health and can be used only in conjunction with other factors to evaluate your overall wellbeing. Overcoming the biggest challenge of wearable device data analysis Healthcare professionals are already using ML to analyze data for patients. Research published in the International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews confirms that ML techniques are successful in predicting health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and thyroid cancer. The biggest hurdle to incorporating device data into broader data sets is the addition of new inputs, such as hours of sleep or total steps walked per day. Traditional data points such as total cholesterol or blood pressure readings are less frequent, so there is a smaller amount of data overall. The challenge is finding how to best incorporate it into other data sets to create a more comprehensive picture of health. The future of wearable device data and machine learning We can glimpse into the future of wearable device data and machine learning with Microsoft’s recent patent filing. Their potential product aims to provide wellness recommendations based on biometric data, such as blood pressure and heart rate, pertaining to work events. To do this, Microsoft requests access to applications used by employees. Microsoft then tracks data points such as: Duration of time spent writing emails Number of times a user refreshes their inbox Time spent reading emails Number of corrections made when writing emails Recipient list for emails Number of meetings in a day Tone of language in emails By combining this information with biometric data (from a secondary device such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch) and machine learning, Microsoft could begin to understand what work events trigger a response. For example, suppose an employee received an email from their manager. Microsoft might observe that the employee spent a higher-than-average amount of time reading the email and that the employee’s heart rate was also elevated during this time. Based on these insights, Microsoft could propose recommendations for helping employees manage stress levels, highlighting events that trigger anxiety. Patent filing sample image from Microsoft outlining tips and recommendations to improve employee wellness With a broad user base using both Office and Teams already, Microsoft has a deep understanding of work-related events. As Facebook built their business making sense of our social lives, Microsoft has the potential to optimize our work lives. “Wearables combined machine learning will become the new standard in personalized consumer electronics, rapidly increasing in popularity and scale every year until then. An integrated device of the future will be able to get a baseline of your health and will alert you to any abnormalities present. We already see this happening with the new Apple Watch, and it will be very soon that this technology becomes commonplace.” – Michael Vieck, Fusion Alliance Software Developer Wearable devices will transform healthcare experiences Data is the key to predicting, understanding, and improving health outcomes. IBM Research anticipates that the average person will generate more than 1 million gigabytes of health-related data in their lifetime, equivalent to 300 million books. The sheer volume of data means that machine learning will be vital in making sense of it. Paired together, wearable devices and machine learning have the potential to transform healthcare experiences. Today’s applications and uses are only the beginning. Read more: Top 3 reasons to invest in machine learning for mobile Machine learning and wearable devices of the future Wearing Your Intelligence: How to Apply Artificial Intelligence in Wearables and IoT

8 steps to speed up product design and development

Oct 8, 2020

Product design (UX/UI design) is becoming one of the most important roles in the tech industry. Designers are under pressure to accelerate product development and reduce the time, effort, and cost spent. We’ve been there and understand what it’s like. This eight-step process can help you speed up development and achieve all of the above. Use it to understand your product goals and customers, and also to collaborate with the entire team to discover problems, ideate, test, and validate potential solutions. 1: Understand the product and set up a strategy Familiarize yourself with product vision and strategy Your first step is to understand the product’s “big picture” and the vision behind it. You’ll need to answer the following questions: What problem the product is solving? What value is it delivering? Who are the users? Who are the competitors? Who are the partners? Conduct stakeholder interviews In order to answer the questions above, you’ll need to meet with project stakeholders. In your interviews with them, ask for the following: Mission statements, strategy documents, organizational or team structure charts, etc. KPIs (key performance indicators) − to help you understand the most important features in the product by understanding what success looks like. Previous research they’ve conducted − including user research, market research, competitor analysis, etc. Create a roadmap Roadmaps facilitate team collaboration and clarity around priorities. Create a roadmap to help your team better understand: What is the ideal state of the product? What is the current state of the product? What steps need to be taken to meet the end goal and how should you prioritize them 2: Conduct user research User research is one of the most important steps in the product-design process. All of your team’s hard work, time, and money will be worthless if you end up making a product that no one wants to use or that can’t compete in the market. Here are some research methods to help you better understand your users and competitors: Establish user personas: A persona is a hypothetical character created to represent a major user group that might use your product in a similar way. Create user personas to better understand your product’s users and their needs, goals, and pain points. To create user personas, use the data you gathered in stakeholder interviews, conduct surveys, interviews, ethnographic research, etc. Create a user journey map: A user journey is the path a user takes through your product to achieve a certain goal. User journey maps show users’ thoughts and feelings while using the product or going through that journey. This makes it easier for you to identify areas for improvement since you see when your users are annoyed, confused, or happy. Develop your user journey maps using the feedback received through user testing, observations, data received from the support team, etc. Conduct a competitive analysis: Conduct market research or a competitive analysis to learn what other similar products or companies are doing and analyze how their problem/solution could map to your own problems. 3: Define your information architecture Information architecture helps you organize and structure the content of your product in a way that your users can find what they are looking for easily without having to go in circles. Create this structure for your product through any of these methods: Site maps Flow charts Card sorts 4: Discover problems Discovery is an important phase that allows designers to work with the entire team to define and research problems identified in steps 1-3, as well as gather enough information and initial direction on what to do next. Discovery will help you frame problems with all the evidence you need before moving to the ideation phase. 5: Ideate The ideation phase moves you from learning about your users and the problem to coming up with potential solutions. In this phase, gather together and come up with as many ideas as possible. The focus is on quantity, not quality. Some ideas may surface as the potential solutions to your problem. Others will end up in the reject pile. If carried out properly, an ideation session can lead you to find that groundbreaking solution that you and your users are looking for. 6: Perform user testing User testing gives you the opportunity to evaluate and validate your ideas with the users. At this stage, you’ll be able to gain deep information about your users’ behavioral patterns, preferences, and suggestions. Testing early during the design process allows you to prevent future re-design costs and to launch a user-friendly product. 7: Finalize the design With the usability testing complete, you can start updating the design according to the feedback you received. You will now design what the screens will actually look like and create the final UI through high fidelity wireframing and prototyping. 8: Communicate and collaborate Your last step is to share the design with developers and walk them through the entire user flow to give them the opportunity to review what needs to be implanted and raise any questions or concerns. Once the development starts, you might need to do any of the following tasks: Support developers : Provide guidance and answer questions about how things should look or work. Update: If there are technical limitations with implanting the design or new issues arise, get more user feedback and update the designs again. Review and desk check : When the development is completed and pushed to the test environment, review the work to make sure everything matches with your design. The benefits If you follow this process, you’ll be able to develop products with: More efficiency: Time, effort, and cost will be reduced by discovering and testing different ideas early in the process and moving forward with the solution that works best for both customers and the business. Higher customer satisfaction: Continuous research helps you understand and respond to users’ needs so that you are more competitive in the market, which helps you increase customer satisfaction remarkably. Accelerated development: Providing high-fidelity design and working closely with developers throughout the process prevents them from making changes and fixes that are avoidable (such as when mocks are not detailed enough or when they make the wrong assumptions), resulting in faster development. This high-level overview is a great starting point, but every organization and product has different needs. If you’d like to talk about how to improve your current product development process or how to establish a new one, contact us today.

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