With a growing ageing population in Western countries, embracing digital transformation is critical for the healthcare industry.
Such technologies will help facilitate and enable people to better understand and care for their conditions through things like educational digital experiences and smart therapy companion applications, said Chet Kolley, group vice president of healthcare and life sciences for GlobalLogic.
“By enabling people to better care for themselves, we’ll also help direct scarce healthcare resources to the people who most urgently or acutely need human intervention and the allocation of these resources,” said Kolley.
The focus is creating a wellness environment to help people avoid or mitigate common chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure. This includes remote patient monitoring, which can help focus resources on the areas or patients that need them most.
“As we transition increasingly into a healthcare in the home environment, we need to use digital experiences and technology where people can be monitored where they’re living,” he said.
GlobalLogic has extensive experience in this area, having designed, developed, tested, and delivered Class II and III medical device software for over 20 years. The primary focus of its 2,000-strong team is on helping its customers capture additional opportunities, or solve problems more efficiently.
With that now involving medical devices used by patients or caregivers connecting to cloud-based systems, it can avail of big data analysis, which can power novel and unique digital experiences that can help patients and make the best use of the latest technologies.
“We are proud of having a substantial impact on our customers’ ability to create life-saving, sense-restoring, or health-enhancing products and services, such as automated electronic defibrillators and other cardiac devices and systems,” said Kolley.
“These are systems that either restore life, sustain life, or improve life. For example, we work with a customer on cochlear implant clinical software which restores hearing to people either who have lost it or who have never had it.
“We also support with all manner of diabetes-related products and services that are intended to make someone who is affected with diabetes live a completely normal life. All of these types of systems are gratifying ways in which we operate with our clients.”
While these systems have greatly helped patients, they also face the same concerns as other connected software and hardware. Cybersecurity is a significant issue for health sectors and agencies worldwide, compounded by the continuously evolving connected device and connected therapy environment.
It’s a concern GlobalLogic takes seriously, making sure all next-generation connected medical devices or healthcare systems have secure and safeguarded data and systems.
“We’re all tasked with staying abreast of both the regulatory environment and the prevailing threat environment,” he said.
“Everybody is attuned to it and focused on it, and it’s incumbent on us all to follow the regulations, be aware of the threats that are ever-evolving, and be vigilant in how we design, develop, and put into place digital systems.”
Alongside devices, GlobalLogic has been using the latest technologies, such as AI, machine learning (ML), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) for years.
Core to this and its culture is understanding its customers’ environment and situation, aiding them in making good choices and making the best use of available technology.
“A lot of our engagements with our clients begin with advisories where, primarily, our role is to understand the situation and help clients find a path forward, either towards capturing an opportunity or solving a problem,” explained Kolley.
Some examples of AI being used include helping to predict battery end-of-life for automated electronic defibrillators, as well as a proof of concept to help recognise suspected malignancy in lung tumours.
It also used AR and VR to improve the out-of-the-box experience with CPAP machines for patients with sleep apnea, to help them get up and running on therapy as quickly and easily as possible.
That experience of innovation and dedication to Medtech extends to GlobalLogic’s presence in Ireland, which has seen it recently enter the market by acquiring Sidero. Its links are significant, being a Hitachi Group company, which has many businesses here.
“GlobalLogic’s roots are as a venture-funded startup company, helping our fellow portfolio companies hit milestones and be successful in a very competitive market,” he said.
“We still look to do that today – we work with early-stage companies, helping them to hit their milestones on a path towards success. I see this as a nice fit for our stage as a company. It’s great to have a presence in Ireland and to be co-located where many of our existing and desired customers are.”