During this pandemic, it became critical for people to self-assess whether they are infected with the virus or not. People started taking appointments with general practitioners over a video or voice call. It helped the healthcare professionals to screen the patients from remote locations. Telemedicine apps like Mdlive made the fight against Covid-19 possible by allowing practitioners to schedule and conduct video conferencing appointments via mobile devices. The purpose was to limit the footfall at hospitals or clinics and reduce the person-to-person interaction.
However, it was nearly impossible for healthcare professionals worldwide to consult every patient personally. To address this issue, apps like Livi made use of AI-powered cognitive healthcare agents, which can help patients in risk-assessment over a web chat or voice call. These AI-powered solutions are capable of analysing symptoms and other risk factors based on the guidelines of WHO or CDC (Disease Control and Prevention). This has helped millions of people to the virus without putting additional load on the healthcare infrastructure.
Top 4 applications of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
It has been seen that AI and ML technologies have enormous possibilities in the healthcare sector. Here I’m breaking down the applications of AI and ML, which are being used to revamp the healthcare infrastructure.
Automated Research
When it comes to disease research and treatments, it is not possible to overstate how broad the world of Transforming Healthcare is. For a century, universities and labs around the world have been researching the cure and prevention for existing as well as potential diseases. Connecting and synchronising all of the research can potentially result in making the research faster and more meaningful.
As the time passes, more and more research is being published and it becomes tough for the medical practitioners and pharma companies to stay tuned with them. Systematic reviews are conducted by bringing data together from several different studies. But, these reviews are painstakingly labour intensive and often take years to compile the data and summarise.
In December 2018, Cochrane community, British international charitable organisation for medical research findings, in collaboration with Microsoft, conducted a project named ‘Project Transform’. The project was aimed at conducting systematic reviews using AI technology to boost the process of systematic reviews.
The medical researches can also leverage the potential of Machine Learning technology to analyse trail reports by automating the literature search using ‘text mining’. The AI technology can help in identifying, categorising, and inspecting thousands of randomised trials to find the appropriate ones for systematic reviews. By using the AI and ML technology, the Project Transform by Cochrane community realised 60-80% reduction in their research efforts.
One of the biggest breakthroughs of AI in drug research and development occurred in 2007 when the medical researchers used a robotic software named ‘Adam’, which had researching functions of yeast, to analyse billions of data sets in public domain in order to hypothesize about the function of 19 genes in the yeast. The software algorithm predicted 9 new hypotheses which were accurate.
What is Cloud Computing Technology?
Cloud computing technology as its name describes a data center for many users over the internet to save and secure data storage and computing power. In cloud computing allows to build and interact with information over a computer system. We can host systems, servers virtually or online servers that connect with your computer through a safe network. There are three types of cloud computing private, public and hybrid cloud. Cloud computing offers many benefits like networking, analytics, servers, and database storage. It helps to reduce investment in large-scale infrastructure and IT costs. These days IT Companies, people, and organizations are going with the cloud way due to the immediate availability of cloud services. Cloud computing technology helps them to innovate in the IT field. You are using many cloud-based applications in your daily life tasks, for example, you send an image, file via cloud solutions, and play online games on your latest electronic gadgets. All these services are stored in the cloud server and exist in digital space.
How does it Work?
The cloud is a digital space where the decentralized place is available to share information through networks. Each cloud has a dedicated host and connected via networks. A hosting company is managing the data centers that provide the security, storage capacity and computing power needed to maintain all of the information users send to the cloud. The front end consists of the client’s computer and on the back end various computer, servers, and storage systems that make up the cloud. Each cloud computing system has the same user interface.
Types of Cloud Computing Technology
1.Public cloud
A public cloud is a data center that is hosted and fully managed by a third-party vendor. In this cloud, many cloud resources to build IT infrastructure are available such as memory, storage, and processing unit.
2.Private cloud
A private cloud is a host and operated by a single owner and organization. It is located physically or on a company on-site data center. All services and infrastructure are maintained by a private network. This cloud computing hosts a private cloud for all applications.
3.Hybrid cloud
Hybrid cloud combines public and private cloud. This bounding allows user business great flexibility, deployment, and security. The host can analyze, share and compute information between them.
Benefits of Cloud Computing Technology
Security
Scalability
Control Choices
Security Features
Efficiency
Accessibility
Streamlined Work
Collaboration
Examples of Cloud Computing
Communication system
Health Care Services
Business Process
Government Services
Big data Analytics
Banking and Financial Services.
Education Services
Launching an app might look easy yet a profitable idea to you, but in reality, there is a lot developing a successful app asks for. When it comes to mobile apps the principle of ‘build it and they will come’ doesn’t apply.
If you want your target audience to download and use your app, it is imperative that you provide them with all the functionality that they will need in the app. It is essential for you to know what are the pain points of your target user base that your app can solve.
Many businesses just copy the apps that are trending. Simply creating duplicate apps to leverage the common trend won’t be suffice. If you want to scoop your share out of the common trend, you can choose elements from other apps, but use them in your app in a way that they make your app unique.
You can identify what the user needs in the following categories:
App Features
App features are the biggest selling point of a mobile app. Features like personalised notification, reminders, and ease of payment make the user journey flawless. Whilst undertaking custom mobile application development, companies need to include the most popular features that are in high demand..
Features that once were marketed as advanced features are now considered as the basic features for apps. The expectation of users in terms of app features is evolving and companies need to take it into account that out-of-date features can be catastrophic for mobile apps. This means that people who download the app and don’t like the app because of the lack of features, may put negative reviews or spread negative word-of-mouth about the application.
Before you jump on custom mobile app development, it is important that you create a list of features that are offered in similar apps to yours. Based on your app’s uniqueness, there might also be a need for some unique features, so don’t forget to prioritise them in your product requirement document.
Services
People download apps for specific purposes. Some of these purposes are to chat to someone, shop online, track fitness or make payments. Undoubtedly, the sole purpose of the app will be to generate revenue or bring business for your company, but you cannot forget about the end user’s needs.
What often occurs is that the development company or your in-house team does not have a clear understanding about the how and why the services in your app are needed to cater to the users. In such situations you should describe your app idea in detail to them so that the developing aligns with the purpose of the app.
Before you roll out your app development process, you should reexamine your market niche, and determine the pain points of your customers within your niche. You need to make sure that your app relieves your customers from those pain points. This is to make sure that your app exists to solve real issues rather than being just another app in the app store.
User Expectations
This mistake is made more often while planning and developing a mobile app. It is often forgotten that ever since the mobile apps were introduced into the digital world, their capabilities have only been evolving. As a result, the users have been used to certain quality and standards for mobile apps.
Because of this, the user expectation becomes extremely high because the app stores are filled with hundreds of mobile apps similar to yours, and the user can switch to another app at any given time. Thus, if you are launching a new app, you should have this clear idea about your target user’s expectations. The companies should also keep in consideration that the expectations are ever-changing and will evolve with time, therefore the mobile app should be ready for the change.
Mobile App Development Mistake #2: Incompetent technology utilisation Poor Back-End Infrastructure
You might have come across some very terrible apps that crash every few seconds and are full of glitches, so much so, that they don’t seem to be getting anything done. These glitches can sometimes cause total non-functioning of certain features, or even result in the app not starting at all.
Even your loyal customers have a limit to the amount of glitches and crashes that they will tolerate.. New users will just abandon your app. When trying their first mobile app, many companies release apps with poorly executed back-end that aren’t sufficient to handle the basic functionality of the app. Releasing such apps does nothing but annoy your loyal customers. Forget about building your customer base, you’ll lose your existing customers if you launch an app with a poor back-end.
Companies launch such apps when they are in a rush to get their app out ASAP or when they don’t pay much attention to the back-end. It’s true that skipping some steps will get their app rolled out quickly, but the consequence of this approach is that the app is less likely to serve the purpose. Thus, it is essential to invest adequate time and resources to make the app worth downloading for the users.
A Request For Proposal is a document that explains enough details about your software project and the services you require, so that the potential software development partners can send you their bespoke proposals. The proposals will contain information regarding the technology preferences, development methodologies, development and deployment process, estimated cost, and many other aspects.
An RFP is very necessary for complex projects that require technical recommendations. Hence, in the hunt of the right software development partner, you should draft an RFP for your project. With an RFP in place, you’ll be able to identify and address certain challenges with your project and this will also help find possible solutions for these issues. Responses on the RFP will allow you to compare different software developers, their pricing models, competencies, and development process. A perfect RFP document will enable you to:
Compare different software developers based on their alignment with your project
Have a deep understanding of your project.
Identify potential challenges with your project.
Save time on introducing and explaining the project to software developers in several meetings. You can simply send the RFP to potential software developers. It will give them the required insight into your project and based on that they can respond.
Are RFI and RFQ the same as RFP?
Based on the type of information you are seeking for your project, you may have to send different documents of requests. However, there is some similarity among all of the request documents, but first, let’s briefly discuss other request documents:
Request For Quotation (RFQ)
Often referred to as RFQ, a Request For Quotation is the document that companies prepare when they want to compare software developers by their proposed cost. Preparing the RFQ is very starightforward but it isn’t advisable to rely only on the price while selecting the perfect software development partner.
An RFQ is an indication that you’re not seeking suggestions from the software developers, you just want someone to code for you in the lowest possible budget. If you think this is suitable for your project, go for it. But, if you want the software developer to proactively find the best possible solution for your project, you should consider drafting an RFP instead.
What will you require to prepare RFQ?
Detailed list of requirements
User Experience flows and user journey
Wireframes or sketched designs
Request for Information (RFI)
If you want software development companies to officially present you with their information related to their capabilities, services, pricing etc. you should draft an RFI. It will enable you to gather information about that particular software development company, and based on the information received, you can decide whether or not you want to share your project details with them.
RFI is also used for screening. It will help you select 3-4 software development companies to whom you will send your RFP.
What you’ll need to draft an RFI?
General information about your project
Your business goals
Some questions that are related to your project and that will help you select the best partner.
Request For Proposal Process
Drafting an RFP to find a perfect software development partner is not only time-consuming but also stressful and difficult, if the process is not done in the proper manner. This is likely to be one of your first steps towards getting your software built, and the choice you make here will directly affect the end product. To make sure that you capture the potential of different bidders, you should have a plan for carrying out your RFP.
Planning the RFP
Drafting the RFP
Issuing the RFP
Reviewing the Responses
Planning the RFP
Before you jump into writing the RFP document, you need to plan it first. First thing you should do is to assign a project manager to make sure that the RFP process keeps moving forward. You should be aware of your project constraints such as competitiveness, industry regulations, project deadlines, target market, the work you’ve already done, etc. You’ll be mentioning these constraints and challenges within the RFP.
Some common project constraints:
Desired project launch date: This will help the development companies to identify your business goals and determine the necessary resource allocation and cost.
Already procured software, hardware, and licenses. This will help the development companies to determine the most appropriate technology choices.
Budget range: Set your financial expectations upfront so that the app development company can provide a relevant proposal in accordance with your budget.
Drafting the RFP – Take help from the Request For Proposal Format
Now when you’ve planned for your RFP, now is the time to create it. To make sure that the bidder gets a clear picture of your project, you should draft your RFP based on the following Request For Proposal format.
Project overview – In the first section, you should summarise the most important pieces of information. This will help the bidder to understand your project at a strategic level.
Objective and goals – Here you’ll write the problems and challenges your software application is expected to solve. You’ll also talk about the purpose of the software application and what you want to achieve with it.
Rough project scope – You should include a rough project scope in your RFP. It doesn’t have to be very technical, instead you can just roughly describe what you’re trying to build. You should write down all the benefits that you think the end-user will get from using the software. You should list down the desired software features, along with the priority ranking for these features. This will make it easier for the software development bidder to plan the project in phases.
Milestones and deadlines – It doesn’t matter if you have a clear deadline or not, for the sake of the RFP, you should put a delivery deadline based on your idea. It will help the bidder assess the required resource allocation for the given timeline. You can also mention project milestones in the RFP.
Technical specifications – You may already have a technology preference for your software solution. This preference may be in terms of operating system, developing platform, hosting services or cloud services. If you do have existing preferences, it is best to include all of them in the RFP.
Put some questions – Every development company has their own set of service agreements. Hence, it will be useful to ask them about their support services, warranties (if any) and payment terms.
Selection criteria, submission deadline, and selection process – This section is here for you to convey the selection process and criteria to the bidders. With this, the development house will have a better idea about what type of software development company that you are looking for. This will also help them understand the date that they need to submit their response by.
Contact details – Provide your contact details and details of where you want the bidders to submit their response to. The contact details can also be used if the app development company needs to ask any questions.
Issuing the RFP
Once you’ve crafted your RFP, you should share it with relevant individuals within your network, send it to the development companies that you’re already in touch with and publish it on relevant sites/platforms. Once you have done this, you will need to start managing the responses and responding to the questions asked by the bidders.
If this next process is not managed well, the RFP responses can quickly get out of control. You will receive dozens of responses, and you should start shortlisting companies after receiving the first few responses. You should be prepared to coordinate the responses and connect with the companies with favourable responses. You can give them an opportunity to present their proposals in person over a video conference or face to face meeting.
It is true that you will not have the time and resources to engage with many bidders. Throughout the time, we’ve seen companies responding to only the top 5 bids, and I would recommend the same number to you.
Reviewing the Responses
Reviewing your potential partners to make the final choice will require you to analyse the responses they’ve made to the RFP. You will also have to answer the questions, which they may have raised. One way to evaluate the responses is to use scores for particular criterias.
For example, you can decide on important criteria for selection. These criteria may include the vendor’s past relevant experience, recent deliverable quality, client reviews, awards and recognitions, pricing, expertise, answer to RFP queries and so on. You can assign importance weightings (ranging from 1 to 10) to each particular criteria. The final score will help you make your decision.
Things to avoid while writing an RFP
Keeping everything as the top priority – You might feel it right to consider every feature equally important. But in reality, you’ll have to prioritize the software features so that the bidder can have the opportunity to craft the most realistic and optimum solution in accoradnce with your budget and timeline. If you are realistic with the RFP, the bidder will also be realistic with their response.
Suggesting solutions – The goal of an RFP is to ask bidders the solution to your problems. This way, you’ll better analyse their strengths and cognitive capabilities. If you yourself become the problem-solver and push your solutions in the RFP, you are likely to limit the range of possible solutions. Thus, let the bidders surprise you with their problem-solving skills.
Rushing for the response – Responding to an RFP takes time. The bidder will have to analyse your RFP, brainstorm ideas, find a perfect solution, and estimate the budget. All of this isn’t possible to do overnight. To expect a high quality response, RFPs should come with a timeline of 2-3 weeks.
It isn’t difficult to draft a perfect RFP
It really isn’t, when you know what to include. In this article, we’ve discussed the essential elements you can include in your RFP, but you shouldn’t be limited to these components. Try to include all the information that can be helpful for the bidders to craft a perfect solution for you.
One thing is clear, if you want big software development companies to take your project seriously, you should have an RFP. If you are not sure what to include in your RFP, you can refer to the above-mentioned Request For Proposal format. It will allow you to create a great RFP document.