In this episode of Impetus Digital‘s Fireside Chat, I sat down with Dr. Andree Bates, Founder & CEO of Eularis, to discuss how healthcare teams can utilize AI and “Future Tech” to solve their biggest commercial challenges and deliver measurable growth. Among many other interesting topics, we also dissected the concept of systems thinking, the barriers to adoption of “Future Tech”; Andree’s predictions for the roles that AI will play in healthcare, Pharma, and medical research in the future; and how AI be leveraged to improve patient-centricity.
See a sneak peek of our conversation below:
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your philosophy around systematic thinking as opposed to just looking at the functional parts?
A: I had to systematize things we were doing at Eularis, because, in the early days, there were lots of mistakes I made that caused me lots of headaches. For example, you really need to know about the data before you agree to a project. We have done projects where we thought we would have one big data source or 2 or 3 big data sources, and we get like 150 small data sources. Those sorts of things, you need to know. In the early days, I made a lot of mistakes like that, which I have learned the hard way.
It made me realize, with each mistake I made, that I needed to systematize so that we would not have these errors. I created a process, and I don’t know how anyone else does it, because I haven’t worked for anyone else in this space. But, I realized that, for us, what we needed to do was strategy first, planning everything to the nearest detail, before we agreed to do a project. There is always Phase 1 and that is always about how we approach things from the business problem. We are looking at what is the business problem that you want to solve? It is kind of like a consulting approach, I suppose. Then, we’re planning what’s the best solution for that business problem.
I guess the next phase we look at is data, because that is the whole thing. What data is available around this business problem? I actually have a process for looking at that. Once we have got the data, we think of what is possible to solve this problem with that data. We use design thinking in the way that we approach this. Then, we design an innovative solution, preferably. I like to do things before other people do. Then, we plan it and we do what I call a “roadmap.” I have heard other people call these roadmaps. I don’t know if it’s the same as ours or not, as I’ve been seeing them. What I consider a roadmap is a proper roadmap, and that is when you’ve got your business case, list of your data that you have already looked at, and know whether it is feasible to use or not.
You have also got the AI approach we’re going to use. Obviously, there are lots of different approaches. Then, do we need a tech stack or not? Is it just a data science project or a machine learning kind of project? If we need a tech stack, what is the best tech stack? There are new startups in Silicon Valley every day and there are great ones, and there are old fashioned ones, and you just have to make sure you’ve got the right tech stack and the right AI for each of any problems. Then, we look at how many hours of each team member’s time it’s going to take and how long you schedule. Basically, it’s a plan for the project.
Either we can do it, or the client’s internal team can do it, or they can also take it to another vendor. But, I always start with that, because that way–it’s never going to be a perfect estimate of what it’s going to take. You probably have a ballpark because you really don’t know what’s going to happen until you start working with the data–but it’s going to be a pretty good educated estimate by that stage…
For more of our discussion, you can watch the whole Fireside Chat with Dr. Andree Bates, or listen to the podcast version, below.
To check out previous Fireside Chats and to make sure that you don’t miss any future updates, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or our podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, kindly leave a review on iTunes.
About Impetus Digital
Impetus Digital is the spark behind sustained healthcare stakeholder communication, collaboration, education, and insight synthesis. Our best-in-class technology and professional services ensure that life science organizations around the world can easily and cost-effectively grow and prosper—from brand or idea discovery to development, commercialization, execution, and beyond—in collaboration with colleagues, customers, healthcare providers, payers, and patients.