There’s an app for that

A meeting with someone who probably says that sentence a lot

Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

 

Today we had a new visitor at Indigo Medical HQ.

And our guest took no time to tell us how many times he has failed in his life. I immediately knew that I was going to like this guy.

Aman Birdi, the taller-than-expected founder and Managing Director of Digiruu, thankfully also waxed lyrical about his many successes, beaming from ear-to-ear whilst proudly showing off his teams’ widely acclaimed iOS apps.

So what, I can almost hear you collectively say? London based app developers are more prevalent than pretentious coffee shops. Well, I’ll tell you what — Aman is also a trained, practicing Pharmacist. Who knows a hell of a lot about digital. And his modus operandi on gleaning what his new customers actually want is simple, yet refreshing, to hear:

 

“We often have customers ask for something but actually want something else. It is our job to provide options, help the customer understand these options and advise on the best option to take before we start any project. At Digiruu we always run a short workshop to ascertain what the intended value of the app is before committing to any development”

 

Clearly fans of Simon Sineks’ “Start with Why”, Aman and his team develop apps that provide real value to their customers.

 

Calling all early adopters: let’s disrupt!

Soon after Aman departed our offices, the Indigo team started to discuss apps in pharma, and aside from the apps developed by Indigo employees (whilst at Indigo or at previous agencies) we couldn’t between us name one pharma originated app that benefits the patient.

Why is that?

Is it because our industry prefers the safety of websites to convey messages? Or is it because pharma companies have a blind spot around apps and the apparent threat of misuse or the relative ease to copycat an app?

We recalled another comment from Aman during our earlier discussion:

“Focus on the early adopters and don’t be dragged into calculating the ROI for the platform with the client”

 

Calling all early adopters

We can’t help but think that for a VALUABLE, disease specific pharmaceutical app to truly become a reality, there must be combination of efforts from within the pharmaceutical sector as a whole. Many of you will have rolled your eyes at the thought. Cross collaboration between rival pharma companies normally gets legal, and as such very, very complicated.

However, with transparency in clinical trials making headway (check out AllTrials.net), maybe it is time that we disrupt the pharma digital landscape and develop apps that patients actually want.

And if you are reading this and have some thoughts, let’s start the conversation and maybe begin a pharmaceutical + Indigo Medical + Digiruu Collaboration. 

Let’s make an app for that.

 

Indigo Medical love creating digital platforms with scientifically robust content and engaging interfaces.

Digiruu is on a mission to provide startups with the best design and development skills to create apps that excite and innovate. Apps that create change in our lives.

Creating change is a journey. Think of us as the driving force to that journey, a propellant to take your app idea from zero to launch and beyond. It’s the journey we go with you.