This is the most comprehensive guide to app development for ‘non-developers’ in the healthcare marketplace right now. It has been developed in collaboration with both technical and marketing experts who work within both the healthcare and other supporting sectors.
Learn how to craft one of the most important but yet one of the most under-valued aspects of developing a mobile healthcare app – the brief!
6. What this webinar is
Practical with links of useful tools and
documents for you to take away and use
Not a market statistics dump
By the end of it, you will have a means of
creating a blueprint for your product
7. What We Do
“We move healthcare organisations from
traditional, paper intensive led processes
to one that encompasses a digital
approach.”
7
8. This of course includes…
The design, development and deployment of:
Mobile Applications
Medical websites
Healthcare marketing
8
10. Why have we done this?
Most undervalued yet important part of
an app development project…
…the brief
11.
12.
13. You are building something great here. A
product, not a bit of IT software
And when you have built it, then what?
Do you know?
14. Why are you doing this?
Your boss has told you to go away and develop an app
but you don’t know where to start?
You need to apply for funding?
You have a great idea and need to convince the board
to gain approval?
You’re an agency and you need to get your clients into
line!
21. Before you start
Challenge yourself to say “I don’t know” first
So when entering this exercise, don’t go in with
ideas, listen.
22. “The only way to remain great is to keep on
applying the fundamental principles that made
you great”
Jim Collins, Good to Great; why companies make the leap and other don't
24. “The aim of marketing is to know and
understand the customer so well the product
or service fits him and sells itself.”
Peter F. Drucker
25.
26. Free data
• Google analytics can provide you a wealth of
information, demographic and behaviour
• Existing apps
Don’t know?
• Then ask!
• Simple survey, 15 questions
• Paper, iPad
• Try this – www.polldaddy.com
27. What you want to do is
build up a persona
Still want more data?
Try these –
https://www.pollfish.com
https://www.quicksurveys.com
http://www.onepoll.com
http://www.google.com/insights/consu
mersurveys/home
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com
Try this – persona sheet
29. • Help them to visualise your goal
• Video, graphics and moodboards
• Doesn’t have to be complex
• Try these –
• https://niice.co
• www.pintrest.com
• Moodboard (lite)
43. Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC(MDD)8
When is software a Medical Device?
May 2015
PAS 277: 2015 launched
June 2015
NIB Kitemarking proposals published
End of 2015
Kitemarking to begin
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/medical-devices-software-applications-apps
Member 47561908
50. Read all about it!
Dynamic or static
content?
New content
required?
Will you link off to
a website?
Images?
Video?
51. Think about video
Videos shot in the vertical position are
viewed in completion 9x more than videos
shot horizontally
52. What Is App Indexing?
• Google will index apps just like websites
• Apps will then appear in search
Check these out:
https://www.integratedchange.net/using-app-deep-links-to-market-your-
healthcare-app
https://developers.google.com/app-indexing/
56. Will the app connect to a database?
What is the data?
Who owns the data?
What type of database is it?
Is external access allowed?
Internal data/security governance?
What data stays on the device – any?
External data compliance?
Database Check…
https://www.wcppe.org.uk/sites/default/files/file/NES/CaldicottPrinciples-DataProtectionAct.pdf
You can use the Q&A facility on the webinar tools, happy to answer these as we go along, if I feel relevant or leave them to the end.
Time wise, I think this will run to 35 minutes there is a lot to get through so lets get going. First just a few slides on us, I know when I attend webinars you have to listen for 5-10 minutes on a sales pitch about who the company is but I’m going to keep this really brief as you are here to listen to brief creation.
I just want to set some expectations here about this webinar really.
Somebody mentioned to me last week that it’s a webinar on written English literature or grammar, well no it isn't. I think they took the title too literally!
You don’t have to be a designer or UX expert (maybe you are)
You don’t have to be a developer or understand the lingo (or maybe you are you)
>title> The webinar is about to write your healthcare app brief and the 12 items you must include, they why, where, when, what and who. What you will find is that these 12 items will really get you thinking and in some cases, will bring you to the conclusion that an app isn't right. Quite often when we receive a brief, we assess in say the same back to our clients. >then show the points
It’s going to challenge you
I’m not going to tell you how big mHealth is and the how the world has changed because of smartphones – you may already know which is why you are on this webinar so I wont insult your intelligence. But if you want to know then check out our blog www.integratedchange.net/blog
And any webinar wouldn't’t be complete with a just an overview on who we are and don’t worry, this is very short because we have a lot to get through…
If I could explain what we do, then I would say this…and this isn't just about digital patient records it’s about building a product that people have a desire and need to use
As well as other aspects such as web design and marketing. We blend these services into one, they do not operate in isolation.
18 years in digital, over 70 projects delivered, nimble and innovative agency and we speak openly and honestly. OK, that’s done, there, that wasn’t too painful was it!
So when I was writing the whitepaper it got me thinking why I was doing this and there are a few good reasons because there are a number of issues in developing an app and it actually starts at the brief.
In my 18 years working in digital (show slide) I’ve seen the wonderful to the bizarre to the outright terrible project briefs.
I was also reading on a site and they said the first point to make a great app is is to get all of your features sorted first…well, that’s wrong, the first thing you need to do is start with a brief and the brief btw isnt about features, it’s way more than that. Much wider…
Communication – often very disjointed between what the client wants and what the developer thinks
- There isn't an industry standard or conformity to work to but why would you spend money on something that may not be right from the outset, isn't planned with solid foundations? >slide now
That’s like saying you are going to build a house here and think about it later…
-You have a project whereby you feel it’s just fell from edge already…
So remember –
and I think in healthcare that’s the main issue.
The brief will help to plan this out and in some cases, its your business plan
- Well, I’m no mind reader but a few suggestions:
- A project for your hospital or patients, clinic or charity
- Maybe you have a personal idea and want to know what the process is
- If its part of your marketing plan, patient outreach, doctor recruitment, workflow improvement you will need what I’m going to run through
Or, you could be in one of these countries…
If any of these resonate with you, you’ve come to the right place.
offering the best market conditions for mobile health app companies in Europe…
Over 5,000 app developers, healthcare professionals and mHealth practitioners were asked to rank European countries based on their experience.
Out of these five countries though, the UK emerged as the leader according to 55% of mHealth practitioners. The study revealed that this is primarily due to the openness and positive attitude many doctors in the UK have when it comes to new technology and integrating mHealth solutions into patient treatments.
It is an insight into how ready European countries really are to adopt mHealth and the challenges that some countries are yet to overcome.
There is a big play in Europe at the moment for this, with the second eHealth Action Plan 2012-2020 from the European Commission is a road map outlining the key actions required to deliver cross-border Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for health and wellbeing.
The main objective of the Action Plan is to develop a digital single market to generate smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe, supporting healthcare providers and developers. The EU’s proposed research and innovation funding programme Horizon 2020 includes more than €8 billion in support of research and deployment in digital health, giving freedom to develop mobile technologies and apps.
Or, it could be that your customers have asked for one…
I mean wow, this is the holy grail. You’ve made it…well not quite because you still need to validate this and developing an app can feel like a leap of faith
But it shouldn't’t…
Or it feels like you are really up against up, maybe you are trying to refresh a project or start a new one, it can be quite daunting sometimes but it shouldn't’t…
So, what this webinar will do, is help you to plan out exactly your blueprint for the app, overcome some of the issues and help to integrate some answers for your product. Remember it’s a product and just because we have patients doesn’t mean that at some stage of their journey they wont become consumers, because they will. Think of it as a business plan because in essence it is.
And that’s important because
Business plan – don’t be silly.
The brief isn't telling somebody what to do – its your blueprint for a business plan to create a product.
Really like the happy start-up canvas, pins down some of your core ideas like values, challenges, core mission and so on. Remember also that story telling is really important so think about that aspect. Success is in your hands here. Engagement
Swallow your pride.
A design mantra – dare yourself to say “I don’t know” first
So when entering this exercise, don’t go in with ideas, listen. Small amount of conceptual enquiry will go a long way later
And remember…<next slide>
…what makes you good and keep doing it…this should be the life and sole of your app, the heartbeat of the product.
When I talk about users, they are not just external consumers, but also your staff.
“Customers will download your healthcare app for their reasons, not yours.” but how many times we come across the fact that healthcare organisations sometimes don’t know their customers. They have access to mass of data too but that could just be clinical but you still have some data, in retail for example, they have create loyaly cards to get deep data, in health you may have it already. It depends on the product of course.
All too often assumptions are made and they can be made incorrectly
Sometimes, you have to get out of the engine room and onto the bridge – “From Acorns; Caspian Woods”
…and look in the obvious places for data
Google analytics – search and chat functions of the site, man they provide a wealth of information, who and where they are and what they are doing. Look at search queries in your site pages or online chat – you can obtain some great detail from this
Ask
Create a simple survey and one of the best places to do this is the waiting room. Here you have a captive audience, they are waiting for you! Give out paper surveys with pre and post authorisation forms, give them out when they enter or do what we did and install an iPad with a survey app on it and let it do the work for you.
If you don’t have access to users directly, then go out to where you think they are and distribute the survey electronically.
Also think about focus groups, interviews and workshops
Who is your ideal customer profile.
Market research tools – some are free some are low cost.
The point of all this is that you can start to build your service proposition around them, build your messaging and value around what you have discovered, being best isn't always going to win, been different is. So build your value to this premise.
I’m a big believer in this…stakeholders to the project or inputters to the project can appear in the most unlikely places and yet they are right in front of you. So when discovering who your customers are, consider a quick scan around your internal environment – what can they tell you.
Be surprised. – inject this into the persona sheet and see what happens
Call centrest are great to work out what scripts are been used and the conversations people have
Once you know the customer and you can engage with them
Nice - Niice’s focused drag & drop interface makes it easy to create stunning moodboards in minutes, moodboard lite is free and is a drag and drop tool
This is a whole webinar in itself, in fact many of these points are but you need to think about this is a big way. It doesn’t matter whether its internal or external, there has to be marketing. Free app or paid for, in-app purchase, advertising – engagement comes before monetiztion but what will be your payback period…your boss will want to know, how can it affect the bottom line or how will measure productivity.
Acquisition: free routes like blogger outreach (grouphigh.com), buzzstream http://journalisted.com, editorials but even better guest editorials, review sites, magazines (magazinesubscriptions.co.uk/magazines for a list) patient groups, (helpareporter.com, flacklist.com) canteens, intranets, external websites, twitter (backtweets.com – search for links on twitter), facebook (Apple provides some great tools for marketing like banners, paid advertising like Google click to call) the options are varied and in some cases costly.
pressreleases@apple.com
AppStorePromotion@apple.com
AppoftheWeek@apple.com
Retention: it can be sometimes easier to get new users but it’s much harder to keep them so try push messaging (STATS?) we use Urban Airtship and there are others, email campaigns can be very powerful to keep them updated…retention is hard but whilst both of these stragies require different approaches, they share the same thing – MEASUREMENT. You cant assess anything with out
Plan for uncertainties and think about when new products are being launched and OS updates. These could swing it massively.
Apple is $99, Google play is $25, windows is either £12 as an individual or £65 as a company.
Check out their marketing resources too – very extensive and free!
What can you piggy back to gain some free exposure or when people are really heightened for it…so, two big events here
Apple Hi-Res Audio, aPPLE TV opening up the app store, iPad Plus (or iPad Pro), iPhone 7, iOS9 in September
People don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do it…so make you know why you are doing this and that will help to set you up. So move away from what you are doing which leads to a stream of faster/better/cheaper claims about the superiority of their product or service to why.
Nearly 23 million views
Listen to this, it’s truly brilliant.
As I mentioned in the last slide, all too often people focus on the solution they are building rather than why and for this point, objectives, the same is true. Quite often these objectives are dilluted by the building of the product.
It’s a scary world out there and there are lots of reasons, not just one for these figures but I do wonder sometimes that these figures are impacted by a lack of item 1 and 2 so far…
1. MVP
2. Fail fast with small iterations
3. Timebox it, as in the marketing slide, when do you want to meet your objectives
Small experiments fail fast, Understand the use case with a non device approach, don’t try and win the world
Having a clear purpose brings real meaning to your project and the people who are all involved, you must promote this, always. Write it down on the wall and keep it there.…otherwise it will just float away and it will feel rather empty. Not good.
Where will the app be used – detailing the scenarios will help to understand how the app will behave and what it should do when for example, it’s in an area of no connectivity.
Will it need an online and offline mode, settings to tell the user to upload only on wifi, data networks and connectivity, wifi etc. Will it store data and then upload when in a wifi zone, does it need access to GPS?
A lot of changes happening in this sector, for sure. I cant speak for the FDA and the American system but I’m certain from what I read that it is no different and that means a bit of a grey area
So, let me give you an overview of what is happening.
1. MDD, Medical Device Directive – governing medical apps in the UK is determined at European level, although medical apps are not specifically mentioned! In the UK, MHRA is responsible for interpretation and enforcing the UK legislation. Such a grey area this one…
2. BSI PAS 277 – this is a set of standards for health and wellness apps, both healthcare professional and general public. This provides a set of quality standards and aims to ensure that the public and HCP’s only have access to ones that are safe which…
3. Is covered by the DoH Personalised Health and Care 2020 framework which refers to the introduction of kitemarking.This is a national approach to the accreditation and kitemarking of apps, devices and digital services. Thisis in order to support innovation, and consumer and professional confidence, including enabling GPs to be able to prescribe them. It will publish proposals by June 2015 and kitemaking of apps will begin by the end of 2015. Kitemarked services will be able to use the NHS brand and to be accessible through NHS Choices.
So, a lot going on and we are a BSI member ourselves and too much to cover here but the link at the bottom will help
At this point you should have a good idea of what is going to be included. If not, go through those points again.
Must – features must be included but remember the work you have done so far in this exercise, keep it simple and solve high value problems only
Should – high priority
Could – desirable but not necessary
Want – a nice to have
The key thing with this technique is that it helps you to plan out the roadmap for the app, build in new features over a period of time, listen to feedback and prioritise them; a product road map in itself has high marketing value. Oh, and tell your users about the roadmap, keep them interested.
For inspiration on this, you may want to try something called the 6-3-5 brainwriting. It’s used in creating content but can be used here also for ideas for apps.
6 people have 5 minutes to write down 3 ideas, they then pass this round (6 rounds of 5 minutes) – 108 ideas in 30 minutes, granted not all will be good.
We’ve already talked about asking people in the survey from earlier, you should have asked what device they use. From the surveys we have done over the last three years, I would say nearly all of them come out as iOS as the majority rule. That’s kinda interesting because all you ever see is that Android is this massive power house but you see the thing is, it isnt. It’s just that installed on 19,000 different handsets…my mother in law has an Android device, a nexus 4 which I gace her but she doesn’t know that!
We have so many debates about this so put down those persoanl preferences and find out the facts, remember GA, surveys etc. But this comes down again to your end users, what do they use. I mean that’s quite simple but one thing for sure is that you should not develop on them both at the same time.
The whole argument about Android fragmentation and Apple iOS8 not seeing as fast growth as iOS 7 but the figures speak for themselves. This is something that you will at some point, when I get to point 12 need to talk to your developers and designers about. Android 5 is new approach to design with new API’s and features but my advice is proceed with caution and knowledge in hand.
Then think about the device, smartphone or tablet.
Will the tablet app have a unique view because of the extra real estate (yes) or should you go for a universal app with the same view on smartphone and tablet?
This item is about as elusive as the brief itself. I cant believe this gets missed so often.
It’s a major part in web development, the structure of a website is built around its content. We see this, for some reason forgotten about when considering apps. Content will play a massive role in the useability of the app
How will the content be displayed, dynamically or statically. If dtnamically and its pulling from an existing source, be sure that source is sending it correctly – apps will display content pulled from the web differently than a website.
Spelling mistakes, readability, language used, brand terms, how often will it change, who is writing it
This is from snapchat and with Meerkat and Persicope demanding the same thing, maybe it’s time to consider this. People tend to take pictures vertically as it doesn’t chop it off later.
YouTube however still prefers horizontal
Also remember that if you have shot video in vertical but your is landscape and locked to it, that’s going to be tricky.
For me this is the future of search and a great addition but it’s for Android only
<intent filters>Add a code to your app
Tell Google this is the official app to your website
What we mean here is screen layout. Yes, you will be paying a UX a UI specialist to do this but I also like to get my clients to out their ideas down on paper – it’s old school and we like it!
We use invision and origami for our mock-ups when in development, we find them a really nice way of wireframing and prototyping but that’s for the pro’s, for now lets stick to this…
This point alone can strike the fear of god into people – the database. It also means that you may have to tell IT your little secret about developing an app…but more over it introduces the conversation about data and as much as app regulation is, this is grey area. For the purpose of the brief consider
Who owns the data, is it you or a healthcare provider you work for? What format is the data feed and are you allowed to gain access to it, is it a .net environment?
What are the requirements of IT – ask them what they need. If it’s NHS based, you may need hosting that is N3 compatible. What sort of data is going to be shown in the app and then sent back to the server – this will impact upon the security framework of the application.
Do you need to meet any data compliance, such as the Caldicott principles.
External data compliance – do you need to meet any?
When thinking about integration, there are two basic points and often when an integration is actually planned, these points can be missed, or it is hoped that all of the systems involved will simply 'sync' and the data will be the 'same everywhere' but in practise this is not possible.
The most simple and robust integrations involve one system being the 'master' of the data - this is the system that owns the data and all other systems attempt to stay in sync with that system and when differences occur, the master system's copy of the data is always trusted as the authoritative source.
Additionally, the most simple integrations involve the data moving one-way, from the master system to any other systems, and no data comes back again, although often this is too simple for many systems to work properly.
One thing is often forgotten is the need for terms and conditions and privacy policies. Sometimes, we see these been added just before upload to the app store.
Apple will stipulate that you have these in place, especially if you are collecting personal data. Be clear with users about your policies and don’t assume you can just use the same policies that you have on say your website, it could be different.
Will you need to gain sign-off from the legal team? Maybe you have to consult a legal team?
Well, is it required?
If it’s NHS based, you may need hosting that is N3 compatible.
Server environments – you’ll need more than just one, you’ll need another one to test your ideas on, simulate bug fixes and try new things out – the same goes for your app, you’ll need one for testing.
What happens when it goes down? Run away!...which brings me onto the next and final point…
What happens when its launched?
Sit back and relax…no, not really it’s only just started!
What happens when the app goes wrong or something fails? > then next slide
No softrware product is ever 100%, just look at all of the app updates that come through, even the smallest change to a software update can have a knock on effect to the app.
Just look at Android 5, it does introduce so much more differences
Who is going to support it?
Support comes with a cost – have you factored that in?
Who will monitor the analytics – measurement comes with a cost – have you factored that in?
If you’ve got the app out there, the phone is ringing, emails are coming in and you are getting feedback….you need to answer them.
Massively important aspect here.
If somebody sends a scathing review, what will you do? Reply on Google which you can, assess on iTunes.
Do you want them to review it on the store or in the app with prompts?
Who will monitor the app store?
Once the app is launched, we find that often they become the catalyst for change. The influence to ‘off-app’ processes
And that’s it – the 12 items for a successful healthcare app brief – I suppose my job here is done
Building a product is really hard. Building a great product is even harder but I hope that I have given you a good sense of what is involved, well in the space of time I have had.
Check out these sources for more presentations. We will be putting this on our blog and slideshare and I’ll personally send it out to you all.
And if your in the UK