Tech Solutions to Boost Patient Care at All Stages

Q: How do icon Group’s business lines complement each other and contribute to your consulting services in healthcare?

A: We are a Spanish multinational that develops commercial, patient-care support and telemedicine services for the healthcare sector. We focus on developing innovative and technological solutions that boost our clients’ practices. The cloud, Big Data and blockchain are among the most useful tools that are reshaping the industry. Therefore, it was key for us to integrate them into our solutions.

We have six business lines that respond to different needs in the sector. Icon OCS is our main line. It is in charge of commercial management and organization outsourcing services. Icon Digital Solutions specializes in digital marketing, generating personalized content specifically for the healthcare area. Icon Talent focuses on human resources, mainly education and training of medical professionals. Icon Intelligence offers software consulting for market intelligence. Icon Tech&Apps develops technological solutions for pharmaceuticals or telemedicine services. I-konekt is the last business line and it oversees automation and remote control of all the services managed by our other divisions.

We have been partners in the digital transformation of pharmaceutical companies and in their commercial outsourcing. We have helped companies cope with the digital transformation that has accelerated due to COVID-19, enabling them to offer tools that help patients manage their disease. Moreover, through our platform, we support medical professionals in bringing telemedicine solutions to patients, while also offering the opportunity for patients to get a second opinion on their diagnosis.

Q: How is icon Group helping clients incorporate technology and digitalization into their practice and service offering?

A: Across Latam, icon Group is working on the creation of digital hospitals. This involves the creation of a whole network of people: patients, medical professionals and providers. Creating a digital environment involves a great deal of management to allow the whole community to coexist and ensure the efficiency and safety of the hospital’s services. This project also involves many developing features, as we have to integrate digital services, such as electronic clinical records or telemedicine, while maintaining safety and reliability for both the patient and the medical professional. The goal here is to implement the best service possible to become a reference for digitalization and quality. We hope that through this project, we are able to connect medical professionals with people who have difficulty accessing healthcare services.

Around the globe, the concept of the collaborative economy is understood. Applying this to the healthcare sector is key to increase healthcare coverage but also to ensure the highest quality of services.

Q: How does icon Group promote and support talent development?

A: We developed this business incubator because we have pioneered many solutions. This led us to young innovators in the sector whom we wanted to help develop their projects. As a result, we created icon CUBE and the Go Health Awards, which is a platform to match innovative startups that have a very strong value proposal with big multinationals or investors that are looking for these kinds of solutions. Companies like Pfizer, Novartis and Chiesi have joined this experience and we are looking forward to bringing this initiative to Mexico in 2021.

Q: How are local companies in Mexico joining the digital transformation?

A: We have noticed that local companies in Mexico are pioneers in integrating many innovative solutions because their process of approval is much faster compared to a multinational. This has encouraged us to explore new opportunities that will boost their operations and make them more efficient.

We supported a project which uses artificial intelligence to translate predictive models of diabetic patients into individual patient data. As a result, the company developed an app to support diabetic patients in proactively controlling their glucose levels. The app learns from the individual data of a patient – regarding glucose levels, insulin takes and habits – and uses those indicators in predictive models that can foresee possible peaks of glycemic levels in the blood. This solution could be integrated successfully in Mexico, offering a great added value to a digital hospital service offering. 

Q: What is the flagship product of icon Group?

A: Our flagship product is the omnichannel promotion to doctors. Through our innovative methodologies, technologies and systems we can offer the doctor the option of combined medical consultations doctors such as remote visits, phone calls or proprietary videoconferencing systems. Moreover, we offer digital promotion of their services through email, messaging, webinars and personalized web pages.

Throughout Latin America, this service is currently growing due to the challenges and costs to access doctors and medical consultations in countries with still under developed infrastructures. The relevance of this type of initiative has accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to the total limitation of access to medical information for health professionals. With our tools, doctors have been able to continue receiving training and news to improve the health of their patients.

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted demand for your services?

A: Our demand has increased a as result of the pandemic because we have supported clients that want to collaborate with medical professionals wanting to go digital. Digital services have grown significantly in the healthcare sector and icon Group was already on that road, which is an advantage.

Q: What are Icon’s group near-term goals?

A: Our main focus as a company is to make healthcare more accessible to more people. We have been able to accomplish this around the world and we are ready to do it in Mexico, working with local businesses to achieve efficiency through technology and reduce the huge coverage gap that still limits the country’s ability to provide universal healthcare.

icon Group is an international business group focused on commercial consulting for the healthcare sector. The company helps its clients market their products with omnichannel strategies, innovative methodologies and the use of new technologies