"One of the best projects that we have been involved in that has been delivered by a vendor."

— Fiona Caldwell, CIO, Estia Health

THE CHALLENGE

Estia Health, one of Australia’s largest aged care providers, understands that caring for older people is a great privilege, and their residents are at the centre of everything they do. Estia Health is proud to provide quality aged care to residents from all walks of life and exists to enrich and celebrate life.

With strategic foresight, Estia Health embarked on a digital transformation to develop an internal staff communications platform, Estia Pulse, to enhance connectedness and support among their employees – now even more critical with the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.

Estia had engaged another partner to deliver the first phase of the platform, however issues with the initial build led Estia to engage DB Results to successfully deliver the Estia Pulse app using OutSystems and realise the full benefits of their investment in digital solutions.

THE SOLUTION

Estia Health engaged with DB Results to fulfill their strategic objective to deliver Estia Pulse to increase communication and connectedness among employees within their aged care homes.

Estia Pulse is a secure native mobile and web app developed using OutSystems that provides all 7,000 staff and front-line employees the ability to share timely, consistent, and personalised communication. DB Results were able to take an incomplete proof of concept and resolve inherent issues, deliver a suite of UI enhancements, as well as develop and build the platform to its full capability in under four months.

With one tap, Estia Pulse allows employees to find out what is happening across the network of Estia locations, receive important personalised communication including alerts and notifications, and keep up to date with current news and events.  Through Estia Pulse, employees can share stories from their home, praise their colleagues for their great work, and easily find key contact information. The platform is also integrated with core systems including SharePoint, avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort when publishing key updates.

As the platform is built using OutSystems, it can be updated and optimised at any time, giving Estia Health the flexibility and scalability to enhance user experience and deliver new offerings in line with changes to aged care regulations and their staff and residents’ needs.

THE RESULTS

The result is a functionally rich employee app that provides enhanced connectedness, and a simple method for sharing important communication and good news stories, especially in this climate of continual change.

In its first week alone, Estia Pulse usage was high, with employees sharing 14 updates that received 192 likes from a possible 160 registrations. Following the successful pilot, Estia Pulse went live with a full roll out across all 69 homes and central services connecting 7,000 employees.

Fiona Caldwell, CIO, Estia Health has high praise for DB Results, saying it was “one of the best projects that we have been involved in that has been delivered by a vendor.”

The next phase will focus on the design and build for a scalable family and residents’ platform using OutSystems, which centres on increasing the feeling of connectedness between staff, residents, and their families.