Rashie Jain, CEO & Cofounder, www.ONCO.com, Bengaluru, talks about business impact due to COVID19
How has COVID-19 affected your business?
These are difficult times we are witnessing, the world over. The economy has slowed down at a drastic pace and there is still a lot of uncertainty in the future. Businesses have been affected as the overall demand and consumer spending has plummeted, with operations stopping overnight. At Onco.com, we are fortunate to be part of a sector that citizens are, at present, most in need of – healthcare. Being in health-tech gives us the advantage to be remotely available for anyone seeking support and guidance, from the safety of their homes.
We have taken proactive measures to ensure continuity of our services to cancer patients by working closely with our team of specialist oncologists and hospital partners, and make sure that our efficiency and productivity as a startup doesn’t take a hit because of the work-from-home (WFH) situation.
We have introduced a teleconsultation service,
called Call Onco, to help them get advice from oncologists through
a telephonic call or video conferencing. Patients and caregivers can get
answers from top oncologists, for queries ranging from their current treatment
status, diagnosis, and precautions against COVID-19. The teleconsultation
service will be 20 minutes long and will be scheduled within 24 hours. In
addition, every cancer patient at Onco.com is assigned a designated care
manager who will engage with them throughout their treatment phase.
For patients who are looking for detailed treatment advice,
Onco.com also offers a premium online opinion service called Onco Tumour
Board, where patients and their caregivers can get detailed treatment
advice in the form of an online report from a multi-disciplinary panel of
senior oncologists. Every patient who opts for the tumour board service gets a
complimentary Call Onco service as well and they can schedule the call before
or after their report is shared.
How are your teams working and communicating during such times?
One of the first steps Onco.com took towards the lockdown was to ensure strong connectivity across all functions and teams after we declared WFH. We have worked towards providing adequate tech infrastructure support to all our team members and are using remote working tools to ensure inter team communications and connectivity.
For constant connectivity, we have secured WiFi dongles and laptops. Daily huddles and team meetings continue, via video conferencing applications such as Zoom, Google Hangouts and Skype to make sure that communication remains seamless on key current projects. We also encourage written communication between teams because it significantly reduces ambiguity. Project owners send an agenda email prior to every discussion and meeting minutes post that so that action items can be clearly articulated and we can continue to collaborate remotely. Company-wide, teams remain focussed, re-prioritising on key goals, while suspending vanity projects for the short term. Also, as a practice, we encourage ‘Team Happy Hours’ so that colleagues can interact with one another, and keep everyone’s morale high during these tough times.
Systems and processes have seen new changes. Do you feel the new way of working will change the way we worked in offices?
Yes, absolutely. I believe that this crisis has made organisations revisit their WFH policies and make them more effective. New processes of communication between teams and workflow management rules have been created. At Onco.com, the current crisis has made us go the extra mile to ensure the safety and care of our patients who are in a lot of stress right now, with our new teleconsultation services, and care manager support, all working remotely as a team. I am confident that we’ll be able to take our learnings from this situation and develop better products and enhance our customer experience in the coming months.
How are you helping your local community during such times?
The best manner in which each of us can help our community, and our society and nation at large, is by following guidelines and staying safe at home. This order does not only impact our own lives, but also that of the safety of our family, as well as our fellow citizens as we are helping contain the spread of the deadly infection. Also, at this point our most crucial concern is that of the safety and well-being of cancer patients, and our customers, who are bound by travel restrictions. Our teleconsultation services remain active and alert to support any patient and/or their families who may need assistance and advice on their treatment plans, or any other queries regarding their health condition during this lockdown.
This is a once in a lifetime event for all of us, do share your reason for optimism?
The coronavirus outbreak may have put the world into a temporary standstill. Humans, as a race, are resilient. We have always overcome hurdles and challenges that come our way, and have bounced back wiser and stronger. I am confident that history will repeat this time around as well. People are getting united the world over, fighting against a common target. The virus has made us stop on our tracks and contemplate the way we live, the way we take care of our health and well-being. I believe that once the world recovers from this virus, we will be a changed race, a better race, a healthier race.
ONCO.com is building a virtual care platform for cancer patients. For more information kindly log on to https://onco.com/
