A startup whose mobile app provides education, training and support material to in-the-field workers is looking toward the home health market.
Cleveland-area Intelligent Mobile Support (IMS) sells its software to healthcare companies that have mobile workforces and has experienced early success with a medical equipment client that uses the software to stay connected with about 1,000 service and repair technicians. (CEO John Steidley said he didn’t have permission to publicly identify the client.)
By connecting employees to company experts and putting product documentation in their hands, IMS’ app has helped the client improve its “first-visit fix rate” for hospital customers, said Steidley, a former marketing executive with imaging giant Philips Healthcare.
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Now, Steidley has set his sights on home health companies and is in discussion with several, but hasn’t finalized any deals yet, he said. IMS’ software could help patient-facing home health workers improve the quality and consistency of care they provide by assisting them with best practices, Steidley said.
“We see home healthcare as an exciting market opportunity,” Steidley said.
In addition to connecting remote healthcare workers to experts and best-practice guides, IMS’ software features quizzes to test workers’ knowledge of key subjects and a social networking-like feature that allows users to rate, tag and comment on the effectiveness of training materials.
The company sells to any companies that have mobile workforces — though IMS primarily focuses on healthcare due to Steidley’s background and what he perceives as a particular market need in the industry.
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IMS is looking to land its first round of funding by the end of the year, which it would use to boost its sales and marketing efforts. Steidley wouldn’t specify how much the company is looking for.
Earlier this summer, Steidley made a presentation at a mobile learning conference called mLearnCon 2011. He adapted much of the presentation to a an e-book called “Mobile Strategy Guide” on mobile education for sales and service organizations that’s available for free download.
