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INFOSYS.110 BUSINESS SYSTEMS:

DELIVERABLE 2: BUSINESS SECTION
2014

Name Celina Wan-Lin Chang
NetID ccha857
Group Number: 046
Website Link: http://infosys110groupxxx.blogspot.co.nz/
Tutorial Details
Tutor: Day: Time:
Nicholl Oblitas Costa Monday 2pm
Time Spent on
Assignment:
30 hours Word Count: 1639

































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RAPID RURAL RECOVERY
INTRODUCTION
Ambulance response times pose a serious issue, as they are critical to the survival rates of
victims of accidents, such as cardiac arrest (Cobb, Ford, Marsden, Pell & Sirel, 2001). In
regards to this, our company has developed a service that will decrease this latency period
where urgent medical care is required. This service is directed particularly to those living in
rural areas, where people cannot be accessed by ambulance services in a timely manner.
(Ambulances slow to, 2012).
3. BUSINESS SECTION
3.1 Vision
Our vision is to improve the speed at which patients receive emergency medical attention,
and ultimately to save more lives by decreasing this waiting time.
3.2 Industry Analysis: Intermediary emergency care
Force: High/Low: Justification:
Buyer power: High Buyer power is high, as our customers (people
living in rural areas) have few local service
providers to choose from (Toyokuni et al., 2013).
Additionally, our company has the competitive
advantage of being able to track the proximity of
the volunteers through the apps GPS abilities, in
reducing buyer power.
Supplier power: Low Supplier power is low, as our company has many
suppliers to choose from. The suppliers we need
are an app developer and a cloud system, of
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which there are many companies that provide
these services (Van der Zwet, 2014) (Danova,
2013).
Threat of new entrants: Low Threat of new entrants is low, due to significant
barriers to entry. Implementing a cloud system
may be costly, and coordinating sizeable
volunteer networks that are qualified would be
difficult and take a long time.
Threat of substitutes: Low Threat of substitutes is low, as the value our
service provides is too great and there are few
alternatives to choose from. Potential substitutes
would be in-home nurses (Nurse Maude, 2014) or
St Johns medical alarm (St John, 2014). However
these options are either too expensive, or, offer
limited value in comparison to our service, to be
of real threat.
Rivalry among existing
competitors:
High Rivalry among existing competitors is high, as
there are Community First Responder Schemes
for rural areas already established in Europe,
USA, Australia (Toyokuni et al., 2013) and New
Zealand (St John, 2014). These schemes already
have partnerships with local ambulance services,
attending to certain emergency calls (West
Midlands Ambulance Service, 2014).
Overall attractiveness of the industry: The industry is relatively attractive as the weak
forces outweigh the strong forces. Given the importance of emergency healthcare that
underpins this industry, it is likely that it will endure further growth and companies
operating within it will generate sufficient profits.
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3.3 Customers and Their Needs
The target group of customers are people living in rural areas, where they cannot be easily
accessed by ambulance services. Ambulance delays are a serious issue; and are caused by
the distance between the ambulance station and the patient, traffic congestion, and a lack
of resources to constantly meet the demand for ambulance services. (Ambulances slow
to, 2012). This means that these people need an alternative to waiting to be attended to by
an ambulance officer someone else that is within close proximity and has sufficient
medical knowledge to help. This early attention can drastically improve chances of survival,
particularly critical for situations such as cardiac arrest (Cobb et al., 2001).
3.4 The Service
When an emergency call is received by the St Johns operator, the information passed on
from the patient is logged onto St Johns system. While this data is used to dispatch an
ambulance to the patients location, it is also transferred to our app server through a cloud
system. This alerts, via our app, a volunteer network of people (with basic medical
qualifications) within a 10km radius of the incident scene. This way, one of these volunteers
can attend the scene of incident and provide intermediary emergency care to the patient
before the ambulance arrives. For cardiac arrest; chances of survival can improve from 6%
to 10-11%, when the response time is decreased from 14 minutes to 5 minutes (Cobb et al.,
2001).
3.5 Suppliers and Partners
Two suppliers of our service would be an app developer and a cloud service provider. An
app developer is needed to create an app that alerts volunteers of incidents within their
vicinity. A possible company to provide this could be Smudge, as they provide for both iOS
and Android platforms (Smudge, 2014). A cloud service provider is needed so that
information can be transferred from St Johns system to the apps server essentially
infrastructure as a service. Gen-i is a company that could provide offer this, as they offer
private cloud hosted services (Gen-i, 2014).
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Two partners of our service would be St John and a volunteer network. St John would be the
New Zealand ambulance operator that transfers the patient data to the app server.
Volunteer networks would be sourced from respective local communities, consisting of
members have already undergone basic medical training as part of community schemes.
3.6 Strategy
Our companys strategy will be focused low cost, as we are operating in a narrow market
serving rural areas and a non-profit organisation that wants to make our service widely
available to people in these vicinities. Not only will our focused low cost strategy make our
service affordable for customers, it will also encourage new customers to sign up, increasing
the size of the volunteer network to the overall benefit of the community.
To meet the costs of our suppliers, our company will mainly rely on government funding
(Community Matters, 2014) and charging communities a small initiation fee of our provision
of service.
3.7 Value Chain Acti vi ty
The most important value chain activity (VCA) for this business is the delivery of the service.
Essentially, this is the delivery of intermediary healthcare that patients receive from a
volunteer. From, the customers perspective, this is the most important VCA as this is the
process that could effectively save their lives. Ensuring that the delivery of intermediary
healthcare is timely executed is the very purpose of our company; and the necessity of this,
the foundation of our industry. Because our strategy is focused low cost, we want
customers to feel that although they are paying a small fee for our service, they still receive
quality care which actually makes a positive impact on their health while waiting for the
ambulance.
3.8 Business Processes
3.8.1. VOLUNTEER CONTACT PROCESS This is the process by which volunteers are
contacted by a St John operator and informed of a nearby accident. Information (including
the patients location and their condition) is acquired by the operator and transferred to the
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app server. This process is important so that volunteers can be informed of the event of an
accident, and the relevant information about the patient so that they can help accordingly.






















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3.8.2. VOLUNTEER RESPONSE PROCESS This is the process by which volunteers
respond to the alert from their app, informing them of a nearby accident. It involves the
volunteer accepting the task, providing the patient medical attention and the patient
providing feedback of the volunteers performance. This process is important, as once a
volunteers accept the task, the app server will subdue the alert for other volunteers;
preventing duplication of volunteer resources. Similarly, the patient feedback provides our
company with ideas of how we can better our service.























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3.9 Functionalities
3.9.1. VOLUNTEER CONTACT PROCESS
Connects to cloud system
Reformats patient data for app software
3.9.2. VOLUNTEER RESPONSE PROCESS
App tracks volunteers location
Receives feedback from patients
3.10 Systems
3.10.1. DATA LOGGING SYSTEM The data logging system incorporates the
functionalities of connects to cloud system and reformats patient data for app software.
Connecting to the cloud system is important, as this connection must be present in order for
data to be successfully logged onto the ambulance operators system and transferred to the
app server. Similarly, the data must be reformatted to the app software so that it can be
relayed as an alert to the volunteers to assist them reaching the patient in a timely manner.
3.10.2. VOLUNTEER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM The volunteer communication
system incorporates the functionality of app tracks volunteers location, as the volunteers
location is first determined via GPS tracking (to be within a 10km radius of the incident)
before the volunteer can contacted with an app alert. By tracking the position of the
volunteer, it ensures that only volunteers close enough to the patient are contacted, and
that a speedy delivery of intermediary healthcare can be made.
3.10.3. CUSTOMER RESPONSE SYSTEM The customer response system incorporates
the functionality of receives feedback from patients. The system is designed with this
functionality largely in mind requiring patients to give feedback on the delivery time and
quality of the intermediary healthcare provided by the volunteer. This is so that suggestions
can be undertaken by the volunteer network to better assist patients, and ultimately, to
improve their health and save more lives.
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3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value
Chain
Activity
Processes Functionalities Specific Information
System(s)
Broad Information
System(s)

Delivery of
the service
1. Volunteer
contact
process
1. Connects to the cloud system

2. Reformats patient data for app software

Data logging system


Transaction processing
system

Transactional processing
system
2. Volunteer
response
process
1. App tracks volunteers location


2. Receives feedback from patients
Volunteer communication
system

Customer response
system
Collaborative systems

Customer relationship
management






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CONCLUSION
The delay of ambulances is perhaps not an issue that can be easily solved but it is
one that can be alleviated. For people living in rural areas, our company ensures that
their access to urgent medical care is not impeded by their remote location. This is
achieved by the utilisation of information systems and IT; technology that has made
it possible to limit this wait for emergency medical attention. Our ultimate goal to
save more lives in decreasing this latency period; information systems and IT are
thus invaluable to our company.
REFERENCES
1. Pell, J. P., Sirel, J. M., Marsden, A. K., Ford, I., & Cobb, S. M. (2001, June 9). Effect of reducing
ambulance response times from out of hospital arrests: cohort study. BMJ. Retrieved from
http://www.bmj.com/content/322/7299/1385
2. Ambulances slower to answer calls. (2012, January 16). New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10778994
3. Van der Zwet, Frank. (2014, February 20). How cloud providers can find success in a crowded
market. Retrieved from: http://insights.wired.com/profiles/blogs/how-cloud-providers-can-
find-success-in-a-crowded-market
4. Danova, Tony. (2013, November 12). There are almost 900 different app developers that
have over 1 million active users. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/there-
are-almost-900-different-app-developers-that-have-over-1-million-active-users-2013-11
5. Nurse Maude. (2014). Nursing services. Retrieved from:
http://www.nursemaude.org.nz/nursing/nursing-services
6. St John. (2014). Medical alarm services. Retrieved from http://www.stjohn.org.nz/Medical-
Alarms/Medical-Alarm-Services/
7. Toyokuni, Y., Suzukawa, M., Yamashita, K., Yonekawa, C., Kubota, K., Yasuda, Y., Kobayashi,
A., Matsubara, H., (2013). Introduction of the community first responder system into Japan:
is that possible?. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 6(34). doi: 10.1186/1865-
1380-6-34
8. St John. (2014). Operational volunteer. Retrieved from http://www.stjohn.org.nz/About-St-
John/Join-St-John/Volunteering/Operational-Volunteer/
9. West Midlands Ambulance Service. (2014). Community first responders (CFS). Retrieved
from: http://www.wmas.nhs.uk/Pages/CFRs.aspx
10. Smudge. (2014). Platforms. Retrieved from: http://www.smudgeapps.com/platforms/
11. Gen-i. (2014). Cloud solutions. Retrieved from: http://www.gen-i.co.nz/solutions/cloud/
12. Community Matters. (2014). Lottery Community. Retrieved from:
http://www.communitymatters.govt.nz/Funding-and-grants---Lottery-grants---Lottery-
Community