Challenge: Before digital technology, communications between healthcare professionals worldwide were limited by factors such as differences in spoken languages and inevitable delays when attempting to call or send messages to one another. The internet has enabled a new set of digital solutions which tackle these communication issues and consequently have a positive impact on the treatment of patients and the working lives of medical professionals.
Technological innovation is crucial for the medical industry where tools that help professionals in fulfil their roles could result in improved patient care on a global scale. During outbreaks, such as Ebola, improved communications could have a dramatic impact in terms of lives saved.
Elymentz, an app company, wanted to open to introduce its services to an industry that would get the maximum amount of benefit from it. Elymentz recognised that the healthcare and medical industry would benefit from the instant sharing of information.
Nikhil Sharma, founder of Elymentz, says, “Digital communications have revolutionised all industries, including medical. The healthcare industry is a lifeline and it is important that technology be an integral part of it. Digital communication is helping the healthcare industry at every step.”
The resulting app allows for cross-platform messaging with a set of functions that makes the sharing of information between medical professionals smooth and straightforward. This encourages a more global approach to medical treatment and general health.

Strategy: The Elymentz app allows medical professionals to share images and videos; which could help to diagnose rare diseases, it features custom emoticons and stickers to share with fellow consultants or patients. The fast despatching of images allows for instant sharing of medical history, diagnosis and treatment.
The app’s most distinct feature is that it goes beyond voice calls and messaging functionalities to provide instant translation services that allow for medical professionals to speak directly with their colleagues and with patients who don’t share their first language. When making international calls, Elymentz also shows the current time at the destination where the call will be received, which eliminates confusion over time differences.
Victoria Eugenia Montes Restrepo, an Elymentz app user and PhD researcher at the University of Gent in Belgium, says, “I am a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering and I need to work with people across the world. Being Colombian and speaking Spanish, it is hard to communicate with researchers with different languages. Elymentz gives me (and many like me) the ability to discuss our research points in our native language and find solutions together. We can also exchange images, voice or video notes, which helps us to communicate faster and more easily without having to pay anyone.” Elymentz also has a conference call functionality which enables the user to schedule calls. It then connects users at the scheduled date and time, which takes the responsibility for remembering to call away from the user. If both users have the Elymentz app installed, they can talk for free without having to buy an expensive international calling plan.
Elymentz is also being considered a useful resource for doctors in developing countries where communications aren’t as sophisticated. In crisis situations, like the recent Ebola outbreak, doctors would be able to communicate instantly without breaking any quarantine. The translation service would enable them to seek advice, information and help from doctors around the world. This encourages more of a united and international approach, which is fitting to outbreaks that have the potential to be a global threat.

Results: Sharma says, “Elymentz has already proven itself as a useful tool for business and personal use – now we’re seeing examples of it helping the medical community. Doctors all over the world can communicate using the platform, trading information, sharing their professional opinions and helping to improve outcomes for all of their patients.”
By helping medical personnel to exchange diagnoses, share images, videos, voice notes and discuss cases with instant translation services, Elymentz can improve outcomes for patients across every continent.
Restrepo says, “In my work, the app helps to share images, videos and voice notes with other colleagues, doctors and professors and it has helped me to chat with people who do not speak my language.”
Restrepo also uses the Elymentz homepage to display her agenda and recent activities, as well as geolocation. She says, “I usually make conference calls with my family or colleagues. On the whole, it is a very useful app for both my professional and personal usage.”
Restrepo adds, “As a PHD researcher, working on a topic like biomedical engineering, technology is a must. I design algorithms, so a computer can help with medical diagnosis. Hence, there is huge potential and a gap which still needs to be filled. The medical industry is not yet making the most of tech. The impact of technology in the medical world has certainly grown in recent years, but there is still room to bring fast, cheap and quality- oriented technological solutions.”
Elymentz launched on 3 June this year and is already in use in 120 different countries around the world.