About Cancer Aid
Cancer Aid is a business that was founded in 2015. The founders of this company are Dr. Rhagav Murali-Ganesh and Dr. Nikhil Pooviah. The company has a phone application which provides support for cancer patients, their clinicians, and carers. All the diagnostic information is stored in a single place, and treatment information can easily be accessed (Cancer Aid, 2018). There is also a journal that tracks and manages patient symptoms, medications, and advice on their effectiveness. The company has recently been accepted into the Cedars medtech accelerator, and this is a great milestone. Cancer Aid has since expanded to the United States and the United Kingdom. Since the entry into the United States market, most of the Cancer Aid team relocated to this area. The headquarters of the company, however, is in Sydney, Australia.
Since its launch, the application has been adopted by over 40,000 patients, their caregivers and clinicians and is the leading cancer application in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The company is renowned for being one that scored one of the hugest investments in Shark Tank, Australia and they ended up receiving $500,000 from the business moguls Andrew Banks and Glen Richards. The company also received $120,000 from the Cedars accelerator (AFR, 2017). Further to this, in 2016 the company also managed to raise a total of $1.25 million from other investors.
Apple has named the launch of Cancer Aid as one that stands out. The team got an opportunity to visit Silicon Valley and interact and network with big business names after they won a competition. The team aims to make the application one of the leading for patients that have cancer. Patients that have just been diagnosed or have been undergoing cancer treatment can improve their outcomes by engaging with the application
· Shark Tank Investors · Cedars Centre for Acceleration · Hospitals · Healthcare Investors |
Key Activities · Application Expansion · Getting more channels to support application · Product Testing in new markets and Getting Customer Feedback · Research and Development |
Value Proposition · Patients with cancer can get vital information · Clinicians get vital information that helps them with patient management · Early detection by patients since symptoms are indicated in app · Early checkups in case of anything hence reducing admission rates · Doctors get valuable information that they can combine with already existing treatments and patient management techniques |
Customer Relationships · Customer care support and referrals to hospitals good at managing cancer · Linkage to cancer specialists · Opening opportunities for further research and solutions for managing cancer · Better lifestyle management for patients as they can always monitor their condition · Cost effective way of managing one’s symptoms |
Customer Segments · Cancer Patients · Healthcare Professionals dealing with cancer · Families that have cancer patients of having experienced cancer in the family |
Key Resources · Technology Expertise · Software Development · Business Development · Secure system for data · Application Expert |
Channels · Direct Marketing of the application · 3rd party vending through apple and google store (Dimitrov,2016) |
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Cost Structure · Software Development · Hosting of Software · Marketing Support · Government Approvals · Expansion into global markets (Baker, 2017) |
Revenue Streams · Sign-ups for the cancer application (Almeida, 2015) |
Top of Form
The key partners are vital as they are the ones who enable business success. In this case for Cancer Aid, their key parents will be investors and stakeholders like hospitals that will benefit from this application (Moogk, 2012). The key partner is important and is related to the key activities that the business will do.
The key activities are needed to make the business successful. It involves things like an expansion of Cancer Aid or engaging in more research and development. It is a description of the most important things the company will have to do so that the business model works. The key activities enable the company to know which types of resources it needs to ensure that the product will fit the customer segment and lead to the building of customer relationships.
Company Milestones and Achievements
The key resources will enable Cancer Aid to offer a value proposition to their customers, reach their markets, and be able to generate revenues. The key resources will enable the company to achieve the laid out strategic objectives for the company. In the case of Cancer Aid, the key resources are financial, intellectual and human. Finances are needed to run and maintain the application. Intellectual resources are needed so that there can be continuous improvement of the application. Human resources are needed to ensure that the application is marketed, working and that as many people as possible start using the application.
The value proposition describes the service that will create value for customers. In this case, signing up for the application will create value for cancer patients as they will be able to access a lot of information that will assist in cancer management. Caregivers and clinicians will also get value since they can refer to the application for any cancer-related issue hence helping them to better manage the patient. A positive value proposition leads to great customer relationships, penetration into customer segments and earning revenue by the company.
Customer relationships are important since they determine whether the company will succeed or not. Good customer relationships are important as they lead to revenue made by the company. Cancer Aid can build customer relationships in different ways like ensuring there is 24-hour support to help the customer use the application. They will also link patients to cancer specialists and lead to better lifestyle management. Good customer relationships can help a company to get into new market segments that had not been explored before.
Channels enable Cancer Aid to reach their customer segments so that they create a value proposition. In this case, the company has used direct marketing, and this has seen many customers sign up. They have also availed the application on Google and Apple play stores hence enabling many consumers to know about it. This has seen the company sign up many cancer patients and further expands into the United States and the United Kingdom.
Customer segments are the group of people that Cancer Aid aims to serve. In this case, the main target is cancer patients and those who have just been diagnosed. Customer segments are related to revenue since a company with an unsuccessful segment cannot survive in the market for long. Cancer Aid has tailored its product to meet the needs of the cancer patients so that they can manage their disease in a better manner.
Key Partners and Activities
The cost structure is the cost that Cancer Aid has incurred so that its business model can be a successful one. It is related to the key resources and revenue. A company has to pay for certain things so that the business can be successful (Cheng, 2016). In this case, the cost involves software development, hosting, marketing, approvals and expansion into the global markets.
Revenue streams are the money that Cancer Aid will generate from the customer segment. Cancer Aid will generate revenue from people signing up for the application. This is how the company will be able to generate money.
The type of people that Cancer Aid has in its team will determine whether the company succeeds or not. The company is dealing with an application hence meaning updates have to be done on time and any new information loaded as needed. It also means that there should be people to deal with customer feedback or any arising issues. To succeed, the team must have their vision aligned to that of the overall company. The management also shoulders the responsibility of motivating the team into productivity.
Cancer Aid has a big opportunity in an untapped market. This has enabled the company to expand into three major countries all over the world. The company has an opportunity to explore many markets that can leverage it to become a world-class multinational. Cancer Aid should, therefore, look at the available opportunities and grab the most promising ones (Cheng, 2016). The company, however, has to strategize carefully so that they do not make diversification mistakes that can be costly to the company.
The strategy that Cancer Aid employs will determine its success. The company has to have a vision and a laid down strategy of how to achieve the same. The company has currently used diversification strategy which has worked, and it has been able to successfully enter the biggest markets in the world (Drumwright, 2017). The company must lay down a strategy of how they would like to grow and how to give an even better value proposition to customers in the markets that they are already serving.
The context is the business environment that Cancer Aid is operating in. The company has to consider the external factors that can affect the business and come up with ways of mitigating any risks that can emanate from this. External factors include political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (Nicoletti, 2017). These are very important factors that can determine how successful the business will be in certain markets. An analysis must therefore be done before the company gets into any context.
Value Proposition and Customer Relationships
Risk must be considered as it can lead to the collapse of a company. Cancer Aid must consider all risks and the best way would be to have a risk committee and risk register that is reviewed monthly. When risks are identified early enough, it will enable mitigation and coming up with ways to ensure that risk is minimised as much as possible.
Cancer Aid faces the risk of getting security breaches in the application since the system can be attacked by a hacker (Tongur & Engwall, 2014). This can cause the company to face reputational risk when such issues are experienced and the customers can no longer log in to the system.
Cyber attacks can occur due to a malware or virus. This can lead to the application ceasing to work and customers no longer being able to access information. It can lead to the business being affected very negatively since people will no longer be signing up for the application (Sadgrove, 2016). It will also be very costly for the company due to the expertise needed to eliminate the same.
4.3 Data Theft
Data theft can happen when hackers steal company and customer information and use it negatively. This is a risk faced by any company that has a business based on the web like Cancer Aid. The stolen information can be used in a negative manner hence leading to reputational risk and exposure of customer information (Sadgrove, 2016). Customers can sue because of this and it can cost the company a lot to be paying lawsuits.
Conclusion
One of the changes that can be made to the business model is looking into another illness that affects a wide number of the population. Cancer Aid can offer help to people suffering from other chronic ailments like diabetes and heart disease. This will go a long way in helping many people and the company will have many people signing up.
Another change that can be made is an active collaboration with health institutions. This is because they serve a large number of patients who have cancer hence collaborating will lead to more patients getting information on how to sign up for Cancer Aid’s application. This will lead to the company also getting a wider market segment than the one it already has. Collaboration, especially with institutions that deal solely with cancer, can be a good thing especially for patients (Spreng, 2016). Doctors and caregivers will also have an opportunity on giving feedback on areas that can be improved by Cancer Aid.
- The company needs to continue using the current business model as it is successful
- Research to be done before the organization gets into any other country
- The organization to consider supporting other chronic ailments like diabetes and launching an application for the same
- Active risk analysis and mitigation to be done
References
AFR (2017). Cancer Aid joins Cedars-Sinai TechStars accelerator. [Online]. Retrieved from https://www.afr.com/technology/canceraid-joins-cedarssinai-techstars-accelerator-20170920-gykyki
Almeida, R. M. R. P. (2015). Characterization of business models in the medical devices industry-the case for wearable technologies.
Baker, G. (2017). Reducing Post-Acute Care Costs With Wearable Technology—Part 4. PROVIDER.
Cancer Aid (2018). Home. [Online]. Retrieved from https://canceraid.com/
Cheng, L. C. (2016, April). The mobile app usability inspection (Maui) framework as a guide for minimal viable product (MVP) testing in the lean development cycle. In Proceedings of the second International Conference in HCI and UX on Indonesia 2016 (pp. 1-11). ACM.
Dimitrov, D. V. (2016). Medical internet of things and big data in healthcare. Healthcare informatics research, 22(3), 156-163.
Drumwright, H. (2017). Minimum Viable Stuff. In Management vs. Employees (pp. 75-83). Apress.
Moogk, D. R. (2012). Minimum viable product and the importance of experimentation in technology start-ups. Technology Innovation Management Review, 2(3), 23.
Nicoletti, B. (2017). Critical Success Factors. In The Future of FinTech (pp. 161-175). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Sadgrove, K. (2016). The complete guide to business risk management. NY, Routledge.
Sprenger, M. (2016, September). Supporting the Viability of E-Health Services with Pattern-Based Business Model Design. In International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society(pp. 161-175). Springer International Publishing.
Tongur, S., & Engwall, M. (2014). The business model dilemma of technology shifts. Technovation, 34(9), 525-535.