Revolutionising Healthcare Data Management: The Foot Company’s Transformation with Dataplayer and AWS
The Foot Company is a leading provider of podiatric healthcare solutions, renowned for its team of HCPC-registered podiatrists. Each team member has completed a B.Sc. in Podiatry and accumulated extensive practical experience, ensuring expert foot and lower limb health care. The Foot Company offers a comprehensive range of foot care products from modern, well-equipped clinics. Despite their strong clinical reputation, they faced significant challenges with their outdated data management infrastructure, which limited their ability to scale and maintain performance.
The Challenge
The Foot Company’s legacy on-premises infrastructure was a significant bottleneck. They encountered several issues, including slow data processing, limited scalability, and high operational costs. As data volumes increased, the system’s performance issues became more pronounced, hindering its ability to effectively manage and analyse data. This problem was compounded by the need to reach a global audience and control rising operational costs. Additionally, the manual process of extracting data from their PMS system and compiling it into spreadsheets was time-consuming and cumbersome. This approach hindered their ability to quickly understand key performance indicators (KPIs) and compare metrics effectively. These challenges not only impacted their operational performance but also limited their ability to serve international markets and deliver consistent patient care.
The Solution
To overcome these challenges, The Foot Company engaged with Dataplayer and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to implement a comprehensive cloud-based solution tailored to their needs. Dataplayer’s approach involved leveraging several key AWS services, each chosen to address specific aspects of the data management and analytics challenges:
- Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose – Dataplayer integrated Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to streamline the process of real-time data ingestion. This service enabled continuous, automated streaming of data into the cloud, which facilitated immediate access to data for analysis. This real-time capability was crucial for reducing latency and ensuring that The Foot Company could act on data insights as they emerged.
- Amazon S3 – For data storage, Dataplayer utilised Amazon S3, which provided a scalable and highly durable solution. The use of S3 allowed The Foot Company to store vast amounts of data cost-effectively, without the limitations and costs associated with physical storage infrastructure. The flexibility of S3 meant that data could be easily expanded and managed as the company’s needs grew.
- Amazon Athena – To enhance data analysis, Dataplayer implemented Amazon Athena, a serverless query service that allows users to perform ad-hoc queries on data stored in Amazon S3. Athena’s serverless architecture meant that The Foot Company could analyse their data without the need for managing additional infrastructure. This capability provided the agility needed to generate insights quickly and efficiently, supporting more informed decision-making.
- AWS QuickSight – Dataplayer also incorporated AWS QuickSight for advanced data visualisation. QuickSight’s intuitive dashboard and reporting tools enabled The Foot Company to transform complex datasets into actionable insights through easy-to-understand visualisations. This not only improved the accessibility of data for healthcare professionals but also facilitated more effective communication of insights across the organisation.
The Outcomes
The adoption of AWS’s cloud services brought transformative benefits to The Foot Company. Real-time processing and advanced visualisation through AWS QuickSight allowed for a more efficient analysis of KPIs and metrics, leading to improved operational efficiency and enhanced patient care. The elimination of costly physical infrastructure resulted in substantial cost savings, and the scalable AWS platform supported the company’s growing data needs and global operations. Performance issues were resolved, ensuring reliable and consistent access to critical data.
Andrew Mayo, Director at The Foot Company, summed up the impact:
“It was very time-consuming pulling out data from Cliniko and putting it into spreadsheets to understand the KPIs and compare figures/metrics. Dataplayer has enabled us to quickly run comparative reports either as a group of clinics or individually, even by practitioners. It gave us a greater understanding of the KPIs and allowed us to use the data in a constructive way to push the business forward and save lots of time in the process.”
In summary, the partnership between The Foot Company, Dataplayer, and AWS not only resolved immediate data management challenges but also set the stage for future success. By leveraging AWS’s cloud technologies, The Foot Company has enhanced its patient care, streamlined operations, and achieved sustainable growth. This case study highlights the critical role of modernising data infrastructure in driving advancements in healthcare management and operational excellence.
