Glucovibes is a health B2C company that collects relevant data on customer’s glucose levels and provide the patient with relevant remote services including a tailored nutritional plan. Digital tools have enabled the firm to keep in contact with their customers and provide their services remotely.
How digital tools transformed the customer service of a Spanish health SME
Abstract
Background
Glucovibes sells sensors that allow users to measure their glucose levels by placing them on the back of their arm and using an app that connects to the sensor through Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The lifetime of the sensor is 14 days during which users conduct glucose “readings” every eight hours. Users record their diet, physical activity and fill out questionnaires about other health factors e.g., quality of sleep, stress levels etc. The nutrition team then contacts the user to have an interview and prepare a nutritional report with the variables generated. Users receive the report at the end of the life of the sensor and can additionally contact the nutrition team via email. The firm was founded in 2020.
Challenge
As a young firm, Glucovibes is faced with challenges experienced by many small start-ups. As the technology and functionality is new, and customers need high levels of assistance in setting up and familiarising themselves with the application, Glucovibes need an innovative customer service strategy. Other challenges include the internationalization of their business and their Research and Development (R&D) efforts to include Artificial Intelligence in their processes. Inflation was also indicated to be a challenge for Glucovibes, as the sale price of its product is increasing.
Description
Digital tools have been at the heart of Glucovibes from the onset as explained by the CEO Leire Francés. They have an ecommerce website for online sales as well as a digital platform to interact with their customers and tracking the sensor’s information. Further, they make use of cloud services for their corporate tools and are investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate and improve the analysis of the data entered by their customers in the application. Across OECD countries, the share of small and medium enterprises that used AI in 2021 was respectively at 13% and 6%. In Spain, these shares were slightly higher, at 6.5% for small businesses and just under 11% for small enterprises (OECD, 2023[1]).
Approach
To face customer service challenges, Glucovibes relies on cultivating a close relationship with their customers by email, chat, and conferences. Keeping this close relationship and collecting details of their costumer’s journey enables the company to better understand their product’s benefits and showcase the results to their future customers.
Digital tools greatly impact Glucovibes profitability by significantly reducing its costs. On the one hand, their nation-wide and international reach is largely due to their use of digital remote tools, as they allow Glucovibes to keep in contact with their customers and ensure follow-up with them at a very low cost, without the need to have agents present in each province they work in. On the other hand, the automation of logistics allowed them to improve their efficiency by 40%. Logistics automation can be implemented by using Supply Chain Management (SCM) software and can result in significant productivity improvements, allowing small businesses to mitigate risks associated with supply chain disruptions and reduce costs by improving the management of their inventory as well as their demand and sales forecasting. However, across OECD countries, the share of small businesses sharing Supply Chain Management (SCM) information with their suppliers and customers is rather low, standing on average at 13% (OECD, 2023[1]).
Government Support
In order to start their business, Glucovibes held a private investment round, and they additionally benefitted from the programme for entrepreneurial projects “Ekintzaile”. This programme by the Gipuzkoa Business Innovation Centre (BIC) is supported at 50% by Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and 50% by the SPRI Group (The Basque Business Development Agency). They received EUR 45 000 for the development of disruptive innovative project in the health and technology sector.
To learn more about SMEs digital transformation
OECD (2021), The Digital Transformation of SMEs, OECD Studies on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/bdb9256a-en.
OECD (2021), SME Digitalisation to Build Back Better, https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/50193089-en.pdf?expires=1650895216&id=id&accname=ocid84004878&checksum=53749B8E6D032F7C164B559578354381
References
[1] OECD (2023), “ICT Access and Use by Businesses”, OECD Telecommunications and Internet Statistics (database), https://doi.org/10.1787/9d2cb97b-en (accessed on 3 March 2023).
