In-services Available Anywhere and Any Time

From training and mobilizing salesforces to engaging with patients and providers, medical technology companies have relied on face-to-face communication to sell and train users on their products. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face interactions with hands-on learning, including live case proctoring and in-field training, became nearly impossible.

CooperSurgical, a leading medical device company that specializes in women’s healthcare and fertility treatments, needed to digitize in-services in order to provide on-demand training and resources to healthcare providers when in-person access was not available.

The company has a large amount of training videos and product literature on their website, but it was not ideal for quick access and use for practical and on-demand training refreshers often needed just prior to performing procedures. Building a native iOS/Android application could solve the issue, but that approach can be expensive and take time to build. Furthermore, native apps require a version for each operating system, with all future updates having to be made independently. Native apps also require users download and install the app on their device.

In order to save budget and lead-time, D2 Creative recommended building a progressive web app (PWA), an emerging approach to app development that uses the same technologies used to build websites, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Its simple architecture meant that it would be less expensive to produce, and faster to develop and deploy, compared to a native app, but with nearly identical functionality. Users could access the PWA on any connected device and view information without having to download an application. Their user experience with a PWA is nearly identical to that of a native app; there are no typical web-browsing tools, like an address bar, disrupting the in-app experience.

The team at CooperSurgical agreed that a PWA would be the preferred option as it allowed for more flexibility, less complexity, and faster time-to-market. Our team produced an HTML5 PWA supported by Google Firebase. The app can be used on any connected mobile device, without requiring user installations.

After launching the progressive web app, CooperSurgical was able to make necessary product training information, normally shared during comprehensive in-services, available at the tap of a screen.

With the in-service PWA, surgeons can watch videos, learn how to use a device or how to clean it, and view or download instructions directly to their devices. The app also “remembers” previous visits so that providers can quickly revisit materials they need to repeatedly reference.

In the event that a provider had a specific question or wanted to buy more product, D2 Creative added a convenient “Find a Rep” button that connects the user to the right representative based on their location and product of interest.

This in-service PWA launched with a handful of CooperSurgical’s dozens of brands. Since scalability is built in as more products are added to the app, the interface will evolve to continue to offer a streamlined user experience, allowing users to locate information by practice or procedure.