Finceramica, a biotech company with 40 employees, teams up with surgeons to create bioceramic implants for patients. This is what Finceramica learned by tapping into a private cloud. Step 1: Identify where your processes are breaking down or slowing down. When Finceramica was incorporated more than a decade ago, quick, high-data digital connections weren’t available. Surgeons needing Finceramica’s implants would send CT scans via courier. Then Finceramica would model a 3D prototype, and send it back to the surgeon via courier. This was a bit cumbersome and error-prone – which isn’t great, when you need to replace a piece of a skull. Step 2: Don’t be afraid to ask for outside help. Luckily, Finceramica had its own brain trust – an IT team assembled from Finceramica’s investment group. They began working with two business partners, Tecla.it and Materialise NV, to digitize this entire process with a fully integrated, cloud-based portal. The key to the project was to customize access for each stakeholder – surgeon, salesperson, Finceramica technician – enabling them to access only the information that’s relevant to them, ensuring the confidentiality of patient data. Step 3: Customize your solution to deliver on the needs of your customers. With their new Custom Bone Service Portal, neurosurgeons can log in from any location on a web browser, load in the patient data, and upload their CT scans straight into the system. The system automatically checks the validity of the data, and creates a digital 3D model. The next time the surgeon logs in, he can survey the 3D model, zooming in and rotating it. If everything checks out, a click automatically routes the model to the production department. Step 4: Measure success not only in time and money saved but by improvements in the customer experience. Cloud computing not only reduced Finceramica’s workload by 30% – it also reduced the surgeon’s workload by 20%. And production of the implants is 30% faster because the process allows everyone to bypass the prototype phase.

1. Four lessons for midsize businesses
Brought to you by
Getting the
Most From Cloud:

2. Introduction
Finceramica uses the
cloud to tap into the brains
of neurosurgeons.
Finceramica, a 40-employee biotech company, works directly with neurosurgeons to create bioceramic implants for
their patients. See what they learned by tapping into a private cloud. And learn how you can follow the same steps.

3. LESSON 1
Identify where your
Processes are breaking down.
Finceramica was incorporated over a decade ago—before high-data digital connections were readily available.
This is how they created the vital implants needed to replace a piece of a patient’s skull:
- A surgeon would send a CT scan via courier
- Finceramica would create a 3D prototype
- They would then have to courier it back
This process was cumbersome and error-prone. Two things that the patients couldn’t afford.

4. LESSON 2
Don’t be afraid
to ask for help.
Finceramica assembled an IT team to work along with IBM Business Partners Tecla.it and Materialise NV to
digitize the entire process with a fully integrated, cloud-based portal.
The key: customizing access to make sure confidential patient data remains confidential.

5. Lesson 3
Customize your
solution to meet
your customers’ needs.
The new Custom Bone Service Portal now allows neurosurgeons to log on from any web browser, load patient
data and upload CT scans right into the system.
The system makes sure all the data is valid, and then creates a 3D model. The surgeon can zoom and rotate the
model. Once it checks out, it can be routed right to production.

6. LESSON 4
Measure success by customer
service improvements. Not just
time and money saved.
Cloud computing helped Finceramica reduce its workload by 30%, and the neurosurgeons’ by 20%. By bypassing
the prototype phase, implants are produced 30% faster—which means a lot to the patients.

7. Watch the video.
See how the benefits of cloud computing
helped transform a business and patients’ lives.