change:healthcare
1

A simple, easy-to-use &
confidential web-application
that works 24/7 to
help you save money
and make informed healthcare spending decisions.
2

3

Problem…
There was no easy way to
access the data outside of the
browser/web application!
[Business Need: Provide way for people to access cost data via mobile]
4

Possible Solutions?
•
SMS Gateway
•
Homegrown Hacks
•
Pay for an Outside Pre-Built Service
•
Write Our API & Build Mobile App
•
or we could Look to Open Source
5

Why Are We Here?
6

We Believe in Open Source:
Cost Effective, Rapid Development,
Eager & Supportive Communities.
Low Barrier to Entry with simple
learning curves, pre-done research
and less time spent.
7

Solution…
Twitter-bot: Built using the
Twitter API and two open source
ruby gems with 1 week of dev
time, we were able to launch a
mobile cost lookup tool via Twitter.
[Without open source solutions, as well as Twitter's API, it
would have taken MONTHS to get the same results]
8

9

Was it Successful?
10

Nope.
11

change:healthcare
FTW!
12

Measuring Success
– Increased Engagement & Company Awareness
– Tons of Press for Unique Twitter Service
– In Healthcare and Technology
– Deeper Relationship with Users
– Internally
– Feels great to change lives quickly
– Identified areas of app to develop first in API
– Easy, on the fly modifications based on user
responsiveness and ease of development
– Affordable to us, Impacting to Users, Fast
13

Concerns & Hindsight...
14

Williamson County Rocks!
Proud to be a progressive technology
business and don’t believe you have
to live in Silicon Valley to build
awesome web products.
15

Williamson County
+ open source
+ creative talent
= Awesomeness
flickr@beeyoutifulgirl