These government funds are typically managed by a traditional provider who establishes a plan within the customer鈥檚 budget and assigns caregivers. They offer limited to no choice regarding providers and little transparency on how the funds are being spent. This inefficient and costly approach reduces available funds for actual care with limited and often unfamiliar providers.

Enter HomeMade, a startup looking to disrupt the home care sector with a transformative solution that would empower customers to not only stay in their own homes but also to oversee their spending and self-select their providers. With an initial staff of only six, HomeMade set out to create a technology platform that would deliver efficiency, flexibility, transparency, and ease of use for customers and a scalable model that would grow and evolve with the company.

A Rock-Solid Technology Foundation for a Digitally Native Startup

Technology is at the heart of HomeMade鈥檚 business model, so choosing the right technology partner and the right digital platform was essential. 鈥淲e wanted a solution that would give us that ability to scale rapidly and with confidence knowing that the rails weren’t going to fall off, because to be digitally enabled is what makes us different,鈥� , HomeMade general manager, said.

HomeMade found the perfect partner in Bourne Digital, part of Accenture, which steered the startup to (疯拍传媒 BTP). In choosing the platform, HomeMade benefits from a locally hosted, high-performance cloud architecture that can scale across its network. As a React Native open-source Cloud Foundry runtime service, the HomeMade application is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy for the company to maintain and support long term. Add 疯拍传媒 Integration Suite and 疯拍传媒 HANA data storage into the mix and HomeMade emerged with a secure, integrated, and scalable technology foundation to offer efficient care and support to Australia鈥檚 at-home care population.

Young Company Makes an Outsize Impact

In just two years, HomeMade has grown its business to 2,500 customers and reduced new user onboarding time from 14 days to 48 hours. The company has empowered qualifying citizens to manage their budgets and choose their care while saving 14 million Australian dollars and counting.

Customers and families rave about the solution’s functionality and ease of use. HomeMade鈥檚 team members, who have grown to over 100, can happily focus on the customer instead of the endless paperwork they might find in traditional care management. Service providers appreciate timely payment, and another critical stakeholder 鈥� the Australian government 鈥� conducted a regulatory compliance audit and found that HomeMade scored 100% across 42 requirements for the Age Care Quality Safety Standards.

And this is only the beginning for a new company already making an appreciable impact. 鈥淎s the needs of HomeMade grow and evolve, the platform will grow and evolve with HomeMade,鈥� , managing director of Bourne Digital, part of Accenture, explained. For example, Ahmed continued, 鈥淲e leverage AI business services to read documents…and we’re feeling really confident that those AI services will continue to play a part in the future evolution of HomeMade as the company moves more and more towards automation and self-service.鈥�

Adding Value Through Innovation

An 疯拍传媒 Innovation Award winner in 2023, HomeMade continues to grow and think creatively about how its foundational 疯拍传媒 BTP-based technology can enable it to continue to innovate and add value for customers. 鈥淭here are endless opportunities,鈥� Westhorpe said, from increasing efficiency to leveraging data to identify falls or other incidents to using large language models to recognize clinical deterioration in users and launch preventative interventions.

For other startups looking to build technology solutions that will make a dramatic impact, Westhorpe offered to consider, “You want to build everything and you’ve got all these grand ideas, but what are the biggest things that will add value for customers?鈥� Ahmed adds that resilience, a strong partnership, and hard work are critical: 鈥淎dapt, learn, grow together, and accept feedback鈥o build something innovative, you must be prepared to roll up your sleeves.鈥�

The Full Episode

Special thanks to , a hub for fostering human-centered innovation, for collaborating on this on 疯拍传媒 Business Technology Platform episode. Learn more about how HomeMade built a better solution for qualifying citizens:

• Thought leadership podcast: Thulium’s CEO sat down with Westhorpe and Ahmed to discuss the change in caring for older adults, home-based care, and how technology can deliver on a promise dedicated to purpose.
• Practitioners鈥� video: Westhorpe, Ahmed, and I discussed the challenges and opportunities in creating a world-class digital solution for a small but rapidly scaling startup.

Explore more success stories of customers leveraging 疯拍传媒 BTP to help optimize processes for the sake of people and purpose:

• : This nonprofit provider of wide-ranging social services chose聽疯拍传媒 BTP聽and 疯拍传媒 HANA Cloud to enable extensive solution integrations, helping deliver better data connectivity and operational efficiency.
• : Administratively supporting over 1,700 dental practices, Heartland Dental leverages 疯拍传媒 BTP to help improve the business assistant’s user experience, increase productivity, and reduce turnover.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is vice president and a global innovation advocate for 疯拍传媒 BTP.

The tech team at took the company鈥檚 purpose 鈥� building a better working world 鈥� to heart. Supported by , a global initiative to positively impact 1 billion lives by 2030, the team made it their mission to use technology to help solve a problem: to connect countless refugees landing in Poland with the resources they need to survive. The result, the , was live within six urgent weeks.

Responding to a Need

“It was winter, and women and children were standing in long queues for necessities like milk, diapers, and blankets,” Diksha de Sousa, 疯拍传媒 Core Tech at EY, recalled. “And we thought a platform can make this simpler. Resources were available 鈥� donations were streaming into NGOs working all over Poland 鈥� but organizations had no centralized database or way to share what they had available and where.鈥� So de Sousa鈥檚 team mobilized.

The development process would not be typical; this need was dire and immediate. It was about saving lives. When they reached out to other EY groups for support, the response, de Sousa said, 鈥渨as overwhelming. I think we had the UX design in three days.鈥� The EY development team worked at a breakneck pace to create the app while coordinating with NGOs on the ground in Poland and working with the marketing teams who would mobilize the app through the power of social media.

Harnessing New Technology to Deliver Impactful Solutions

鈥淲e needed automation, we needed workflow technology, and, last but not least, we needed the stable backend,鈥� so that the NGOs could upload all their data and ensure it would be stored safely, explained Oktavian Wagner, EY鈥檚 head of CT Innovation, Technology, and Architecture. And, since no one on the development team could write in Polish or Ukrainian, they also needed translation capabilities. 疯拍传媒 Business Technology Platform (疯拍传媒 BTP) was a natural fit, not only because EY was already running close to a thousand 疯拍传媒 instances but also because, as Wagner explained, 鈥渨e share the same vision: using technology to create a better world.鈥�

With 疯拍传媒 Build solutions, a low-code app development and automation portfolio, and with the support of 疯拍传媒 Business Accelerator Hub, the EY team brought the new EY ERA from ideation to execution in record time. While the technology was crucial, Axel Janz, global head of 疯拍传媒 Products and Innovations at EY, said having live, personal support from 疯拍传媒 was invaluable. 鈥淎t the end of the day, the people make the difference,鈥� Janz said.

Also crucial to EY鈥檚 whirlwind development process was a laser focus on user experience. 鈥淵ou want to make sure that the application is stable, that it’s fast, that it’s scalable, that it’s safe, but also that it’s easy to use 鈥� concentrating on what we call the workflow of the end user,鈥� Wagner said. The end user in this case was refugees. 鈥淭hey don’t want to see a commercial. They don’t want to see what else we’re doing at EY. They don’t even want to see and touch the technology. They just want to use it.鈥�

A Targeted Tool with Global Potential

EY ERA has 162 registered humanitarian aid distribution centers in 53 cities in Poland and more than 15,000 users, refugees who can find the necessities they need to care for their families. The app鈥檚 impact is already reaching beyond the borders of Poland and the ongoing crisis for Ukrainian refugees. EY ERA has also been deployed in response to Australian wildfires and is ready to adapt to other natural disasters or humanitarian crises. Whatever the future brings, EY is committed to deploying new technology to serve people in need and to build a better working world for all of us.

Interested in more stories that feature organizations creating innovative solutions to make a positive impact? Check out:

• : Swiss independent organization Essen f眉r Alle (Food for All) is better supporting its commitment to address food insecurity and hunger with a scalable and efficient solution in the cloud from 疯拍传媒.
• : EY created a digital platform for financial aid applications with 疯拍传媒 Business Technology Platform.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is VP and global innovation evangelist at 疯拍传媒.

The HR team at gladly accepted that challenge and raised it, aiming not only to alleviate commuting-associated stress but also to streamline HR processes while incentivizing sustainable transportation alternatives. 

Overhauling Employee Transportation Benefits

With offices in major cities across Belgium and over a thousand employees grappling with a daily commute, Degroof Petercam realized that the bank鈥檚 employee transportation benefits needed a significant overhaul. Employees had to choose one mobility plan from limited options and commit to it for four years. The application process was also cumbersome, miring employees and HR staff in time-consuming, manual tasks.

Degroof Petercam needed an intuitive, flexible application to maximize employee benefits and meet their commuting preferences while encouraging sustainable commuting and minimizing administrative headaches. The bank reached out to Flexso, whose deep HR business expertise and extensive experience with 疯拍传媒 Business Technology Platform (疯拍传媒 BTP) made it the perfect partner.

Guy Spitaels, head of HR Service Center, Payroll & Systems, explained: 鈥淲e started from a blank page, so it was really important to have a sounding board, and Flexso challenged us in each phase of the project鈥hey really played a critical role.鈥� As for the development process, Bert Van Bree, solution architect at Flexso Digital, said, 鈥淚 think our approach can be summarized as start with design thinking and then scale with architecture thinking鈥� while remembering that 鈥渢he application must really empower the employee.鈥�

Meeting the Personal Needs of Employees While Helping the Planet

Flexso鈥檚 human-centric approach, combined with the power of 疯拍传媒 BTP, resulted in a new mobility app perfectly tailored for the employees and the business. The user-friendly app gives employees the flexibility to spend their yearly commuting budget on an array of options 鈥� public transportation, leasing a traditional or electric bike, leasing a gas-powered, hybrid, or electric car, or any combination of the above.

For example, an employee might choose to drive on days when they are dropping a child off at school or heading straight to the gym after work and then take public transportation at other times. The app allows users to simulate infinite combinations of different transportation scenarios to create their ideal commute. Degroof Petercam employees value 鈥渢he transparency and the flexibility of our tool,鈥� Kira Zouboff, HR business analyst, said, and the simulations allow them to 鈥減lay in the tool. They discover all of its features while they are making their own choices, meeting their personal needs.鈥�

To reduce the bank鈥檚 overall carbon footprint, the new app awards employees a 鈥済reen bonus鈥� when they choose more sustainable options, a benefit that has increased Degroof Petercam employees鈥� sustainable commutes by 50%. 鈥淲e can incentivize the reduction of our carbon footprint while offering a very flexible solution, and the fact that the tool is consolidating all of the data helps us report on long-term sustainability solutions in line with all of the initiatives that are led by our group sustainability manager,鈥� Zouboff explained.

Efficiency Improvements for HR

As for the HR team, the new mobility app automatically assigns each employee鈥檚 transportation budget and provides a real-time view of employee choices and requests through the user-friendly administrative platform. After the app’s rollout, Degroof Petercam saw a 75% improvement in efficiency around the administration of mobility benefits.

The mobility app is also a powerful recruitment tool for like-minded top talent. 鈥淚 think our large and flexible mobility offer is absolutely an asset in the war for talent,鈥� Spitaels said.

The Full Episode

The guests from Degroof Petercam 鈥� , , and 鈥� joined , to discuss the origins and implementation of the app:

• : Spitaels, Zouboff, and Van Bree shared insights behind Degroof Petercam鈥檚 inspiring move to offer sustainable transportation alternatives as a benefit to its employees in an easy-to-use mobility app.

• : Spitaels, Zouboff, and Van Bree continued the conversation and dug deeper into how real-time integrations with mobility providers and an intuitive app interface came together to help employees better understand the impact of their transportation choices.

Empowering Employees by Focusing on Their Well-Being

A recent Harvard Business Review article argues that a daily commute is an important ritual that can increase employee well-being and job satisfaction. At Degroof Petercam, current and future employees are empowered to create a daily routine that works for them 鈥� walking, biking, driving, public transporting, or carpooling to a perfect day.

Interested in more stories that feature companies innovating for people, productivity, and the planet? Check out:

• : As one of Europe鈥檚 leading frozen food brands, FRoSTA is committed to sustainability and environmental protection. The company aims to be a digital champion in the frozen food sector by 2025. Ultimately, FRoSTA鈥檚 employees will help bring about this change, reduce the company鈥檚 environmental impact, and drive its success.
• : In 2022, Cepsa presented its new strategic plan for 2030, 鈥淧ositive Motion,鈥� which projects the company鈥檚 ambition to be a leader in sustainable mobility, biofuels, and green hydrogen in Spain and Portugal and become a benchmark in the energy transition. Cepsa places customers at the heart of its business and will work with them to help them advance their decarbonization goals.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate at 疯拍传媒.