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How do Hospital and Clinic Systems Help our Healthcare Workers?

How Do Hospital and Clinic Systems Help our Healthcare Workers in 2022?

How Do Hospital and Clinic Systems Help our Healthcare Workers in 2022? 768 487 Exist Software Labs

By this time, we all know that hospital and clinic systems are very helpful whenever it comes to patient care. Being able to know the patient’s medical history, allergic reactions, and previous prescriptions is very helpful in making sure that our healthcare workers can provide the best care possible. Since the landscape of Healthcare IT is continuously evolving, we should know how do hospital and clinic systems help our healthcare workers.

How Do Hospital and Clinic Systems Help Our Healthcare Workers in 2022?

Most of us take for granted the importance of hospital and clinic systems in achieving quality patient care.  However, no one can argue that to provide the best care possible, doctors and nurses require valuable medical information like medical history, allergy information, medications, and other clinical data.

But these systems not only benefit patients, it also helps our healthcare workers making them more successful in the work they do which is saving lives!

During this time of the pandemic, our healthcare workers are front liners – leading us in the battle against COVID-19. Knowing that, isn’t it important that we also protect them? It is possible that some patients have been consciously hiding information from their care team that could potentially put them at risk. Some have been diagnosed positive for COVID-19 yet don’t feel the need to disclose it to their physicians. Whatever their reasons, these actions put healthcare workers at risk.

So how do Hospital and Clinic Systems Help our Healthcare Workers?

Knowing the Patient History

Knowledge about the patient’s history and previous conditions that could affect their current state. It also helps them by being able to avoid drugs that had already shown adverse reactions on the patient. The efficiency of patient care also increases because redundant tests will be avoided.

In relation to the current pandemic, being able to know the patient’s history could help in determining the current causes of their illnesses, which could lead to knowing if it is COVID related or not.

Misreading of Prescriptions or Previous Notes

With EMRs, everything is digitally transcribed. A 2007 study in US showed that when hospitals started using EMRs, there was a 66% drop in prescription errors. Thousands of medication errors were recorded yearly due to a very simple factor – illegibility of handwriting.

Support Tools

Having a hospital or clinic system that has support tools has a great effect on patient outcomes. Some examples of support tools are drug referencing tools and evidence-based decision support tools, such as Lexicomp and UpToDate by Wolters Kluwer. By being able to look at previous studies, evidence, and drug approaches, physicians and clinicians will be able to have a more efficient, effective, and holistic view of the patient’s recovery plans. 

A survey done in 2020 with 14,137 participants showed that 98% of them are satisfied with UpToDate and that they trust UpToDate as a point-of-care clinical information resource. 96% of them believed that UpToDate improves the quality of care they can provide. 90% said that using UpToDate saves them time. 88% made changes to their patient management, and 86% believe that UpToDate has led to more appropriate diagnostic testing. ‘’

Now that COVID is mutating faster than we can cope, having a support tool that is updated by professionals around the world gives our healthcare workers the edge to make sure that they and their patients are safer.

Telemedicine Module

Another emerging tool for our healthcare workers is the option to do consultations virtually. With widespread internet and affordable devices, geography poses no issue anymore. Telemedicine provides doctors and their patients an immediate and more convenient way of doing consultations. Because of the risks posed by COVID-19, it is definitely safer not only for the patients who have to travel, but also for the physicians and clinicians as it drastically reduces the number of in-person appointments. Despite its limitations of not being able to perform close examination crucial to some specializations, the benefit of remote consults will benefit healthcare workers as it helps reduce the spread of infections.

Hospital and Clinic Systems Do Help.

We could go on and on about answering the question “How Do Hospital and Clinic Systems Help our Healthcare Workers in 2022?” and discuss the many benefits of these systems, but it all boils down to answering the question. Does it do good for patients and healthcare workers alike?

Learn more about Hospital and Clinic Systems. Schedule a demo now.

 

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The Next Big Thing in Internet Banking - Exist Software Labs, Java, Java Developer Philippines

The Next Big Thing in Internet Banking 2022

The Next Big Thing in Internet Banking 2022 768 487 Exist Software Labs

What is the “Next Big Thing in Internet Banking?”

Everyone was challenged on how to cope up in the corporate world because of the worldwide effect of COVID-19. Businesses that do their operations physically were forced to close their business and others were bankrupted because of the lockdown. But more than the negative effects of COVID-19, it also opened many entrepreneurs’ eyes to invest in digitalization or, let’s say, digital transformation.

So what is the correlation of this in the banking industry? Of course, banks were also affected by the pandemic, and a lot of users need to do banking regularly (transferring funds, depositing money, loans, and paying bills). The question is, what is the “Next Big Thing in Internet Banking?”

Surprisingly, banks have adapted to this technological era by accelerating their operations online. As customers go online, many banks have pivoted their strategies to be present where their customers are. Here is the Next Big Thing in Internet Banking.

1. Cashless Transactions

The rise of online shopping gives way to the API tools in using payment gateways to provide users with seamless transactions like capturing a QR Code, saving your debit/credit card in your online shopping app or platform, and giving your ATM card for transactions. For consumers, a lot of payment options and methods would be great! Many people are using more cashless transactions in groceries, shopping, and other financial transactions. This makes the users  more comfortable with the safety and security of their homes. 

Moreover, cashless transactions let them have thinner wallets & prevent them from having heavy coins! 

2. From Brick & Mortar to Click and Mortar

While we are still on lockdown, some banks decline their operations physically. The relevance of Brick and Mortars are not the same as before since we are forwarding into the new normal. The use of digital services via mobile, computer, and tablet is now the trend in doing banking. Even banks are operating digital-only (Neobanks) too! Today, we can do banking, doing our financial errands at the click of a button without going outside of our homes!

From Brick & Mortar to Click and Mortar, everything in internet banking is possible today.

3. Micropersonalized Banking

Have you experienced in the online world that some applications or websites know you as if they are talking to you personally? Like you are the top priority? Well, that is not impossible because of Big Data and Analytics. This AI-driven analytics gives a huge contribution in treating customers right – even virtually! Banks can now offer the users loan or borrow money at the right moment that they need it, dynamic suggestions of products and services, detailed offerings, budget and purchase recommendations (based on your web behavior), and promos around their nearby location!

Micropersonalized banking is customer personalization. If we can translate “the customer is always right in the digital era, then that is analyzing their behavior and offering what is appropriate.

There will be more innovations to come in the future, and the opportunity for internet banking is bright and exciting. As part of the solution, let’s expect higher expectations and demand from customers, be agile in future-thinkers, giving them a seamless process of banking and satisfaction.

Exist Software Labs, Inc and Internet Banking

Exist Digital Banking and Fintech have already streamlined the solutions-building process by creating a foundational banking app that can easily integrate with core banking systems using a standard set of integration connectors to equip banks with capabilities to rapidly shift and compete in the digital economy.

For those in need of a modern and agile digital banking solution, Exist offers a faster and more flexible way for banks to create and implement a solution that can be tailored to their own unique needs which can deliver a seamless customer experience across any device.

Exist Software Labs, Inc. is committed to extending our assistance to several banks with their Digital Onboarding requirements. We have been in the business for 20 years, and the mission to enable corporations to go on digital and have a competitive advantage in this fast-changing world is at our core. Go where the possibilities are boundless!

Digital Banking: Expectation VS Reality, Java, Java Developer Philippines

Digital Banking 2022: Expectation VS Reality

Digital Banking 2022: Expectation VS Reality 768 487 Exist Software Labs

With the rise of technology, a huge number of businesses are also transitioning from traditional to digital – including banks and other financial institutions. In this modern era of technology, what are the expectations and reality of Digital Banking?

According to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, consumers now adapt to use digital payments and prefer to use online transactions because it is safe and convenient.

“New adopters have experienced first-hand the advantages of going digital. Their positive experiences are expected to create a ripple effect and to promote the wider use of digital payments” the BSP explained.

COVID-19 also pushed us to use digital platforms due to health and safety concerns. Payments and transferring money are all seamless because everything is now online. It bridges family’s finances in paying bills and sending funds, shopping online, and other financial transactions. Social Distancing is not a problem at all!

EXPECTATION: You can create an online bank account — Anytime, Anywhere!

REALITY: Yes, but there is an enrollment process for verification purposes.

Internet Banking helped many users to create an online bank account. As much as every bank wants to do it, your security is also their responsibility and concern which is why they are including our personal information like full name, birthday, email address, and phone number to verify and match the details on their data. Furthermore, digital banking activation process will likely need our personal details for verification. With that said, if there’s no wrong answer and all the details are legitimate, you can now have your online bank account!

EXPECTATION: 100% Secured Banking Process

REALITY: Digital Banking is 100% Secured and Simplified its User’s Experience

Thanks to new technology, banks and users can now ensure that everything is secured by the use of multiple security processes before opening their accounts or transferring funds. These are the types of user verification or authentication that was created before performing transactions:

  • Two-Factor Authentication is a security system requiring a clear identification to proceed or access a specific command.
  • One-Time Password (OTP) – digit security code that is only valid for a single login session or transaction. It is a randomly generated code that is impossible to guess and reduces the risk of hacking an account.
  • Email Verification Code – is like a One-Time Password but sometimes comes with a combination of numbers and letters. The code will be sent through the account’s registered email to fully check if the login is legitimate.

EXPECTATION: Users Expect that banks are always there for them

REALITY: Digital Banking is Omnipresent

Omnipresence means “widely present” at all times. With that being said, Yes, there’s a limitation in banks where they cannot always reply fastly to user’s concerns, but users can contact them directly with different channels! The reality is, Banks are thinking about their customers. They are there where their customers are – even online!

With the fast-paced environment, traditional banks must learn and adapt to the new normal. Huge numbers of users are now comfortable with digitalization and financial institutions have to bring convenience too with their customers.

Exist Software Labs, Inc and Digital Banking

Exist Digital Banking and Fintech have already streamlined the solutions-building process by creating a foundational banking app that can easily integrate with core banking systems using a standard set of integration connectors to equip banks with capabilities to rapidly shift and compete in the digital economy.

For those in need of a modern and agile digital banking solution, Exist offers a faster and more flexible way for banks to create and implement a solution that can be tailored to their own unique needs which can deliver a seamless customer experience across any device.

What do you think? Does digital banking meet your expectations or exceed them?

Exist Software Labs, Inc. is committed to extending our assistance to several banks with their Digital Onboarding requirements. We have been in the business for 20 years, and the mission to enable corporations to go on digital and have a competitive advantage in this fast-changing world is at our core. Go where the possibilities are boundless!

Using UpToDate, Lexicomp, and MERX Helps Save Patients Lives, Java, Java Developer Philippines

Save Patients Lives by Using UpToDate, Lexicomp, and MERX in 2022

Save Patients Lives by Using UpToDate, Lexicomp, and MERX in 2022 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The Power of One for Decision Support webinar was held last June 24, 2021! In the clip below, Michelle Topacio from Wolters Kluwer Clinical Effectiveness discussed how using Wolters Kluwers’ UpToDate and Lexicomp helps healthcare providers deliver the best quality of care and actually save patients lives!

Providing the best evidence to make harmonized decisions.

For those using UTD, the diagnostic error was 2% as compared to a 24% diagnostic error rate for those who were not (using UpToDate)

UpToDate is composed of a team of 7,300+ clinician experts who continuously maintain and publish updates. It has 6,900+ unique drug entries, 9,500+ graded recommendations, 12,000+ clinical topics, 1,500+ patient education topics, 425+ journals that are hand searched and reviewed, and 514,000+ references.

A survey done in 2020 with 14,137 participants showed that 98% of them are satisfied with UpToDate and that they trust UpToDate as a point-of-care clinical information resource. 96% of them believed that UpToDate improves the quality of care they can provide. 90% said that using UpToDate saves them time. 88% made changes to their patient management, and 86% believe that UpToDate has led to more appropriate diagnostic testing.

UpToDate, Lexicomp, and MERX Help Save Patients Lives

These kinds of outcomes are critical in assessing the effectiveness, the utility, and the impact Wolters Kluwer’s resources can have in improving clinical effectiveness.

As a Gold Partner of Wolters Kluwer in the Philippines, Exist is committed to finding ways on improving hospital and clinic systems while promoting evidence-based care to help them achieve quality patient outcomes and Save Patient’s Lives.

By integrating both UpToDate and Lexicomp into MERX, clients can instantly access these clinical decision support systems within the hospital system’s interface.  As the clip below shows, MERX users can readily take advantage of information references from UpToDate and Lexicomp at the point of care! 

  • With this, Merx provides clinicians with the tools that integrate into clinical workflows that reduce medication and diagnostic errors.
  • Easily align care teams across the entire healthcare system with information that supports evidence-based care this in return helps Save Patient’s Lives.
  • Provide users with information right at their fingertips that helps the physician make good decisions and ensures that the nurses, pharmacists, and patients are all aligned with that decision-making.

Save more lives with UpToDate, Lexicomp, and MERX. Schedule a demo now!

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How Integrating UpToDate to Hospital Information Systems Helps

How integrating UpToDate to Hospital Information Systems in 2022 Helps

How integrating UpToDate to Hospital Information Systems in 2022 Helps 768 487 Exist Software Labs

Introducing innovation into the health system is directed at enhancing clinical effectiveness

The healthcare industry is becoming more and more volatile as made more apparent by the ongoing global pandemic. Globally, research is being conducted in hopes to find better ways and solutions to dealing with the virus. Prescriptions, medications, and treatment protocols are updated on a daily basis in order to minimize the rise of COVID cases and deaths. Simply put, all clinicians and health practitioners rely on updated data to improve the delivery of patient care.

The power of accessible medical information and staying updated on medical news, studies, and breakthroughs are essential in improving patient outcomes. Such valuable information is exactly what UpToDate offers. Read on to learn more about this evidence-based decision support tool, and how integrating UpToDate to Hospital Information Systems can be helpful.

What is UpToDate?

UpToDate is developed by Wolters Kluwer, a provider of trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers, students, and the next generation of healthcare providers. 

UpToDate is updated daily following a continual comprehensive review of peer-reviewed journals, clinical databases, and other resources, by more than 7,100 world-renowned physician authors and editors.

UpToDate not only provides clinicians with easily accessible data, it also aligns care teams to provide a more unified decision whenever it comes to clinical analysis. UpToDate also provides the opportunity to align care teams to provide a more unified decision on clinical analyses. Consequently, this allows a more synchronized delivery of patient care through evidence-based data and recommendations by renowned experts around the world. 

Results from Asian Hospital and Medical Center have shown that with the use of UpToDate, there has been a downward trend in ICU mortality. Dr. Ana Maria Jimenez, Director for Quality, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, says

If, for instance, an ICU intensivist needs to review certain topics, be it about an illness, diagnostics, or differential diagnosis, and especially when they encounter these topics for the first time, they turn to UpToDate.

UpToDate and COVID-19 Treatment

COVID-19 is novel, therefore physicians require regular updates on its infections and treatments. With UpToDate, resources are updated daily – this brings clinicians more confidence in making sure that their decisions are supported by evidence and information.

Dr. Jimenez also states:

The ICU intensivists also use UpToDate to check if there are new guidelines on process measures for ICU as well as the contention with regard to how fast to lower FiO2 in ventilated Covid-19 patients. Our Emergency Physicians likewise refer to UpToDate for Covid-19 treatment updates like for the management of ARDS and for the use of high-flow nasal cannulas. Furthermore, we consulted the literature when we created the hospital policy on protected code blue, which resulted in an improvement in our Healthcare Worker safety.

MERX HIS – Integrating UpToDate 

Critical to healthcare quality and safety, clinical effectiveness ensures patients’ total healthcare experience remains the primary priority

As a Gold Partner of Wolters Kluwer in the Philippines, Exist continues to find ways how to improve its hospital and clinic systems to promote evidence-based care to help them achieve quality patient outcomes.

At present, we are already integrating UpToDate (and Lexicomp) into our hospital information system, MERX. This means that clients can easily access these clinical decision systems right inside their MERX interface. With this integration, clinicians and healthcare teams will have quick access to relevant and updated information provided by UptoDate and Lexicomp and help harmonize decisions in the delivery of patient care.

By integrating UpToDate, MERX is further able to:

  • Provide tools that integrate into clinical workflows that reduce medication and diagnostic errors, 
  • Align care teams across the entire healthcare system with information that supports evidence-based care. 
  • Provide information that helps the physician make good decisions and ensures that the nurses, pharmacists, and patients are all aligned with that decision-making.

This quality of healthcare solution that Exist Healthcare provides is one of the reasons why the team caters to 3 out of 6 JCI (Joint Commission International) Accredited Philippine hospitals. 

Get the most out of your hospital system by integrating UpToDate into MERX!

Learn more about this in our upcoming webinar on The Power of One for Decision Support! Click here for more details.

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PBCOM-Exist enriches remarkable years-long partnership; Bringing more banking tech upgrades in 2022, Java, Java Philippines

PBCOM-Exist enriches remarkable years-long partnership; Bringing more banking tech upgrades in 2022

PBCOM-Exist enriches remarkable years-long partnership; Bringing more banking tech upgrades in 2022 768 487 Exist Software Labs

PBCOM’s Chief Operating Officer, John Howard Medina, had this to say:

“The team at EXIST has brought us several technology innovations over the last few years and we look forward to continuing to push the digital envelope with them.”

Philippine Bank of Communications has strengthened its partnership with Exist Software Labs, Inc. which has been a key technology consultant and implementation ally.  By this, the alliance allows both parties to continue to co-develop the innovations needed for the bank’s digital channels.

This partnership began in 2016 with the creation of the omnichannel PBCOM Online Platform (POP) and in 2019 the PBCOMobile self-service banking app.

Exist’s VP for Engineering shared his excitement about flourishing the said partnership.

“The partnership between PBCOM and Exist is doing great. It is built on mutual trust and a common commitment to ensuring success to PBCOM’s digital roadmap. As a technology partner, we continuously aim to work closely with PBCOM to ensure that the most appropriate and practical technology options will always be available for PBCOM’s digital strategy.”

PBCOM and Exist

Here is the timeline that marks the milestones that Exist and PBCOM achieved throughout the years:

PBCOM tapped Exist to develop POP

In 2016, PBCOM decided to relaunch its electronic channels after years of remaining dormant despite introducing online banking as early as 2003. PBCom Online platform (POP) is a retail omnichannel digital banking service.

POP was launched to the public

POP is an omnichannel banking application that allows its users to perform secure banking transactions like the following:

• Viewing account balances
• Monitoring transaction history
• Downloading bank statements
• Transferring money
• Paying bills
• Sending money to third-party bank accounts

Internet and mobile versions of the app have the same look and feel, making it easier to understand and use.

It is within this year also that they subscribed to Exist Maintenance Service for POP. This agreement between the two is annually renewed.

Exist developed the OTP platform for POP

This was added to let POP have multi-factor authentication to improve its security and avoid unauthorized access. Exist also had several Change Orders with PBCOM in 2018 for the constant improvement of POP.

PBCOM and Exist are under a contract valid until 2025

Again, PBCOM subscribed to the Maintenance Service for PBCOMobile. Exist ceaselessly ensures that PBCOM’s applications are performing efficiently and error-free. Currently, the two’s contract has a 5-year lock-up, which actively demonstrates that they will work hand-in-hand for PBCOM’s applications and online technologies until 2025.

Download our FREE datasheet!

Exist fosters a future-ready digital banking technology that equips its banking and fintech partners with the agility to adapt to ever-changing market demands.

Exist Digital Banking and Fintech have already streamlined the solutions-building process by creating a foundational banking app that can easily integrate with core banking systems using a standard set of integration connectors to equip banks with capabilities to shift and compete in the digital economy rapidly.

A Fully Dockerized MySQL to YugabyteDB Migration Strategy Using pgloader, Java, Java Philippines

A Fully Dockerized MySQL to YugabyteDB Migration Strategy in 2022 Using pgloader

A Fully Dockerized MySQL to YugabyteDB Migration Strategy in 2022 Using pgloader 768 487 Exist Software Labs

YugabyteDB Migration Strategy


While there have been many who began their journey to relational databases with the simple and popular MySQL, the evolution of business use cases involving more than read optimization and the need for more performant, full-fledged, read/write-optimized OLTP systems have given rise to a widespread migration from MySQL to Postgres.

Along with this, the transition from monolithic to cloud-native has also paved the way for distributed SQL systems that allow for read/write functionality in every node of the database cluster (while maintaining ACID-compliance across all nodes) and cloud-agnostic deployments of these nodes across geographic zones and regions. This is the future of the database, a future where reliability, accessibility, and scalability are built into the product. The future of the database is YugabyteDB.
 

From MySQL to YugabyteDBfast!

The method that we will be using to migrate a MySQL database to YugabyteDB is through the use of pgloader, a very reliable tool for migrating from MySQL (even SQL Server) to Postgres. We will first migrate the MySQL database to a Dockerized Postgres instance using Dockerized pgloader.

Once the MySQL database has been migrated to Postgres, we will then use the ysql_dump utility that comes with every installation of YugabyteDB to dump the Postgres database into a YugabyteDB-friendly format. This is one of the very useful traits of ysql_dump: it ensures that your Postgres dump can be fully restored in a YugabyteDB instance.

After getting the dump, we will restore this dump in the blank YugabyteDB database that we’ve created beforehand, thereby completing the migration from MySQL to YugabyteDB!

 

Steps

1. Get the Postgres Docker container

docker run -e POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD=trust -p 5432:5432 -d postgres:11

2. Create the MySQL database counterpart in Dockerized Postgres

CREATE DATABASE <db name>;

3. Run Dockerized pgloader to load from MySQL to Dockerized Postgres

docker run --rm --name pgloader dimitri/pgloader:latest pgloader --debug mysql://<user name>:<password>@<ip address of MySQL DB server>:3306/<source database name> postgresql://postgres@<ip address of Dockerized Postgres>:5432/<destination database name>

*If a user error is encountered, make sure the user and IP address combination indicated in the error is created in the MySQL source and has access to the databases to be migrated.”

4. Since pgloader creates a Postgres schema using the database name and puts the tables there, we can change the schema name to “public”

DO LANGUAGE plpgsql
     $body$
     DECLARE
     l_old_schema NAME = '<schema name>';
     l_new_schema NAME = 'public';
     l_sql TEXT;
     BEGIN
     FOR l_sql IN
     SELECT
          format('ALTER TABLE %I.%I SET SCHEMA %I', n.nspname, c.relname, l_new_schema)
     FROM pg_class c
          JOIN pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
     WHERE
     n.nspname = l_old_schema AND
     c.relkind = 'r'
     LOOP
     RAISE NOTICE 'applying %', l_sql;
     EXECUTE l_sql;
     END LOOP;
     END;
     $body$;

5. In this example, we will be using Dockerized Yugabyte as the destination (also applies to other form factors)

a. 1-node cluster with no persistence: 

docker run -d --name yugabyte  -p7000:7000 -p9000:9000 -p5433:5433 -p9042:9042 yugabytedb/yugabyte:latest bin/yugabyted start --daemon=false

b. With persistence:

docker run -d --name yugabyte  -p7000:7000 -p9000:9000 -p5433:5433 -p9042:9042 -v ~/yb_data:/home/yugabyte/var yugabytedb/yugabyte:latest bin/yugabyted start --daemon=false

6. Go inside the Yugabyte container

a. To access the interactive terminal of the container:

docker exec -it <yugabyte container id> /bin/bash

b. Go to the bin directory:

cd /home/yugabyte/postgres/bin

c. Make sure destination database exists in YugabyteDB:

CREATE DATABASE <destination yugabytedb name>;

d. Dump the database in the Postgres container:

./ysql_dump -h <ip address of Postgres container> -U postgres -d <database name of postgres db> -p 5432 -f <dump name>.sql

e. Restore the Postgres dump in the blank database in the YugabyteDB instance:

./ysqlsh -p 5433 -d <database name of destination yugabyte db> -f <dump name>.sql

 

And there you have it! You have successfully migrated your MySQL database to the future of the database. You have migrated to YugabyteDB!

yugabytedb migration

Exist is your data solutions partner of choice!

Explore the next level of your digital transformation journey with big data and analytics. Let’s look at opportunities to better maximize your ROI by turning your data into actionable intelligence. Connect with us today, and we’ll proudly collaborate with you!

The Future of the Database: YugabyteDB, Java, Java Philippines

The Future of the Database: YugabyteDB

The Future of the Database: YugabyteDB 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The Future of the Database

The journey to application modernization brought about by the cloud-native renaissance continues, and the benefits to be had are truly being enjoyed by the enterprises that embrace the path. Speed, scalability, resiliency, and agility may seem to just be industry buzzwords, but in reality, they translate to better application deployment, performance, and availability, which further translate to what really matters: happy customers.

This has given way to the concomitant need for databases to adapt to this need for speed, scalability, resiliency, and agility. The way traditional databases have implemented a single-node access to the database cluster via the master node has proven untenable in a commercial environment wherein the need to scale users, not just locally, but across the regional and geographical divide, has become dire and ubiquitous.

This is where the gap is filled by YugabyteDB.

 

What is YugabyteDB?

What is YugabyteDB?

YugabyteDB is a transactional, distributed SQL database that was designed primarily to possess the virtues of the cloud-native philosophy. Its creators wanted a chiefly OLTP database that was fast, easy to add more nodes to, able to tolerate node failures, upgradable without incurring any downtime, and deployable in all form factors (public/private cloud, VMs, and on-prem).

Being a distributed SQL database, it has automatic distribution of data across nodes in a cluster, automatic replication of data in a strongly consistent manner, support for distributed query execution so clients do not need to know about the underlying distribution of data, and support for distributed ACID transactions.

It is a multi-API database that exposes the following APIs (more will be added in the future): 

  • YSQL – an ANSI SQL, fully-relational API that is completely compatible with PostgreSQL 11.2
  • YCQL – a semi-relational SQL API that is based on the Cassandra Query Language

It is a Consistent and Partition Tolerant (CP) database in that in the event of a network partition within the database cluster wherein one of the nodes cannot communicate with the other nodes and determine majority membership, data consistency over availability is prioritized by the system and this node will not be able to accept writes, whereas the nodes that are still part of the majority will remain unaffected.

It is completely open source, released under the Apache 2.0 license.

 

What are the key benefits of YugabyteDB?

The following are some of the benefits that are immediately enjoyed “out-of-the-box”:

  • No single point of failure given all nodes are equal
  • Distributed transactions across any number of nodes
  • Scale write throughput linearly across multiple nodes and/or geographic regions.
  • Low-latency reads and high-throughput writes.
  • Strongly consistent, zero data loss writes.
  • Cloud-neutral deployments with a Kubernetes-native database.
  • Automatic failover and native repair.
  • 100% Apache 2.0 open source even for enterprise features.

In other words, you get a cloud-native, transactional, distributed SQL database system that allows you to read and write on every node in the cluster (with ACID assurance), distribute your application load across many nodes in many regions and geographies, read and write data fast, deploy anywhere, and be highly available—all in open source!

 

Use Cases

YugabyteDB is perfect for:Use Cases of YugabyteDB

Just this morning, social media personality, James Deakin, posted on his FB wall about a particular bank whose “app feels like it’s running on windows 95” (his own words). He ended up closing his account due to the overall poor customer experience brought on by the subpar performance of this bank’s client-facing, internet applications, along with other concerns.

YugabyteDB is perfect for the client-facing, Internet, transactional application.

Want to know more about the Yuggernaut of Distributed SQL? Contact us.

Exist is your data solutions partner of choice!

Explore the next level of your digital transformation journey with big data and analytics. Let’s look at opportunities to better maximize your ROI by turning your data into actionable intelligence. Connect with us today, and we’ll proudly collaborate with you!

Pandemic Highlights Need for EMR, Information Systems Beyond Hospital and Clinic Walls, Java, Java Developer Philippines

The 2020 Pandemic effectively Highlights Need for EMR, Information Systems Beyond the Hospital and Clinic’s Walls

The 2020 Pandemic effectively Highlights Need for EMR, Information Systems Beyond the Hospital and Clinic’s Walls 768 487 Exist Software Labs

Despite the uptake of practices using EMRs, the country’s struggle to capture COVID-related data and the presence of health information systems that are not interoperable exposed the need for EMR, hospital, and clinic systems that contribute to and empower the greater health sector.

Read on to see how the pandemic highlights the need for EMRs and Information Systems beyond hospital and clinic walls.

It is nearly impossible to create or build healthcare capacity during a pandemic.  Hospitals everywhere struggle with staffing and bed resources to keep up with Covid surges while preventing infections.  The lack of clear political strategy and guidance seems to leave health providers fending for themselves.

Yet, it is these types of situations that also enlighten and ultimately force a reckoning for businesses.  In healthcare, it is not just about finding a means to stay afloat.  It is a matter of ensuring the survival of staff and the populace.  It is about how to improve and extend patient services while contributing to the greater need of containing the pandemic.

 

Pandemic Highlights the Need for EMR and Clinic Systems. See how it can help.

If it wasn’t as clear before, it has become imperative that any operating business will need to invest in IT and digital solutions.  It is about finding systems that answer core business requirements while also being equipped to support functionalities yet to be identified.  For hospitals and clinics, it is not enough that systems and applications exist only for internal consumption.  Systems need to enable them to participate and share health data (in a secure manner) to reach patients.  They need to contribute information to guide policies for the greater population.

For medical practices, the shift and need for EMR have grown rapidly in the last few years.  This is apparent in larger clinical practices offering a variety of medical and diagnostic services across a network of branches.  Ease of coordination, as well as seamless transactions, give these clinics an advantage.  They offer a more well-rounded patient experience that mirrors that of a tertiary hospital but at a more affordable cost.

Why does the need for EMR constantly arise? EMRs allow users to coordinate care across various specialties.  The system provides the entire clinic and its team of doctors with the needed information about the patient at every turn. With available patient data, the practice is likely to adapt toward providing more evidence-based care.

Outpatient clinics need to step up to provide help to hospitals. Clinics can provide triage as a first line of care for patients before going directly to hospitals.

As vaccination programs roll out, clinics across the country can be viable centers given their experience providing immunizations.  At this time, multi-specialty and diagnostic clinics can be a safe haven for patients needing medical help while avoiding the high risk of infection in hospitals.

Such a larger role requires that clinic management systems cannot just be about the need for an EMR.  Clinic systems will need to be mini-hospital information systems (HIS) except without the support for admission and its supporting modules.

Like hospital systems, the clinic system orchestrates a team of doctors, nurses, and other users across different sections organized by medical specialty, different laboratory, or even outpatient surgical care. The Pandemic Highlights the support needed for an integrated online patient portal and telemedicine. Imagine a doctor providing teleconsultation without the need to open another application for accessing and updating the patient’s electronic medical records!

These functionalities are critical to ensuring that medical services will remain operational while reducing physical contact.  With a portal, the patients are provided a tool by which they can update their records and provide feedback on their medical outcomes.

 

Pandemic Highlights Importance of Breaking Silos and Transmission of Covid-related Data

Maintaining a single source of patient information across multiple branches is just as important.  Firstly, the patient will have more options not limited by location for in-person services such as laboratory and diagnostic tests. This ensures that doctors and other care professionals view updated and complete patient records regardless of clinic branch which opens potential for further interoperability. With consolidated patient records inside clinic systems, clinics have in their possession, valuable data.  Data that can yield patient insights and provide information on future services and investment as well.

In the fight against Covid, using information from paper records seems almost anecdotal at best.  For any viable health program to succeed in this pandemic, data needs to guide the plans.  Surviving the pandemic needs the entire health sector — both public and private, to work together.  Hospitals and clinics will need to pay attention to the needs of population health for Covid data as well. Using the right hospital information and clinic systems is vital for transmitting and collecting health information and statistics.  This is important in creating a holistic health plan for cities, provinces, and ultimately an entire country.

The Covid situation is like being part of an ongoing global research study.  It is both tragic, and one that hopefully with available data, will strengthen and lift healthcare standards everywhere.

In the Philippines, the pandemic highlights the need for IT systems used by hospitals and clinics need to comply with the required standards set forth by the Department of Health (DOH) as well as Philhealth.  Systems with these certifications not only give health facilities the license to legally operate but show a commitment to contribute to improving healthcare beyond its four walls. 

The pandemic highlights the need to take advantage of information systems, care institutions give themselves and their patients a fighting chance to survive and continue to be relevant players in the healthcare business as well.

Enabling Connected Healthcare


Technological innovation has enabled a new model of care delivery where the patient is at the center of the healthcare network. The pandemic highlights the need for advanced and innovative healthcare technology.
 
Exist’s healthcare IT systems address the management of patient information to connect users and different care providers to help achieve ease of care, drive cost and process efficiencies, and ultimately, generate better patient outcomes.

Check out our other Digital Healthcare insights here!

Check Out Medcurial

Check out our healthcare product, MEDCURIAL. See how it can help our nation improve its response to the ongoing global pandemic.

 

Digital Banking Models to Lead Transformation in 2021 and Beyond 1 of 3, Java, Java Philippines

Digital Banking Models to Lead Transformation in 2021 and Beyond 1 of 3

Digital Banking Models to Lead Transformation in 2021 and Beyond 1 of 3 768 487 Exist Software Labs

In a world that keeps closing into even more modernized digital banking models, global initiatives that are being put into place to slash the reliance on physical touchpoints only make perfect sense.

Not only that private sectors are immensely investing in going online, but there has also been some legal support for the modern banking cause.

In the Philippines alone, House Representative Joey Salceda of the 2nd district of Albay has been working on the Virtual Banking Act’s legislation. One of the aims of this act is to increase foreign participation. Simultaneously, it intends on learning more about financial technology from global resources.

Additionally, the Central Bank issued a regulation last July. It proposes to make digital banks a new classification distinct from universal, commercial, thrift, rural, cooperative, and Islamic banks.

Modernizing personal banking and fintech opportunities are also eminent as the tech-savvy, young populace is dominating the workforce.

This age group is also currently considered as the biggest earners. Doubtlessly, they would desire nothing less than convenient and easy ways to accomplish day-to-day tasks, say, managing their finances.

Government, private sectors, and the plurality of the population – when these three vital stakeholders are walking the same path, progress is always in sight.

Such strong signals that digital banks, and even neo-banking, are becoming more and more accepted in the country with each passing day.

 

Digital Banking Models

Digital banking models refer to various approaches used by financial institutions to deliver banking services through digital channels. These models leverage technology and automation to offer a wide range of financial services to customers in a more convenient, efficient, and cost-effective manner.

Digital banking models provide customers with greater convenience, speed, and accessibility while enabling banks to operate more efficiently and effectively.

Neo-banking is a term for modern-day digital banking that mainly capitalizes on the rampancy of the internet. Its operations and offerings are heavily online-based. Most of the time, neo-banks do not have physical branches.

With the increasing support for this concept, the country can expect a huge wave of new players in the industry. This poses a further threat to traditional banks that are still taking much time in improving their digital playing cards. Therefore, traditional banks investing in solutions that can take these threats head-on should become more mainstream.

However, every investment comes with risks for both enterprises and the target users. From these risks sprout doubt. With this at hand, how should banking and fintech providers mitigate the half-hearts of the market? At the same time, how will they ensure that the technologies they will be offering are what the market needs, wants, and deserves?

If we are to aggregate all the floating idealisms on addressing this, we will boil down to a few specific models that will fit the bill in the face of growing and changing market demands and needs.

As banking solutions developers, we believe that digital banking technologies should lay their building blocks on human-centric, cloud-ready, and threat-elusive models. Here is why:

People-centric Model

Adding value to a person’s day-to-day life through technology is the ultimate goal of any digital transformation effort. It is the ultimate goal that enterprises should aspire to achieve.

Such entails that the human factor should be the utmost consideration in forging ahead. That does not only include the customer end but as well as the employees.

Is the solution fit for their needs? Will the solution require fewer efforts from them, thus making their tasks smoother to accomplish? Will it give them the relief that they did not know they needed?

Cloud-Ready Model

Modern times and younger markets call for an up-to-date approach. Implementing cloud technology into the banking arena improves data generation and processing.

Cloud-ready solutions are also known to be more scalable and flexible, allowing developers to add software improvements effortlessly.

The Central Bank is in full support of deploying banking processes in the cloud even before the pandemic. Nevertheless, the health crisis still boosted the normalization of the cloud-ready model and is now being utilized by several banks in the country. Still, the use of cloud computing in banking is yet to be fully explored.

Threat-Elusive Model

One of the most critical decision breakers for prospect users is whether banking online is secure or not. Security threats over the internet are pretty rampant, so where they are coming from is understandable.

Howbeit, there are tools and ways to address these concerns, assuring the users that performing their banking matters online can be a safe option.

Adapting these Digital Banking Models is not impossible anymore. One merely needs the right direction and resources for it to take shape. Better the soonest, as the first to market always has an advantage.

Digital banking models are different from traditional banking models in several ways. Some of the key differences are:

  1. Digital-only: Digital banking models are entirely online-based, and they do not have physical branches. Customers can access their accounts and complete transactions through mobile apps, websites, or other digital channels. Traditional banks, on the other hand, have a physical presence in the form of branches and ATMs.
  2. Cost structure: Digital banking models have lower operational costs compared to traditional banks, as they do not have to maintain physical branches or hire as many staff. This enables them to offer lower fees and better interest rates to their customers.
  3. Customer experience: Digital banks prioritize customer experience and convenience. They offer features such as 24/7 customer support, instant money transfers, and seamless account opening processes. In contrast, traditional banks may have limited customer support hours and require customers to visit a branch to open an account or complete certain transactions.
  4. Technology-driven: Digital banks rely heavily on technology to deliver their services. They use advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning to provide personalized recommendations and insights to their customers. Traditional banks may also use technology, but their systems are often less integrated and less advanced.
  5. Regulatory environment: Digital banks are subject to the same regulations as traditional banks, but they may face additional regulatory challenges as they operate entirely online. They may need to comply with additional data privacy and cybersecurity regulations, for example.

Overall, digital banking models are designed to offer a more efficient, cost-effective, and convenient banking experience for customers.

Transform into an omnichannel platform

Exist Digital Banking and Fintech have already streamlined the solutions-building process by creating a foundational banking app that can easily integrate with core banking systems using a standard set of integration connectors to equip banks with capabilities to shift and compete in the digital economy rapidly.

But we will cut you short this time. Stay tuned to our next blogs as we are about to explore each model more rigorously.

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Exist fosters a future-ready digital banking technology that equips its banking and fintech partners with the agility to adapt to ever-changing market demands.