Putting AI power into optometry

No stranger to Spec-Savers, its CIO Mark Phillips worked for the group for 14 years as IT manager and has recently returned to what he describes as a family he has been privileged to see grow over the years.

“I joined the business many years ago and absolutely loved the challenge,” says Phillips. “I left to join another business as CTO and have now returned to take on the role of CIO.

“At Spec-Savers, technology has been adopted and driven from the top down as an enabler and as a competitive advantage. The drive is always to be first to market and that creates an exciting culture of innovation across the group, not just within the IT team.”

Phillips says the company is now able to take its services to market much quicker. He says it still takes time, but now more time is spent on finessing and making sure the customer journey is aligned.

“Artificial intelligence (AI) is a significant trend,” says Phillips. “We can see the value it adds and are working on some pretty exciting stuff to augment the customer journey.

“One way we are enhancing our offering is by having equipped our almost 350 stores with Fundus cameras and I believe every optometrist should have one of these. A Fundus camera is a specialised, low-power microscope with a camera designed to photograph the interior surface of the eye. This provides a picture of the retina, uncovering scar tissue, abnormal bleeding and areas of atrophy, all of which assist in the screening and referral process.

“We have a number of ways to deal with the images. If the optometrist is concerned, he or she can push these up to the panel and to AI to pick up a number of diagnoses. The screening is live, followed up by e-mail reporting of the actual results, what they mean and how this relates to an optimal treatment. The magic is what you get out of the image. This is an incredible tool with so much value-add for us.”

Phillips says his priorities now also encompass maintaining a strong culture with remote working, keeping up with the aggressive innovation targets set by the business and identifying future innovation for the pipeline. His approach to innovation and transformational ICT projects is to listen.

“Everybody in our business has great ideas and it’s being able to pick up those ideas and ultimately to deliver them that's the tricky part. In terms of managing priorities, we are very strict with our delivery pipeline and manage those priorities closely. When they need to be adjusted, it’s a team decision. The customer experience has to be our key focus and one underpinned by our applications and infrastructure stack.

“MTN Business is a key partner in our technology strategy and its infrastructure roll-out across our group will improve connectivity, allow us to focus on the application stack more and worry about infrastructure less. Our 15 or so years of loyalty to them boils down to being able to talk to someone we trust. It is not just about speeds and feeds.

“Our use of technology is to continuously enhance our services and drive down the cost of optometry. We are part of the future of healthcare and wish to continue making a positive impact on society,” he concludes.

First published in ITWeb Brainstorm.