‘Enabling Laboratories at Scale: WizardHealth, a Forward-Thinking LIS Software Solutions Provider, Continues to Stay at the Forefront

“At certain points where scientists do interact with our software, our goal is to make that interaction simple, efficient, and if possible, fun.”

One could easily say that in recent years healthcare is showing visible progress in technological development, and it seems that it’s finally about to come in sync with the times we live in.

For many years there were voices, from different sources, calling for revolutions that in the end never happened. But, what is definitely happening is evolutionary change. It seems that healthcare is gradually rejecting its bureaucracy shell, under which room for ideas, colors, and emotions is in clear sight.

Laboratories and laboratory software are integral parts of the healthcare evolution.

All paths lead towards simplifying access to laboratory data and improving understanding of it. The attempt to unify data and integration channels brings great challenges. The goal is to improve communication, and laboratory information sharing between laboratory experts, doctors, clinicians, and patients.

In light of the foregoing, we’re pleased to present WizardHealth — provides state-of-the-art laboratory information system (LIS) software solutions, which are easy to use and do not require large investments. WizardHealth operates across Europe.

To highlight and further understand what WizardHealth stands for and seeks to explore in this segment, I sat down with Selver Marić (Lead Designer), who serves as the company’s Chief Product Officer.

Below is an excerpt.

Q. How user-friendly is WizardHealth-build laboratory software? And how is it transforming the age-old conventional medical laboratory setup?

From the very beginning, the idea was to have a software solution that is simple to use and a system that also simplifies basic processes in a laboratory. That is one of our company’s core culture premises, and we still firmly support it.

We invest maximum energy into enabling seamless communication between laboratory devices and the software itself. For this purpose, we’ve built an in-house device called Hono. Its task is to perform all the groundwork and relieve laboratory staff of menial, boring, non-scientific tasks that they would otherwise have to complete manually.

At certain points where scientists do interact with our software, our goal is to make that interaction simple, efficient, and if possible, fun.

This is a market where you have to adapt to different organizational standards. A market where big companies still mask the complexity of their software with the spin philosophy — “more is better”.

We are taking the opposite road and that consumes our energy and often looks like swimming against the current. But at the end of the day, it’s worth it.

Our growth is stable and the fact is that all these years our customer satisfaction rating is by all metrics, significantly higher than the industry standard.

Q. That’s not all WizardHealth does. What are its other focus areas?

Along with the continuing work on improving our laboratory information system — WizardLab, we are always trying to innovate and work on other solutions that could find their place in our portfolio in the long term. These solutions are currently in experimental phases.

We can mention our WizardAir as a solution used by doctors to seamlessly order and view laboratory tests. The true value of WizardAir is the decision support system that helps doctors make better, more correct orders by using smart suggestions.

Another initiative worth mentioning is the PulseBI solution, which allows smart analytics of laboratory data on greater-scale healthcare ecosystems. This solution currently only handles laboratory data, but our goal is to enable it to collect and analyze all healthcare data.

Q. Setbacks are a part of every growing business. Tell us about a few roadblocks and learning lessons that have helped the company grow over the years?

It was a long journey until the enterprise market in which we function recognized the slightly atypical values WizardHealth has to offer as a company. Seven or eight years ago, most people with buying power in healthcare didn’t even know what a cloud-based solution or a Software-as-a-Service is.

We were maybe too enthusiastic and adamant that everything can be done via the internet — sales, distribution, as well as training and customer support. Of course, at that point, that was impossible.

And when we reached the wall, we had to find ways to keep our core business philosophy, and yet adapt to the market just enough so we don’t get eaten by it. It took us some time to realize that business often has nothing to do with what you read in the business or entrepreneurship magazines and books. We had to experiment by ourselves and find viable ways.

For example, we don’t like direct sales. But, this is a market where you can’t avoid direct sales if your goal is to bring the product to the intended destination — in the hands of the end-user. Luckily, we found the ways and proudly say that we are a bootstrapping company with continuous growth in the last five years.

Our main growth initiative in the last year was developing partner networks that will boost our international growth. Simply put, we are open to collaboration with all companies that share similar views as we do and see our solutions as complementary for entering certain markets together.

Q. Can you provide us with one or two success stories describing the challenges your clients faced and how your solutions helped them overcome those challenges?

This year, among other activities, we’ve been working on the implementation of our central laboratory system inside a regional ecosystem of 37 laboratories of different sizes and professional orientations.

Most big projects of this type bring numerous challenges. Some are on the entire ecosystem level, while some are on the level of individual laboratories inside the ecosystem.

This time, with all the challenges we expected, we had to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic that brought many uncertainties, changes, and it shifted the pressure of the entire healthcare system towards the laboratory. Of course, it also affected our project. Our implementation team experts had to wear Covid protection suits, and at the same time, handle the usual implementation process challenges, as well as those created by the pandemic.

Soon enough, traveling patients started falsification of printed sample reports, which as a result placed our users under the fire. We had no time to wait for state officials to bring forth the necessary measures. We had to act immediately and prevent these kinds of frauds.

The challenge was to enable verification of laboratory sample reports through a public link while ensuring complete patient data privacy and safety. In the end, we managed to design and implement this functionality in a safe, user-friendly way.

The aforementioned functionality is still actively used by our users that perform Covid-19 testing.

Q. Is there anything else you want us to highlight that we might have missed?

I think your questions were very good, and you covered most of what’s important if you want to tell the business-related part of the WizardHealth story. But, what we’d like to emphasize is that we are a remote-first company with headquarters in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

That’s something we’re especially proud of.

WizardHealth obviously originates from a country most people never even heard about. That presents an obstacle when we enter a demo or negotiations with potential clients, but it becomes very rewarding when people realize that a quality product comes from such a small country at the end of the implementation process. A product that makes their lives easier!

Selver Marić | Chief Product Officer

Selver Marić is a Lead Designer and Chief Product Officer of WizardHealth. He leads a talented team of developers and designers in creating and implementing award-winning healthcare solutions. Through his blog DocRocks and his international speaking engagement, he is known as a healthcare entrepreneur and writer dedicated to solve gap in communication between doctors and patients.

“From the very beginning, the idea was to have a software solution that is simple to use and a system that also simplifies basic processes in a laboratory. That is one of our company’s core culture premises, and we still firmly support it.”

“Our growth is stable and the fact is that all these years our customer satisfaction rating is by all metrics, significantly higher than the industry standard.”

“We are open for collaboration with all companies that share similar views as we do and see our solutions as complementary for entering certain markets together.”