Accessibility-first apps require developers to consider each end user’s unique conditions and challenges. By taking into account different backgrounds and abilities, the app development process becomes more inclusive to wider groups of users.

Not only is this good ethics, but it is simply good engineering principles in general, empowering more people to understand, navigate, and interact with the business and its applications. It also helps organisations comply with regulations gradually widening in scope to include accessibility.

Building accessibility-first apps spur diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, empowering end users by levelling the usability playing field. It is about considering users’ needs from a functional perspective to utilise digital technologies for their benefit better.

Also Read: How the app sharing economy is keeping up with the current trends

If the pandemic has taught us anything, technology can provide customers with a convenient channel to fulfil their needs. However, this is only possible when businesses are willing to have an accessibility-first mindset that prioritises what customers expect out of a product or service.

Building software should be empathetic

According to accessibility expert and JetBrains Developer Advocate Rachel Appel, empathy is a crucial attitude to have when building accessibility-first products.

“Building software that truly fits people’s needs is impossible if you cannot empathise with them properly. If it only fits the needs of you and your team or the focus group you’ve used, you will be leaving behind many humans who use your products,” she said.

During the pandemic, apps built for convenience — purchasing services, making payments, ordering food — became a necessity as they provided people with the services they love without needing physical interaction. This effectively made technology the channel of choice for customers to get what they need.

Even as the pandemic winds down, the need for convenient and user-friendly apps has only doubled. Of late, people are more inclined to embrace e-commerce and food delivery services because of their convenience and ease of access. Both services have a high adoption rate of 92 per cent and 79 per cent, respectively.

The best part about building empathy is that it is as simple as having conversations with family or friends or reading a novel.

“Whether it is novels or human interaction, it provides a window to people’s experiences of the world, even technologies and software. With empathy, you will be able to answer questions like ‘How can I help those who lost their eyesight read their emails?’ or ‘How can I provide a quick resolution to people’s problems?’” Appel said.

Appel also stresses that the accessibility-first mindset “can be especially helpful in providing solutions for those with trouble accessing spaces or those with underlying health conditions. To achieve this, businesses need to determine their users’ strengths and limitations and what features would make their experiences seamless. By bringing these factors into the creation process, disabled users won’t be left behind in harnessing the benefits of technologies and solutions in their daily lives,” she said.

Tools you can use

Another accessibility expert and Split Software Developer Advocate, Chris DeMars, highlights one of the ways businesses can build accessibility-first solutions is to audit their coding.

“Tools like axe DevTools and Lighthouse are designed to assess and score the level of accessibility of new and existing solutions. They also have built-in screen readers that let you test out your tools’ accessibility features without looking at the screen,” he said.

Also Read: User-generated content: Why this social strategy is one you should invest in

DeMars also recommends pairing your web content creation solution with a colour contrast checker, so your website stays compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guide (WCAG).

“The WCAG is the gold standard in helping users design user-friendly web content that helps users easily distinguish key elements. This is crucial in delivering a positive and delightful experience that can attract new customers to your business. With Chrome’s DevTools, developers can know if their content meets the AA and AAA colour conformance levels which are benchmarks for accessible web content.”

To develop accessibility-first apps, Appel suggests leveraging the following resources:

• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where members collaborate to build rich interactive experiences accessible to every user. The W3C website has many resources that outline technical specifications and guidelines for creating web content available across people and devices.
• WebAIM is a nonprofit organisation that specialises in empowering individuals and organisations to build content that can benefit users of different abilities. Through WebAim, developers can benefit from on-site and virtual training, consultation, web content evaluation and certification.
• Microsoft’s Accessibility Technology and Tools is another excellent resource for accessibility. Microsoft connects developers with a network of accessibility experts and provides them with the necessary tools and tutorials to help them create accessible documents, marketing messages, mobile apps, and events.

As a final piece of advice, Appel reminds developers that creating accessibility-first applications is not only a kind and humane measure, but it can also create a positive and inclusive engagement which translates to increased sales.

“When you build software that makes it better and easier for those with accessibility needs, it automatically becomes better and easier for those who don’t have accessibility needs. So always design with accessibility in mind,” she said.

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Today, Singapore-headquartered healthtech company Doctor Anywhere (DA) announced the acquisition of Asian Healthcare Specialists (AHS). A Catalist-listed integrated healthcare provider, AHS is a group of 14 medical specialists with a patient-first approach and vision to make specialised care accessible to all.

The acquisition will allow DA to deliver more holistic healthcare and meet the rising demand for complex, specialised treatment across Southeast Asia.

“This will not only facilitate our cross-border strategy but also allow us to benefit from greater referrals from its network and complementary cross-functional uptake of its services,” says Doctor Anywhere Founder and CEO Lim Wai Mun.

e27 spoke to Wai Mun to learn more about the deal and healthtech industry trends in Southeast Asia.

Excerpts:

Is the acquisition of AHS a reverse takeover deal? How would this deal be mutually beneficial for you?

Doctor Anywhere’s acquisition of AHS is a pure take-private with no intention of a reverse takeover.

The acquisition is a strategic step towards our long-term growth ambitions as we seek synergistic growth opportunities.

This deal enables us to deliver a more holistic healthcare offering, allowing us to vertically integrate into secondary care to meet the rising demand for complex, specialised treatment across Southeast Asia.

Also Read: How telehealth startup Doctor Anywhere stepped up to the COVID-19 challenge

Given fast-rising healthcare challenges, including ageing populations and the rise in chronic diseases, Doctor Anywhere aims to expand its services along the healthcare continuum to provide more holistic healthcare in the region — from wellness, preventative, primary care to secondary (specialist) care.

Can you share more details about this deal? Is it an all-cash deal or a cash-and-stock deal?

The acquisition is a voluntary conditional cash offer for all the issued ordinary shares of AHS, with the deal valued at approximately S$109 (US$80.6) million, based on the offer price of S$0.188.

As part of the offer, the shareholder doctors of AHS also entered into a reinvestment agreement with Doctor Anywhere and have reinvested 35 per cent of the consideration they received from the offer to acquire new ordinary shares in the capital of DA. The offer has since been declared unconditional in all respects as of 10 November 2022 and closed on 15 December 2022.

What will happen to AHS post-acquisition? Will it retain its brand name? What will happen to its top management as well as employees?

Doctor Anywhere intends for AHS to continue its current business activities, and there are currently no plans to (i) introduce any significant changes to the business, (ii) re-deploy any of the fixed assets or (iii) discontinue the employment of any of the existing employees of other than in the ordinary course of business.

How do you plan to integrate DA solutions with AHS services?

AHS’ integration within Doctor Anywhere’s network allows us to deliver a more holistic, one-stop approach to healthcare.

This will not only facilitate DA’s cross-border strategy but also allow DA to benefit from greater referrals from its network (e.g. primary care/consults) and complementary cross-functional uptake of its services.

In how many markets do you operate in Southeast Asia? What are the expansion plans? Do you plan to add more headcounts and expand beyond the region?

Doctor Anywhere is present across six Southeast Asian countries — Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. We continue to explore opportunities to expand our business and healthcare offerings across Southeast Asia, which is our focus now.

Also Read: Doctor Anywhere acquires Thai startup Doctor Raksa to add 1M customers to the platform

We continuously look for talent across all areas of our business, including our tech, data science, product innovation roles and healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, pharmacists).

Last year, DA acquired Doctor Raksa in Thailand. How does this acquisition play out? You were looking to expand the medication delivery services to 38 provinces by the end of Q1 2022. Have you achieved this goal yet?

We’ve made good traction in Thailand, including achieving operational improvements and efficiency gains, expanding our suite of healthcare services, and seeing healthy user growth.

What are your exit plans? Is an IPO/SPAC on the agenda yet?

We intend to remain focused on growth and profitability in the near term and have no definitive exit plans.

How are the current macroeconomic headwinds affecting the healthcare industry as a whole?

The current macroeconomic headwinds, including the global shortage of skilled healthcare workers, continue to weigh heavily on the healthcare sector.

Yet, the emergence of COVID-19 and technological disruptions have led many to rely highly on digital tools and online platforms, increasing customer acquisition and personalised engagement opportunities.

What does the advent of Web3 and metaverse mean for the healthtech industry? Do you foresee the advancement of tech changing how we adopt telehealth services?

Technologies like Web3 and metaverse continue to excite and push the possibilities of industries and the world as we know it. As a collective, virtual shared space, such technologies have the potential to transform healthcare in areas such as clinical care and wellness, education and training, collaboration, monetisation, and patient engagement.

Against the backdrop of the healthcare challenges and the pressure of prevailing issues like chronic diseases, ageing populations, and the health workforce shortage, new technologies could breathe fresh life into healthcare services like telehealth and create a more engaging, holistic patient experience.”

Is the global health tech industry on a growth path post-pandemic? What are the regional and global trends in the industry? Where is the healthtech industry, especially the online consultation vertical, headed?

Healthcare and digitalisation are two sectors and trends growing strongly in general, and digital health is growing in tandem, if not stronger than traditional healthcare due to its scalability, with a continued growth trajectory post-pandemic.

Today, we see online healthcare being driven by three main themes:

1. Rural demand for healthcare access
2. Urban demand for efficiency and instant connectivity to doctors
3. Cross-border need for appropriate medical specialist care

While there is greater acceptance and uptake of telemedicine by consumers today, there is an opportunity for digital health solutions to give the space a new shine through more transparency, reliability, and value effectiveness.

Also Read: Doctor Anywhere raises US$4.1M to offer patients easy access to healthcare providers through video consultations

Far from losing its relevance, telemedicine remains a viable and increasingly important form of healthcare delivery (and access to care). Digital health has a good shot at tying up the region’s healthcare, giving scalable, instant access to personalised and value-for-quality healthcare.

We expect this to be sustained, and healthtech itself will need to constantly evolve to keep up with consumers’ needs and demands to provide a greater range of holistic services and offerings to support patients across every stage of health — from prevention to treatment, recovery, and wellness.

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Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

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As you enter new markets, you must localise to get traction. Global opportunities have become more apparent with the recent shifts in business, so speed and agility are more important than ever.

Yet most companies fail to address the complexities that go into successful localisation.

Why? International expansion is complex. Legacy-minded business leaders often don’t see localisation going much beyond language translation. They assume what works at home will translate to new markets. This leaves their businesses failing to achieve company-market fit in a new market.

However, in our research for our book Global Class, we discovered a new subset of “Global Class Companies” who run into the same problems but have adopted certain best practices. These Global Class companies leverage a set of tactics and best practices to build a business at global scale.

The Business Model Localisation Canvas

Global Class companies use an internationalised agile methodology to structure the localisation process and find the right model for a new market.

To further assist in this process, we have created the Business Model Localisation Canvas (BMLC), a framework that helps companies facilitate localisation discovery, market identification, and identify potential localisations for new markets.

Referencing the image, you can choose categories from the Business Model Canvas, created by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, used by many startups as they navigated initial product-market fit, or you can design your own list of elements in the BMLC.

Also Read: The global fintech market: Getting a piece of the pie

The goal is to compile a comprehensive list of elements of your business and operating model and run them through the government regulation and culture filters to develop a new set of hypotheses for how your business will operate in the new market.

By nature, this will highlight the required localisation needed to find traction as well.

Market readiness

After determining that your company is well-positioned and resource-ready for international growth, the next step is to enter an information-gathering phase to figure out where to expand.

This involves a two-step market analysis process that results in a rounded evaluation of target countries. The two steps of the market analysis are:

• Conducted at HQ

• Conducted by travelling to the target country and conducting on-the-ground research (also known as “Localisation Discovery”)

The final aspect of the market readiness step is to establish a preliminary indication of pivots (“localisations”) to be made to your initial market product-market fit to get traction in the new market.

This step is important because if you don’t conduct a thorough market readiness assessment, you might focus on the wrong markets, lowering the return on investment and wasting time.

How should the results of the Localisation Discovery be utilised?

The post How Localisation Discovery is setting up the yardstick for successful international growth appeared first on e27.

Indonesian clean energy company Suryanesia has announced closing its US$2 million seed round of financing led by Intudo Ventures.

Several angel investors also participated, including executives from leading management consulting companies, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds.

Also Read: This startup aims to make rooftop solar accessible to smaller households with zero upfront cost

The company plans to use the capital to grow its team to accelerate marketing efforts and project delivery. It will also expand into residential solar and independent power production (wind power, battery storage, etc.) in the future.

Founded in August 2021 by Rheza Adhihusada (CEO), Nikesh Shamdasani (Head of Engineering), and Grant Adsit (Head of Business Development), Suryanesia provides commercial and industrial clients access to renewable energy. With its solar-as-a-service solution, Suryanesia finances, installs, operates, and maintains solar power systems on its clients’ rooftops. The clean energy generated helps clients save on electricity bills and reduce their carbon footprint.

Its team performs rigorous structural analyses and provides strengthening recommendations to ensure client buildings are safe for solar panel installation.

Suryanesia claims it helps clients — mall owners and manufacturers in the FMCG, textile, pharma, plastics, industrial goods, and furniture sectors — save between US$20,000 and US$50,000 annually.

Also Read: Why ‘Indonesia-only’ Intudo Ventures believes SEA as one cohesive market is a fallacy

“Our mission is to empower consumers, businesses and governments to harness new technologies and solutions that solve climate change,” said CEO Adhihusada. “As the world’s 4th most populous country projected to be the 4th largest economy by 2050, Indonesia acts as a key battleground in the fight against climate change.”

“Over the next decade, Indonesia will be a driving force for decarbonization. Suryanesia’s solar-as-a-service offerings help commercial and industrial stakeholders reduce their carbon footprint while improving profitability,” Patrick Yip, Founding Partner, Intudo Ventures.

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Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

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Coming out of the pandemic and into a war in Europe and now moving towards an oncoming recession, 2022 was no easy year. While the ecosystem and we at e27 were doubling our hustle to recover from the pandemic and move along our pivot decisions, a lot unfolded.

Here’s a little visual snapshot of how far along we came, what we did, who we partnered with and what we are proud of at the end of the day.

Facts and figures

Our social media and readership grew in absolute terms and vastly in engagement rates. We also doubled our article production and brought new community voices from the ecosystem to the platform. The connect requests soared, and we facilitated over 19000 startup-investor connections in 2022 alone.

Also Read: “Consolidation and explosion”: SEA startup investors reveal 2023 trends they are keeping close watch of

Community building

The community is at the heart of everything we do, and this year nearly all our initiatives were directed at serving them deeply. With the ever-expanding Contributor Programme, we also started a work-life balance series to feature our regular contributors and share their life lessons and career stories with others in the ecosystem.

Echelon– our flagship event was brought back with a new format, and the community enjoyed seeing each other in person after a long COVID-19-induced hiatus. And even virtually, we worked with over 100+ ecosystem partners to lead and run innovative projects.

Also Read:  ‘Focus on your north-star vision’: 30 startups speak of their learnings in 2022

Product improvements

As we constantly strive to make the e27 platform robust and comprehensive, this year was many a first. We expanded the connect programme and launched a new tool to submit fundraising news and a Pro Content plan for affordable access to exclusive content. And mainly, the new homepage reflects all the amazing initiatives we work so hard to bring for you. Do check them out and let us know what you think.

Partners in the ecosystem

Our portfolio of ecosystem partners is growing steadily, and we worked with a wide range of tech brands from the growth stage to corporates to government agencies.

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This article was co-produced by Mags Hidalgo.

The post A year in review: How e27 served the tech ecosystem in 2022 appeared first on e27.