It has been almost 15 years since entrepreneur Ivan Bartolo set up 6PM, and during that time he has happily “reinvented” it several times, setting up in new countries, merging and acquiring, divesting and closing, going public with equity and a bond, and becoming a specialist in healthcare rather than a general software provider.
And yet, he does not take the company’s success for granted. There may be little more than a decade till he retires – if he can ever drag himself away – but he happily confides that his personal wish would be to reinvent it “oh, at least another four or five times by then”.
“What would I like to see 6PM doing by the time I retire? I would like us to be providing all the software for free and making our money from the download of apps onto our smartphones. A complete shift!” he laughed, adding that he had not yet shared this idea with his board.
The company’s history has followed the path of a video game, acquiring tokens from which it derived strength for the next level, navigating its way through mines that forced unexpected changes of direction, but always surviving, always getting higher and higher points.
In 2010, the group acquired 70 per cent of shareholding in Softweb. Since then, it has been rebranded as Agilis, and is still providing commercial services like payroll and accounting packages to the local market. But this is now no longer aligned with its healthcare focus and he admitted that it could possibly be put up for sale.
A year later, the group bought computer and electronics company Compunet for €1 million in 2011. Online purchases eroded much of its revenue base and the shop at 6PM’s headquarters was closed a few months ago, leaving the company to sell its exclusive brands as a wholesaler on a B2B basis. But the acquisition was far from a disappointment, if for no other reason than it brought Brian Zarb Adami with it, now 6PM’s chief technology officer. It also meant that 6PM charted another course, such as opening a data centre which hosted services.
It was also the key to one of 6PM’s most successful products: the file tracking system iFIT.
“It was only thanks to the infrastructure we bought through Compunet that we created this most important proposition,” he said.
In fact, after Softweb and Compunet, 6PM made its greatest changes, not only moving from a service company to a products company – but also opting to narrow its focus on the health sector.
“In 2011, we had to decide whether to look either at a vertical strategy focussing on one market or keep a horizontal strategy doing different things within the IT world. It definitely pays off, in our experience, to focus on one vertical sector,” he said.
Take an HIV patient who is on a regular course of treatment but whose next appointment is in several weeks’ time. With the app, now in testing, the patient would be able to log all the side effects or impact on a daily basis
“6PM has built up a wealth of knowledge and talent and skills and I am not only talking about IT skills – which everyone can have. We understand the data set, the statutory requirements, the global standards like HL7 and GS1... Unless you specialise, you would never achieve a certain status.”
6PM Group also spread its footprint geographically, setting up offices in Macedonia in 2011, an investment of some €2 million. It was another underperformer in the past year, due to political unrest. Its focus on EU membership is also eroding its cost competitiveness, something that would only get worse with accession. 6PM has moved offices since then and among its headcount of 40 there are now commercial staff looking to expand into the Balkan market.
After Compunet, the group did not make any other local acquisitions, but turned its eyes overseas, looking for strategic acquisitions. Its most recent is Blithe Computer Systems in the UK now operating as 6PM Blithe, which gives it a foothold into IT solutions for sexual health and substance abuse centres, leveraging its 700 installations in the UK. 6PM is now operating in over 150 hospitals as a result of this acquisition.
Its original foray into health was aimed at hospital management: creating efficiency in hospitals by automating processes. It has since expanded into the clinical solution zone, with solutions for stroke management, dementia and HIV, with the intellectual property mostly jointly owned with the NHS.
“We market them as ‘built by clinicians for clinicians’. There are other advantages. Because we work with a particular hospital to develop a solution, it finds a home there straight away, which reduces commercial risk considerably. And it provides a reference site for other hospitals as the products are promoted at conferences by medical practitioners considered to be world experts,” he said.
This evolution necessitated a re-think about the group’s structure, which by now had 200 employees spread across offices in Macedonia, Ireland, the UK and Malta.
“Until the beginning of the year we were structured geographically. It was very evident that this created ‘us and them’ scenario that I was not at all happy with. We have now changed that and the structure is based on five distinct business functions – business development, technology, operations, commercial and finance – spread across the different locations. So you can have people from any unit working in any country,” he explained.
The group also made a paradigm shift in its business models at the beginning of the year. It had been selling software on a perpetual licence, getting one off revenue with subsequent income for support and maintenance. It is now selling three-year, renewable licences, which he believes will succeed, in no small part due to the technological implications of changing systems that create a certain inertia.
People have professional profiles and social media profiles. They now need to think in terms of health profiles
“In 2018, we expect exponential curve in revenue because of the renewals,” he said.
The group is also trying to find clients which are normally too small to make the six-figure investment in its systems. In 2016, it will move its products to the cloud, offering a consumption model which will allow small centres to pay a fee per patient.
In 2017, the big challenge will be to launch mobile apps to create a bridge between patient and clinician, he enthused.
“Take an HIV patient who is on a regular course of treatment but whose next appointment is in several weeks’ time. With the app, now in testing, the patient would be able to log all the side effects or impact on a daily basis. Imagine if the clinician knew how the treatment was progressing...! Imagine if you could get notifications on your mobile to remind you to log in details into a personalised profile! Like a personal health blog...
“So when the clinician asks that million dollar question – how have you been feeling? – you can give an accurate reply. It will make the next round of treatment much more accurate and efficient.”
With pressure on health providers to reduce costs, these apps not only save money but improve efficiency and quality of care, he stressed.
He believes smartphones and tablets have the potential to make a real difference, whether through reminders and feedback, or monitoring of vital signs.
“People have professional profiles and social media profiles. They now need to think in terms of health profiles... If you go to your doctor with symptoms, he or she can only judge by what the readings are at the time – which could be misleading. We are gradually encouraging people to build up their own health profile, taking note of their blood pressure and other parameters on a regular basis. Then it becomes much easier to notice abnormal results... and the system would notify the doctor and raise the alert if necessary.
“And when you see the doctor, he or she knows what is ‘normal’ for you over the past weeks or months...”
He is concerned that efficiency will become more and more of an issue in the 21st century
“In the 20th century, we focused on living longer. But we did not take into account that when we live longer, we must also be able to afford it,” he said.