The Challenge
Meena Bhatti and Ryan Gormley, co-founders of Zygo Health, set out to build a platform for medical professionals that would take the guesswork out of finding and registering for continuing education events.
Meena, who is an Oral and maxillofacial Surgeon, understood the challenge of finding the right events needed to maintain one’s medical license. Without a central platform that lists all types of events, physicians would need to rely on manually searching the internet and coordinating their calendars — a time-and labor-intensive task that can take dozens of hours.
What we did
Cuttlesoft partnered with Zygo Health to develop a custom platform that provides a searchable database of vetted and accredited medical events. Cuttlesoft delivered the collaborative relationship Meena and Ryan were looking for to guide the design process as both strategic advisors and expert developers. The first product iteration is currently in beta testing and is set to release in April 2022.
Deliverables
- Product Strategy and Design
- A custom-built React.js frontend application
- Backend application developed using Python Django
- Administration Portal for managing course listings
Services
Product Strategy
UX Research and Design
Web Application Development
Platforms
Firebase
Heroku
Technologies
Django
React
Continuing Education Creates Continuing Challenges
Continuing Education (CE) and skills training are an essential part of a medical professional’s career. Not only are CE classes, conferences, and events important for professional growth, but many are also required for recertification and licensing credentials.
Yet for most doctors, finding and scheduling those programs can take dozens of hours — and in a job that often requires 10 to 14-hour days. Hours they don’t have to waste. Doctors have to keep track of expiring certifications, find accredited events to match, and then make sure those events line up at a time and place they can attend.
“Right now, everyone finds courses and events through email, snail mail, word of mouth, or Google. And many people just keep returning to the same conferences because they don’t even know what else is out there,” Meena explains.
“Cuttlesoft is really an extension of our team.”
Without a centralized source of classes and programs, doctors end up spending hours searching through Google and emails, saving notes and reminders on their phone or computer, and manually tracking events on their calendars.
Meena knew there had to be a better way.
Partnering with her husband, Ryan, they both decided to create Zygo Health - a platform for medical professionals to find, track, and schedule vetted classes and events in one place. No Google necessary.
But they needed the right company to help them build it.
After initially working with another company, Zygo Health switched to Cuttlesoft after reviewing their stellar recommendations from former clients. Meena and Ryan were looking for a partner who could create a customized platform based on their unique vision for the product while offering strategic support and expertise to guide the development.
“With the other company, there was no collaboration,” Meena says. “We told them what we wanted and they said ‘OK, we can do that.’ But then they took our idea and just tried to put it into a template—and that wasn't going to work.”
Ryan adds “They weren't being transparent and honest about what they could and couldn't do. They didn't have a clear path of what success looks like.”
Cuttlesoft was different.
“When we work with Cuttlesoft, it is very much a collaboration. Yes, we are the customer, but we're not engineers, so we need Cuttlesoft’s expertise to tell us ‘This is the way to go.’”
Cuttlesoft earned their trust from the start, working with Meena and Ryan to hone their design.
“When we first started working with Cuttlesoft, we spent a week with them in person, which was one of the most valuable experiences that we've ever had,” Meena shares. “We both said after that one week, ‘If this doesn't go anywhere, this week alone was well worth it.’”
Cuttlesoft’s collaborative approach enabled them to take a strategic advisor role and create a product that added more value, more quickly.
Ryan agrees. “One problem we faced at the beginning was that we were trying to do too much. Cuttlesoft helped us focus on a design that's going to be highly valuable to the end user.”
Together, they designed the first version of Zygo Health, which allows medical professionals to find new courses, record which classes they’ve already taken, and save information all in one place. This saves doctors dozens of hours while helping them comply with licensing and certification requirements. Users can filter results by location, topic, type of course, and credit requirements, making it easy to find exactly what they need, when they need it.
Aligning Zygo’s Vision with Cuttlesoft’s Expertise
Throughout the development process, Cuttlesoft maintained close collaboration with Meena and Ryan to ensure the final product aligned with their vision. The platform was built using React.js and Python Django, providing a robust and scalable application stack. The team also leveraged the Django Admin as a content management system (CMS), allowing the Zygo team to easily manage and update course listings.
The platform’s user-friendly interface ensures healthcare professionals can seamlessly manage their CE needs, leaving them more time for patient care.
"They are the best... they don't just work in the background. They'll be a true partner in your journey."
Outcomes
When their previous partner over-promised and under-delivered, Zygo Health was forced to start over—delaying development by six to nine months. But after partnering with Cuttlesoft, Meena and Ryan were able to get their product into development within weeks.
They are currently working with Cuttlesoft to beta test their first version in a closed environment, and expect to launch it in April 2022.
But their relationship with Cuttlesoft won’t end there.
Meena and Ryan have big plans for Zygo Health and expect Cuttlesoft to play a strategic role in expanding on their initial design and eventually scaling and monetizing the platform.