Maria Winkvist, Head of Innovation and Product at Kontigo Care explains, "Relapse is unfortunately a too common feature in addiction; it is part of the disease. With Previct, we want to predict and prevent relapse before it happens."
By analysing patient readings with the help of machine learning, even subtle changes in behaviour can be detected. Healthcare providers are alerted if there is a risk of relapse enabling faster interventions. Since the technology is available via a mobile phone, the patient can receive most of their treatment at home, secure in the knowledge that crucial support is available 24/7. For many struggling with addiction, the Previct solution is a lifesaver.
Kontigo Care is one of Sweden's hottest e-health companies with the goal of improving and streamlining global addiction care through innovative solutions
Kontigo Care is one of Sweden's hottest e-health companies with the goal to improve and streamline global addiction care through innovative solutions. Kontigo Care's groundbreaking product for alcohol addiction, Previct, uses a combination of digital biomarkers and breath tests to provide healthcare providers with regular updates on both alcohol intake and changes in daily routines.
Although Kontigo Care is a relatively young company, their award-winning digital solutions have already reached a large customer base. Social services in half of Sweden's municipalities use Previct to complement their existing addiction treatments, and Kontigo Care is expanding its operations to offer the solution in other European countries.
However, following the Schrems II ruling in July 2020, the company's growth was jeopardised. The ruling invalidated the Privacy Shield agreement that regulated data exchange between the USA and EU countries and exposed European organisations to the CLOUD Act. The CLOUD Act gives US law enforcement authorities the power to request data stored by US cloud providers, even if their servers are outside the USA. Kontigo Care used the US-based cloud service Microsoft Azure and needed to act.
Andreas Zetterström, Software Manager at Kontigo Care, explains, "After the Schrems II ruling, it became increasingly difficult to sign contracts with new customers. They were still just as interested in our services, but business dialogues stalled in the final stages when the legal teams reviewed the contracts. There were clear questions regarding compliance in our Azure-based platform."
He adds, "Considering that we handle sensitive information, we cannot compromise data protection. Legally, this remains an unresolved area, but we couldn't afford to wait. We looked at making our existing Azure solution GDPR-compliant, but it quickly became clear that this would be both too complicated and too expensive."
"We decided to move to a local Swedish provider. Binero gives us an EU-compliant, open cloud platform where we can develop our product with the tools and technologies that best suit the job."
One of the things that distinguished Binero was transparency, something Andreas appreciates, "We do not have a large IT department, so transparency is important to us. We move quickly and cannot afford to spend too much time and resources on infrastructure projects. Binero's pricing is available online, which facilitated the initial evaluation. It was quick and easy to create an account and start experimenting. We utilised the free sandbox environment to test different settings, which gave us extra security."
In parallel with the technical evaluation, Kontigo Care's legal advisors investigated Binero and were able to confirm that the solution was regulatorily compliant and would meet all legal reviews concerning data protection.
“We decided to move to a local Swedish provider. Binero gives us an EU-compliant, open cloud platform where we can develop our product with the tools and technologies that suit the job best.”
Andreas Zetterström, Software Manager
According to Andreas, the move has brought several other welcome benefits besides addressing data protection issues.
”We use Binero's public cloud. It is a comprehensive OpenStack-based solution that means we are no longer tied to Microsoft's own technology. This gives us more flexibility going forward. Besides that, the performance is fantastic. We are now in a cloud that is 30% faster, but it costs us 25-30% less.”
Andreas could not be more satisfied with the collaboration, ”I think Binero has fully met our expectations. The support we received during the migration phase was excellent. They really listen to their customers and want to work together with you. I was pleasantly surprised that they wanted to get product and development ideas from us, and not only that, they seem to be quick to implement these ideas. In our case, we are already discussing adding GPU technology to improve our facial recognition and AI capabilities, which allows us to create even more value for our customers. I recommend anyone concerned about the legal aspects of data protection in the cloud to look at Binero.”
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