MyOxygen

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a PhD researcher at the School of Psychology at Cardiff University, conducting research involving the decision making and other non-technical skills of fire services departments in the U.K.

What challenge were you trying to address with MyOxygen?

I reached out to MyOxygen to develop an Android app that could be employed as a behavioral marker system by users who are trained to observe an incident in the field. With the app, users would be able to move away from a paper-based system. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

MyOxygen developed an Android app from scratch that allows users to record observations for review. Allowing for greater organization, the platform enables users to rate the performance of responders by looking back over their notes and providing feedback to incident commanders.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with Andy (Founder, MyOxygen) and a couple of others on his team who we met with at least once a month to go over key developments. 

How did you come to work with MyOxygen?

We discovered MyOxygen through a tendering process at the University. Out of the few companies we considered, they had the most professional presentation and provided a PDF document that clearly described what we would be able to do within our budget. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested just under £8,500 GBP (about $12,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on the project from January–March 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

MyOxygen built a high-quality, user-friendly app that is being researched under the use of seven fire and rescue services locations. Thus far, the app has been very well received by users, significantly improving efficiencies across the board. 

How did MyOxygen perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was very easy to work with and never missed a deadline. Throughout the engagement, they were transparent and provided valuable input, educating us on what features we could add to improve the product. They were also extremely generous with their time, patiently walking us through the process. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Although the project was completed, we can still reach out to them for support as needed and they've maintained a strong interest as we continue to research the performance of the app. We still talk with their team through email, chat, or even on the phone. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I don't have any other experience to compare it to, and they've been a pleasure to work with overall. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Providing technical specifications or rough sketches from the start will help make the process run smoothly. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT project manager of 72 Point Limited, company within a large independent news agency. We do online surveys using an 80,000-person panel.

What challenge were you trying to address with MyOxygen?

While making our website mobile-friendly, we concurrently needed a mobile application to process the surveys and engage younger audiences.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MyOxygen built the iOS/Android app for the US and UK markets. When the project started, we had just switched from IT providers to an internal team. MyOxygen worked with those resources to redesign our system and survey software. We focused on making the fronted more user-friendly. The team added new features and functionalities alongside the app build.

We recently signed a one-year support contract. MyOxygen will then execute phase two and add more functionality to the app.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we worked with James (Project Manager, MyOxygen), Andy (Founder, MyOxygen), and two developers. The team experienced turnover and they onboarded two more developers halfway through the project.

How did you come to work with MyOxygen?

I was not involved in the hiring process. One of our directors received a referral for MyOxygen, which is also in Bristol. In addition to the convenience, we wanted to support a local business.

How much have you invested with them?

With the exchange rate, we spent between $60,000–$70,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017 and the project ended in December 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We hit 16,000 active users five weeks after going live. Monthly activity levels are around 15,000 users, which demonstrates that MyOxygen has increased our engagement. We hope those results continue.

How did MyOxygen perform from a project management standpoint?

The teams bounced ideas off each other and closely monitored progress. James was a great communicator and mentor. Considering this was my first project, I found him easy to work with. He calmed me down on the multiple occasions I felt stressed.  Although the project took longer than expected, the delays were on our side; our developers were still learning the system. We communicated via Podio, weekly conference calls, and monthly face-to-face meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had an open and honest relationship. They were more patient during challenges than other companies would have been with us. We felt empowered to say the system crashed or that we didn’t have the time to fix bugs. That level of comfort and open line of communication were the highlights of the partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything significant. I didn’t want to pay for change requests, but that was just part of the project. We were happy enough with the engagement to sign a one-year support contract.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Add James on Google Hangouts because that’s the fastest way to contact him. He’ll fix whatever the client needs to be corrected.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of psychological therapy at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. We provide mental health services for children and young people.

What challenge were you trying to address with MyOxygen?

In our clinical work, it became increasingly clear that more and more young people were self-harming, but they all had access to a telephone around the time they were hurting themselves. It led us to discuss with young people the possibility of putting something on their phone that they could use at times of distress. So, we needed help with the development of this solution.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a self-management app that young people can use to prevent self-harm. We had done a lot of work with young people to understand what kind of content we should offer, what they found helpful, and their preferences for layout, designs, colors, and more. We then took some of those ideas to MyOxygen and presented them a brief that included a section about mood monitoring and a section that would take a person through a series of safety questions all the way to emergency help numbers.

We started off with an Android-based app because that’s what the young people were mostly using. MyOxygen helped us imagine how it all would flow together and were involved in many different aspects. They even suggested things that we didn’t consider, such as a way of making the interface simple and usable. Once we got to the final stage, most of our users switched over to iOS, so then we had to develop it for iOS as well.

The way the people access the app is by taking out a license with Oxford Health and once they do, they’re given a set number of downloads. The reason for this is that the app has been developed and tested to be used as part of a face-to-face intervention, so it’s a way to monitor and intervene. Since it’s about self-harm, the reason we did that is to really ensure that these young people were safe.

What is the team composition?

We had a project lead, however, they brought in different people with different areas of expertise. In total, we worked with about four people.

How did you come to work with MyOxygen?

They had worked with a couple of groups that we were aware of and were impressed with their work. Based on that, we approached them to discuss what we needed and had a very helpful initial meeting in which they were very receptive and listened carefully. They provided a reasonable quote and we took it forward.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2016 until August 2017.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We did an initial study with about 45 young people with mental health problems and found that after using the app for 12 weeks, 75% of those were self-harming at a reduced rate. It also seemed like their moods had improved, showing fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety. In terms of usage, the app is being used as a prescribed app with almost 300 people with mental health problems, though it’s not freely available to download.

We went through a process of having the app endorsed and advertised on the NHS App Live here in the U.K. It’s now being widely used within the whole of Oxford Health, as well as at another trust, with many more becoming involved and signing agreements.

Additionally, we’ve received some funding from the U.K. for evaluation the app on a large scale to determine its effectiveness. We also have colleagues in Australia who are going to be doing a trial of the app there.

​​​​​​How did MyOxygen perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was very good. Once we commissioned the project, we had clear timelines and project updates with summarized tasks that had been achieved every week. Everything was completed on time and they were very responsive to feedback. Overall, our experience was very positive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is relatively small but they kept an efficient pace. The work progressed very nicely, and they’re very good at listening to requirements and providing ideas about how things can be put together. I’d definitely use them again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to have a clear and well-thought-through framework of what it is you want at the outset. The reason our app has been so successful is that was co-produced with the potential users of our app.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

South Western Ambulance Service Trust is a National Health Service (NHS) ambulance service in England. We cover one-fifth of the U.K. and provide emergency and urgent healthcare services for 999 calls and various calls. I’m a resilience officer in the emergency planning department, in which we plan for specific contingencies on behalf of the Trust to be able to respond to major or complex incidents.

What challenge were you trying to address with MyOxygen?

In our particular department, we develop a lot of emergency plans. We lacked the ability to have these plans and other supporting materials at the scene of an incident. We discovered we had version control issues. Typically, we would email our documents, which would then get printed and then they’d be out of date right away. We wanted a platform where we could deliver the whole library of available documents and response plans; manage the version control; and make sure that our commanders, who manage these complex and major incidents, can access every possible document that’s required.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The document library was the starting point for our mobile app. It also incorporates tools like mapping to enable better visualization of incident impact or track assets (human and equipment) in the field; a camera; an incident log; We introduced other tools that they could use such as mapping where they could place coordinates on the map for a staff point of view so that they could visualize what the impact of the incident might be.

The app is also linked to another app MyOxygen built specifically for acute healthcare providers and emergency departments. This gives us that real-time capacity in the emergency departments based on priority so that we know where we can take patients.

Originally, the app was built for iOS. They were able to take it from iPad and iPhone and were able to develop a Windows platform. They continue to add features. There’s some national methodology that we want to introduce onto it just to allow national thinking. We’ve also got some regional developments going on in terms of patient tracking. That’s to scale up the patient experience for major incidents.

What is the team composition?

We worked with the founder from the beginning. We developed good relationships with others on their team who now understand what our critical business needs are.

How did you come to work with MyOxygen?

They did some work for some other NHS organizations, which was important for me in terms of procurement and governance. They were based in Bristol, which is where I work. They were flexible enough to come to other meetings all across the Trust. We didn’t see the need to look elsewhere.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2011 and the work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Despite not doing beta collection and not having the app in the App Store, we’ve had over 300 downloads of the app. It’s based on our business volume purchase program distribution. That gets people coming to me asking for the capability that we offer. I feel quite comfortable that I’m getting 6–10 requests for more downloads every week. I can see that people are using it.

We’re the only ambulance service in the U.K. to have an app of this design. We are leading the way for U.K. ambulance services in terms of what we offer to our commanders.

It’s a useful tool to have. I have many anecdotes about it being worthwhile. People have been able to refer to it and make sure that they’ve done everything that they should be. The tools have often helped decision-making in life-threatening situations.

How did MyOxygen perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive, very open, and constantly looking ahead. I might be looking at a certain piece of development and they suggest some recoding or new functionality for the next iOS release.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve always been impressed with their innovation, approachability, professionalism, flexibility, and ability to look forward. Plus, they’re absolutely pleasant to deal with. I can have a good laugh with the team.

It’s a difficult concept to get across that providing these tools will make the difference to those decisions that are made. The MyOxygen team has absolutely understood the weight of that concept. They get that what they’re providing us is critical. I often get the feeling that they feel that they’re part of that response as well by the product they were able to deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you engage with your end users when developing an app. MyOxygen understands that it’s not the IT department or the corporate position providing a product that no one will ever use. It’s been developed by people that are going to use it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a large engineering company supporting critical assets for the UK defense industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with MyOxygen?

We wanted to bring in a subject matter expert to begin innovation around the way we capture and collate data. Much of the defense industry is behind the times in using digital processes for data collection, and we wanted to bring in someone who could provide new ideas.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their company was brought in to look at the way our surveyors were collating information about the material state of assets. They came onsite and walked around a defense asset with the people gathering data on clipboards and paper. In doing this, MyOxygen came up with a way to turn this into a digital process, capturing sounds, taking photos, recording video and automating some of the data processing. The app was meant to speed up the process of our collating service.

We work in the industrial space, which involves engineers with big fingers, so we tried to figure out how to best set up the app, making it easy to use. We also have an aging demographic, so it was important to provide a facile onboarding experience to people in their 50s and 60s.

Because we are working with the defense industry, we do everything on the iOS platform, which is what the app was written for.

What is the team dynamic?

We have worked with 3 of their people, including an analyst tasked with understanding why we needed to do what we were doing and challenging the process in order to make sure it fit what was required. There were also 2 mobile developers who talked us through the styling and ease of use of the app.

How did you come to work with MyOxygen?

We approached their stand during an expo and had a chat. We spoke about some of the challenges we were facing, and MyOxygen described the work they were doing for other clients who were in a similar space. They had numerous case studies and were open to discussing how they might do things. We were given some free advice around one of our use cases, which we appreciated. MyOxygen certainly wanted to immerse themselves with our client as well.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work was below 100,000 for the pilot project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with MyOxygen in May 2015, but we first met them a year or so before that time.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We saw an exciting 45% reduction in the time taken to collate data. The fact that we have a functioning mobile app is not impressive in today’s world, but it has opened the floodgates for us to create more within the defense industry. MyOxygen is certainly a group we’d call in to help with this.

The app is in use, and in about a month, we plan to put out a 6-month survey to our users.

How did MyOxygen perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything that they changed or stylized was sent to us straight away so that we could agree or disagree on the choices. Their project management is second to none. We had weekly teleconferences with them from the beginning, as well as biweekly on-site meetings at both of our locations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have different talents within the company, including specialists in robotics and AI. MyOxygen is always challenging the way in which we view things, not just building one more mobile app. All the key stakeholders in our group receive their newsletter, letting us know what the team is up to and how they are pushing innovation into different industries. This can get ideas flowing in an industry which is quite stayed, and it wasn’t done from a business development or sales perspective — it really is knowledge sharing, and it’s something which sets MyOxygen apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The company could become bigger and offer more support. MyOxygen is popular because they’re very good, but they’re also a small team. To be fair, the size works for what they’re doing at the moment, but, as one of the largest suppliers in the industry, if we were to increase what we required from them, they would struggle a bit.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Let them immerse themselves in the challenge at hand. When we first met MyOxygen, we were trying to figure out the solution before taking in their insights, but we had to bring them into the problem space. This is where the real value came for me. It was a challenging slope before we arrived to that point, but we’ve made this approach our routine.