Relaunch for the statutory direct health insurance
Online instead of offline, digital services instead of paper forms: Since 1996, BIG—Germany’s first statutory direct health insurance provider—has been pursuing this concept. Through this approach, the “BundesInnungskrankenkasse Gesundheit” serves approximately 520,000 insured individuals. In addition to its administrative headquarters in Dortmund, the online service center and the meineBIG app are therefore among the key services provided to customers.
However, sending applications via smartphone and managing one’s own data digitally was not always easy. After eight years, the meineBIG app needed a relaunch. The technically obsolete software solution with a less user-friendly design no longer met the high standards of the direct health insurance company.
“We had a very great need to rebuild the app. As a direct health insurance company without a traditional branch network, it is even more important for us to offer the best possible service digitally.”
Marie Bicker
Project Leader and Manager at BIG
As part of a request for proposals, BIG therefore sought a service provider to carry out the relaunch. “We weren’t quite sure where to start, or how to make the app’s content intuitive and easy for customers to use,” said Marie Bicker. That’s why the direct health insurance provider used a qualitative brief to seek out suitable implementation proposals.
In addition to a technical concept for developing the app, an innovative user experience and a custom design were required—BAYOOMED’s proposals won over Marie Bicker and her team.
“BAYOOMED came out on top because the solution not only included an efficient development strategy but also an intuitive and modular design,” she explains in the interview.
Both BAYOOMED’s experience and its expertise in managing complex infrastructures were crucial to the successful joint implementation of the project. In this way, the BAYOONET AG business unit combines medical technology expertise with the ability to respond flexibly to new developments. Transparent SCRUM processes enable this agile workflow, which also ensures high-quality standards for software solutions.
But effective communication is also key to the success of projects. One skill that Marie Bicker remembers fondly is:
“I have to say that I perceived the collaboration as open and on an equal footing at all times.”
Marie Bicker
Project Leader and Manager at BIG
Ultimately, striking a harmonious balance between UX and the existing infrastructure was one of the biggest challenges of the project, which launched in December 2019. In addition to digital workshops, open communication among team members was particularly instrumental in overcoming this challenge.
How does Marie Bicker describe her collaboration with BAYOOMED in project management? “Efficient, transparent, open, and solution-oriented.”
The meineBIG app has been available for free in all app stores since October 2020. With a new design and user-friendly features, it clearly embodies the digital concept of the direct health insurance provider. In the future, this will be expanded to include integration with the electronic patient record (ePA) and the management of personal digital health applications (DiGA).
Shaping the future of the BIG direct health insurance company together—an exciting project through which the BAYOOMED team was also able to gain a wealth of new experience.
