How does BotsCrew empower enterprises?
The Natera success story
Finding a chatbot vendor is a challenge.
But if you do find the right one, it can become a collaboration for a lifetime (or at least for five strategic years).
Natera is a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing that has been offering genetic testing for more than ten years. In 2019, they contacted us to help them address their patient growth by providing high-quality genetic information to more patients in a scalable way.
I found them through an Internet search while I was looking for companies that were building chatbot solutions. I spoke with them a couple of times, and they seemed easy to work with. Originally, we selected four different companies, and we narrowed the pool down based on price. I had someone from our UX technology side join the search as well; based on his recommendation, we narrowed it down to two companies. We did a Proof of Concept for part of our project with these two companies. BotsCrew outperformed the other company tremendously, and we decided to do our entire project with them.
Thus, BotsCrew developed a healthcare chatbot that assists the company in delivering genetic education and helps patients get reliable information faster and more conveniently. Also, the chatbot sends detailed explanations of test results and a patient can book a meeting with a genetic counselor.
Today, NEVA is three different chatbots that educates patients about three different genetic tests and explains the results.
- Empower, a genetic test for those who want to know more about their risk of developing cancer;
- Horizon, a genetic carrier screening helps couples determine the risk of passing on serious genetic conditions to their child;
- Panorama, a blood-based genetic, prenatal screening test of the pregnant person that screens for common chromosomal conditions that affect a baby’s health.
But after the successful chatbot launch, our collaboration with Natera didn’t come to an end. Actually, it was only the beginning...
We have started working together in February 2019, and today, our nine employees work full-time on the NEVA project developing new features and changing the genetic testing industry.
Meet BotsCrew NEVA team
3
New products developed
33
Product releases during the time of collaboration
3+
years together
How is our work organized?
BotsCrew NEVA team use Confluence to store PRD (Product requirements documentation) and PSDs (Product Specification documents) on specific functionalities. Additionally, developers use tools like Postman and Swagger for developing and testing features.
Discussions
After each chatbot release, Botscrew NEVA and Natera NEVA teams have a retrospective meeting.
Retrospectives are used frequently to give teams the opportunity to pause and reflect on how things have been going and then, based on those reflections, identify the improvements they want to make. Usually, answer five specific questions:
What went well?
What didn’t go so well?
What have we learned?
What still stopps us?
What do we need to work on?
Chatbot functionality creation workflow
Important Terminology
What is a user story?
User stories are one-sentence descriptions of a feature told from the perspective of the person who will use the new feature, usually a user or customer of the system. Here’s a simple template: As a < type of user >, I want < some goal > so that < some reason >.
What is a functionality flow?
Functionality flow enables you to illustrate how a specific feature will work to provide you with the desired outcome.
What are tickets?
Tickets are commonly used in product management to prioritize specific tasks during sprints. A sprint is a short, time-boxed period when a scrum team completes a set amount of work.
What is a chatbot script?
A chatbot script is an original document that outlines conversational message sequences based on user intention and selections.
Example:
Read our story behind NEVA development for Natera Inc.
What is code review?
Code review is a software quality assurance activity in which one or several people check a program mainly by viewing and reading parts of its source code. They do so after implementation or as an interruption of implementation.
BotsCrew NEVA Team about working with Natera
Our brainstorming sessions on new product features, discussions on what was good, what can be improved, what to change – all of these make collaboration with the Natera teams incredible and productive for chatbot future improvements. We have an opportunity to share our thoughts on the chatbot and influence the final decision. Also, we have access to chatbot analytics and can monitor how patients interact with the chatbot. That also helps us decide on features and how the chatbot can serve for the best.
