Accenture Introduces AI Bots Ella and Ethan

Accenture has announced the introduction of Ella and Ethan, two interactive virtual-assistant bots that use artificial intelligence (AI) to constantly learn and make intelligent recommendations for interactions between life sciences companies, patients, health care providers (HCPs), and caregivers.

The two bots, the company said, are meant to enhance its Accenture Intelligent Patient Platform.

The company said the bots are designed to help improve a patient’s health and overall experience and are part of Accenture’s Salesforce Fullforce Solutions, which are powered by Salesforce Health Cloud, Einstein AI, and Amazon’s Alexa.

Ella and Ethan explained

Accenture said Ella is a virtual care assistant for patients that provides medication reminders, vitals tracking, and appointment scheduling.

“This information enables life sciences companies to provide patients with a personalized, interactive way to manage their health and engage with their care team members,” the company explained in a press statement.

Ethan is a “virtual service assistant for health care providers that enable life sciences companies to help HCPs more easily engage with patients, better monitor their health activity, and coordinate with other care team members to provide critical services in a more holistic manner. This includes providing proactive recommendations on content and services for healthcare professionals to provide patients to support patient treatment and improve engagement.”

Accenture Life Sciences managing director, Tony Romito said the Accenture Intelligence Platforms continued to expand the value of using analytics and collaborative technologies to support the healthcare industry’s goal to deliver better outcomes.

“The platform’s newest AI capabilities allow life sciences companies to make recommendations to best support the patient’s specific condition and lifestyle by gaining deeper insights into patient behavior – in real time,” he said.

Accenture poised to benefit from the use of analytics

The Nasdaq website forecasted that Accenture looked well poised to benefit from the extensive use of analytics and collaborative technologies in the growing healthcare industry.

“The move is likely to boost Accenture’s health and public service, and products segment. Both the segments have performed well in the last reported quarter,” the website said.

To improve user experience, Accenture embedded artificial intelligence and process capabilities throughout the patient engagement solution to enhance the user experience. These include services like an onboarding contact center, which delivers intelligent guided experiences on recommended steps to ensure patients get access to therapy faster and more easily.

Another innovation is the adherence and care management contact center, which is AI that offers recommendations at the point of need to ensure patients stay on their treatment protocol with a more personalized experience.

Accenture also embedded a provider portal and mobile phone app that gives physicians better patient insights and fact-based, intelligent guidance on the content and services available for individual patient requirements.

The company said it will provide live demos of Ella and Ethan at Accenture Dreamforce, September 25-28.

Health AI market carries on growth momentum

The launch of the two bots is part of Accenture’s vision for 2018, where it notes that “rapid advancements in technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, and the cloud, are enabling companies to not just create innovative products and services, but change the way people work and live.”

The announcement of the two bots comes just two days after Accenture said it was expanding the capabilities of Accenture myWizard.

“The expansion of the advanced data and artificial intelligence capabilities of the company’s intelligent automation platform will enable companies to disrupt every facet of the application lifecycle and drive better strategic business value. To fortify the platform’s capabilities, Accenture has integrated automation, artificial intelligence, DevOps, and analytics, via technology enhancements, an expanded ecosystem collaboration, and patented investments,” the company said.

The company said Accenture myWizard, which has more than 50 patents and patent applications, “helps organizations to grow beyond driving productivity and cost reduction in their technology applications. It helps them concentrate on bringing in improved speed and intelligence in their applications strategy, thus speeding up business growth as well as innovation.”

The Market Realist website said there seemed to be a boom in the healthcare AI market, which was driven by the increased use of machine learning applications, with IBM’s Watson Health AI gaining “huge traction across the healthcare industry.”

Accenture projects that the health AI market, which was worth $600 million in 2014, will grow to $6.6 billion 2021 and to gain a foothold in this industry, the company says it has to continue to invest in developing new technology.

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