How Can Medical Blockchain Help the Healthcare Industry?

Meta-Description - Definition of Blockchain, Ways Blockchain is transforming Healthcare, Ways Blockchain is fixing Industry Issues, Real Use Cases, Future of Blockchain in Healthcare Industry

Introduction

The Healthcare industry is often known to be intricate and complex. This statement can draw some major controversies. By complex and intricate, here it means that even though this industry has undergone radical innovations in certain aspects like in medicines, drugs, vaccines, clinical trials, and in the adoption of cloud computing, it needs major overhauling in other aspects. Those are maintenance of patient data, data analysis, and accuracy, drug traceability, supply chain management, and cybersecurity.

Blockchain has the potential of eradicating the issues plaguing the industry and reforming healthcare by keeping the patient at the very crux of the medical ecosystem system and establishing increased security, interoperability as well as privacy of the stored patient records. The value of blockchain technology in healthcare was $ 2.12 billion in the year 2019 and is expected to reach $ 3.49 billion by the year 2025, with a CAGR of 8.7% throughout the forecast period, from 2020 to 2025. 

 

 Image from: Mordor Intelligence

No wonder, use cases of blockchain applications in healthcare and scope of blockchain for health records are being explored, experimented, discovered day and night by numerous blockchain and healthcare companies. By tracking pharmaceuticals, enhancing payment options, and decentralizing data of patient health history, Blockchain has affirmed itself as an irreplaceable tool in healthcare. 

Well all that being said and done, this article will reflect upon the numerous errors and missteps that can be averted through incorporating blockchain in healthcare and will discuss how blockchain is presently being used in healthcare. 

Here are the things that we will get covered in this blog:

●        What’s blockchain?

●        What is Blockchain in Healthcare?

●        Which healthcare industry issues can be solved through blockchain?

●        Ways how blockchain can be used in the Healthcare Industry

●        Predictions about the future of Medical Blockchain

●        Conclusion

So let’s start with defining Blockchain, how does blockchain help healthcare and how blockchain is used in healthcare.

What’s Blockchain?

The concept of blockchain can be defined as a decentralized system within which historical or transactional records are maintained, stored, and recorded, across a peer to peer network of personal computers known as nodes. To illustrate further, it is a public digital ledger that is immovable and quite similar to a database. It relies on established cryptographic techniques. 

So you are forgiven if you think Blockchain is mainly about Cryptocurrency. When discussing blockchain, people often link it to cryptos and Bitcoin. But blockchain is much more than cryptocurrency when it comes to the robustness of an application. It is immutable and secure. The network requires verification before a participant records any information. It enables a trustless collaboration, as the information gets stored and accordingly is shared across all the network participants, keeping an immutable audit trail of all the past and ongoing interactions. It is indeed the kind of disruptive technology that can produce a seismic shift within any industry and just about exactly what healthcare needs.

What Is Blockchain in Healthcare?

As defined above, blockchain is a distributed, decentralized digital ledger that is filled with a plethora of highly encrypted, time-stamped virtual records that are continuously updated. Without this technology, the existence of cryptocurrencies like Ethereum or Bitcoin would not have been possible. Each particular unit of the said digital ledger is known as a block. These blocks are arranged and tied together through crypto technology that makes them literally immutable. 

No matter how you can look at it, Healthcare combined with Blockchain is a match made in heaven. Stating the undeniable fact that the medical industry becomes a victim of security breaches almost on a daily basis, it is a no-brainer to use this technology to seal all of the loopholes. Also, there is more to blockchain than this, which is why intelligence firms are exploring the scope of blockchain technology in healthcare and blockchain in medicine. A blockchain monitored health information exchange could unleash the true potential of interoperability. Its systems can curtail or diminish the costs and friction of the current intermediaries. 

To further illustrate, the term blockchain for healthcare holds immense scope and comprehensive significance for the stakeholders. This technology has the capability of connecting the fragmented systems which can produce insights to better examine the value of personalized care. Capitalizing & investing in the prospects of blockchain for medical records is already getting widespread attention. 

The adoption and integration of blockchain could save the costs of the healthcare industry up to $100 to $150 billion annually by 2025 in Information Technology and data breach-related costs, support function, operation, and personnel costs, and through reducing the sale of counterfeit and fraud products. 

Which healthcare industry issues can be solved through blockchain?

There are numerous data challenges that the Big Pharma is grappling with. Let’s see how Blockchain helps healthcare to solve those:

●        Drug Traceability 

The issue of drug counterfeiting is a harrowing one in the healthcare industry. Health Research Funding Organization revealed some statistics related to it: 

●        10-30% of the drugs marketed in the developing countries are cloned, so as to say counterfeited. 

●        The market for these counterfeit drugs is worth $200 billion annually.

●        Online sales of these cloned drugs account for $80 billion annually. 

●        Most of these drugs are either manufactured in China or India. 

●        About 60 distinct types of Pfizer medicines and products were being counterfeited in 2014. WHO assessed that 16% of these counterfeited drugs were made up of wrong ingredients, or contained the wrong level of ingredients putting the future of healthcare at risk. 

 

Image from: SuppyChainBeyond

 

The counterfeited products being highly different from the original product in both quality and composition can be extremely dangerous to the patients as these products do not have the active ingredients that they claim they do. So they are not able to treat and cure the disease that they are prescribed for. Furthermore, it can lead to death by triggering unexpected effects. It has also been estimated that this phenomenon can result in a loss of 10.2 billion euros annually to the European pharmaceutical sector. 

How Blockchain can help?

The main feature of blockchain technology that will come in use here, is security. The record of each new transaction is added to a particular block that is immutable and timestamped. This makes sure that the recorded information is ultimate and cannot be altered as one pleases. That also makes it easy to track a particular product. 

 

 Image from: Anca Petre

The main issue in the present times is that there is no harmony between the stakeholders of the supply chain and the origin of the products produced. They have an incomplete vision of the whole supply map. This is how the fake drugs enter the supply chain and reach the patients. With stakeholders having hold of each recorded information and history of transactions through blockchain, they can track each product that enters the market. Moreover, if they need to withdraw any batch from the market due to a certain issue they can track down the products easily and do the job without any complications.

●        Clinical Trials 

During and after the clinical trials are conducted, a considerable amount of health information and patient data are produced. Those are blood tests, statistics, quality reports, medical surveys, statistics, clinical documentation from a large group of people. This makes it hard to control and track everyone and often intentionally or unintentionally, mistakes are made along the way. As millions of dollars are invested by Pharmaceutical giants and their sponsors, which can lead to massive financial repercussions based on the end result, fraudulence is a common occurrence. This includes hiding, manipulating, or modifying data that could literally compromise the advancement of the clinical trial. This further jeopardizes and damages the organization’s reputation among regulatory patients and agencies.  

How Blockchain can help?

As you search on the network, Blockchain can provide you with proof of the existence of any document. If you want to add new data through the transactional model, the nodes will have to give their consent that it is logical and legitimate with the history of blockchain. If any individual attempts to manipulate a piece of existing health information, it would require modifying the records of most of the computers that are in the network. This feature of the blockchain systems prevents the alteration of data in regards to the clinical trials. Each of the trial data is assigned a unique, distinctive code that is specific to the document content. If a healthcare professional goes through the stored data and starts suspecting its authenticity, they can seamlessly verify that by comparing it to the original information that was stored in the blockchain system. To do so they need to run the data that will produce a new code. If the newly created code is the same as the original code then it means that none of the data has been altered.  

This will boost the collaboration and make way for more scientific advances especially when it comes to curing rare diseases.

●        Patient Data Management

When it comes to the subject of patient data management, it faces two main issues within the healthcare industry. First, not all patients are the same, because what might work on one patient, might surely not work on the other. It is due to the aspect of inter-individual variability. For this reason, complete access to their collected medical records is needed, in order to provide a personalized and patient-centered treatment.

Second is the sharing of that information among the medical community is a huge challenge. Medical data of this kind is highly sensitive and is always instructed to be made shareable to the professionals through the mode of a secure network. Lack of a robust cybersecurity structure is a major obstacle in the way of scientific discoveries. Due to the lack of a common database, the medical records are stored in various locations, which makes it highly problematic for researchers to access and track back on the information stored. 

Also, there is the issue of data ownership. A patient cannot be given full ownership of his or her medical records as they can alter or delete any information as he/she pleases. This could have serious repercussions on his health putting the patient safety at risk. Then again the drawback to it is, if the patient does not have ownership of the data, he/she does not have authority over who is sharing and using it.

 

How Blockchain can help?

Blockchain can not only provide a solid structure for sharing the data but also security. Let’s see how: the healthcare providers gather information from the patients such as name, their date of birth, prescriptions, ambulatory records, EHR documents, and procedures performed. The data is stored in the existing databases or in the cloud computing systems. Each data source is tagged to a particular hash along with the public ID of the patient in the blockchain system. Smart Contracts manage patient data access. 

With the help of an API, stakeholders can search the blockchain that will show the whereabouts of the data without divulging the patient's identity. If required the patient can share his or her entire details of the medical record to any particular stakeholder. He or she could share non-identifiable information with the big pharmas or identifiable data with the doctors. The inherent advantage that comes with it is: the patient can have control over the access that he/she permits to his own medical records. The patient sets the condition of access through the mechanism of smart contracts. In fact, all of the conditions that the patient sets on his or her profile will be done through an API. 

Ways how blockchain can be used in the Healthcare Industry

The medical industry is heavily reliant on Blockchain alongside robust technologies like Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence. Here are some real use cases of how Blockchain is changing the Healthcare Industry:

●        Drug Supply Chain Transformation 

A market intelligence report by a credible research firm says, 

Blockchain technology has the ability to enhance the functionality, security, and data provenance of the pharmaceutical supply chain if implemented efficiently. 

 

The supply chain of the medical industry has been exploring ways of combating the problem of counterfeiting and falsification of drugs. Blockchain based companies like Viant are providing solutions related to the supply chain to pharma giants like GlaxoSmithKline to completely eradicate the issue. The application is based on the tracking technology of blockchain which will fine-tune the supply chain of the medical industry.

●        Bookkeeping of Clinical Trials

Given the present scenario, clinical trials have become the new normal. Keeping a track of their financials with accuracy through the bookkeeping process is a crucial need of the hour. It is for the seamless functioning and evaluation of the clinical trials. Here’s where blockchain firms have invented ways to streamline the process of bookkeeping and financial reporting. Boehringer Ingelheim has tied up with IBM to create a blockchain-powered system for its bookkeeping process. The database is for accentuating their very first project of clinical trials. Through this, the various aspects of the bookkeeping process will be enhanced up to tenfold.

●        Process of Form Filling  

Anytime someone is required to be admitted to hospital due to a serious illness, the task of admission takes a huge time cause of the arduous process of filling loads of forms. It feels seemingly as exhausting as conquering Mt. Everest! Blockchain can automate the task, saving our time and energy and companies like Kalibrate Blockchain are doing so. It has created FormDrop which is a mobile application running on a blockchain-powered engine called Universal Patient Index. Through this app, any person will be able to fill up the forms ahead of time, before prepping to go to a healthcare facility. By doing so, they can save their time by avoiding standing in lines. This will aid in increasing the productivity of healthcare employees.

Predictions about the future of medical blockchain

The scope of Blockchain in healthcare looks super up-and-coming and promising as it helps to solve some of the pressing issues afflicting the industry. As Blockchain is decentralized unlike the majority of the healthcare records that are centralized, we envision a progressive future. A future where blockchain acts as an element of a system in which patients will become stewards of their own medical data, in place of relying on a central source. Of Course, the application of blockchain comes with its own set of technical challenges. The process and number of steps to record, find and get the data can be complex and numerous, but with the help of emerging technologies like Machine Learning and AI, these problems will get resolved eventually.

Conclusion 

To answer the question, can blockchain be used in healthcare? Of Course yes. Blockchain will play a crucial role in improving the healthcare system reforming the future of healthcare. The vision of providing personalized healthcare does not seem like an impossible dream now with Medical Blockchain storing and securing massive amounts of data at scale. We are hoping that the production applications that are blockchain-powered will become commonplace by next year. 

Techexactly works with organizations that are facing unprecedented challenges in managing their healthcare supply chain to imbibe them with capabilities necessary to thrive in an increasingly demanding ecosystem and emerge stronger. We collaborate with companies across the industry value chain starting from Big Pharma to Biotech, from Medical Device to CRO - to thrive, grow, and innovate, from strategy through to the execution stage. 

Want to know about our services? Go ahead and schedule a time to talk!

Uber for Pharmacy Delivery App: Start Your Own Medical Delivery Business

Want to take a leap into the world of entrepreneurship, but you also desire to serve the people better so that they can lead a happier healthier life? Setting up your own medical delivery business with a medical delivery app development on the way can give you a chance to fulfill both of these dreams of yours, where you will be able to not only fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams but also achieve the satisfaction of helping people lead a better and healthier life. The idea behind an online pharmacy is focused around the concept of offering a wide choice of non-prescription OTC (Over The Counter) drugs and medications, filling out prescriptions, delivering those drugs to patients on time, thus making their lives easier to a great deal.

And still, the concept of online pharmacy – also known as a distance-selling pharmacy – is largely an under-explored, surprisingly an underrated business even today. In 2016, prescription drugs to the tune of $158 billion were sold online in the USA alone. Compared to the entire pharmacy market, which is estimated at a little above $100 billion, the online sales stand at a mere 0.15% of the entire pharmacy business. This suggests huge untapped potential.

 Why the need for a medicine Delivery App?

The widespread application of eCommerce has benefited ePharmacy to attract a wide customer base both in the developed and developing countries. Based on the world population prospects, approx 2.05 billion people of the world population use eCommerce for the procurement of commodities out of 7.8 billion.

The number was 1.32 billion in 2014 and was foreseen to reach 2.14 billion by the year 2021. Moreover, there are a number of countries where 70 to 80% of internet users make purchases from online stores.

Online medicine delivery app is way more essential to ill patients and elderly citizens because it reduces their dependency on a third person. The app delivers the ordered medicine and healthcare supplies at customers’ doorstep with an online payment facility. A fresh example is the current situation of the world during the pandemic of Coronavirus.

Right now where people are lockdown into their houses and forbidden to come out to stop the spread of this COVID-19 virus, the government has allowed eCommerce to be active. So, during these days, people are ordering medicines, sanitizers, and other healthcare supplies on pharmacy delivery apps.

The increasing growth of the ePharmacy market and numbers of internet users, state that the demand for e-prescription technology and on-demand medicine delivery services are going to be high on the demand draft. Therefore, investing in a medicine delivery business can generate a huge profit in the future.

Even if there is a drug store nearby, there is little guarantee that all the medicines are available. What if this problem is eliminated by listing all the available drug stores in a common marketplace like the mobile app and buying medicine with just a tap on the mobile.

With ordering and delivery app for medicines, you no longer need to wait in the drugstore to buy medicine. This saves you time and money.

Benefit for pharmacists are...

Pharmacists who have a small outlet can improve their growth by listing their drug store in the medicine delivery app marketplace.

Now that you are aware of the online medicine market, let us get you to the point without further ado. So, all ears here!

The Business Model for the Medicine Delivery App Development

The premise sounds simple. Just like any other eCommerce business, you can sell products online – OTC and prescription drugs in this case – and make a profit.

Online pharmacy store business models are mostly classified into two categories, based on how they operate and make money.

The first kind is where the online pharmacy store itself stocks a huge number of medications. A customer-first submits a valid prescription for the medicines they wish to purchase. The online store confirms the availability of the items required and the customer makes the payment. The online pharmacy then ships the medicines to the customer.

The second kind is different in that they don’t stock the medicines themselves. Instead, they partner with local brick-and-mortar pharmacies. When the customer makes an online request the online pharmacy store checks which partner pharmacy is closest to the customer’s shipping address or can best deliver the order. They collect the payment, instruct the partner physically deliver the drugs, and share the revenue as per conditions agreed upon.

Startups are bringing in various changes to introduce in different levels of value additions. For instance, while online pharmacies require customers to submit the prescriptions online, some startups also arrange to have the prescription physically collected from the customer’s location. Apart from value addition, this method lets the pharmacy better verify the authenticity of the prescription.

Features of an Online Pharmacy Store

An online pharmacy, at the end of the day, is a commercial enterprise. That means it must have all the features that are common to the business.

The following features are the ones that are unique to online pharmacies.

Display clearly your must-have certifications

Firstly, you must build trust about your legitimacy. On your website, display all affiliations and licenses clearly so that first-time visitors can easily find them.

Show complete product information

Display as much information as is required and advisable. Customers, present and potential, should be able to spot products easily. Highlight all that information that is statutorily required as well as information you, as a pharmacist, belief should be shared with consumers of medical formulations.

Carry a customer credentials section

Customers base many decisions on genuine reviews. Place the reviews so newcomers can check out what kind of service you are offering.

Instill trust by safe payment features

Customers must feel completely safe when they may payments. Show prominently how your payment gateway is superior in terms of ease and safety.

Consider having an app

An online store can be wonderfully complemented by an app. Customers will find an app a lot easier to buy from. At some stage you’ll want an app, so why not earlier than later?

Highlight events

Part promotional, part social responsibility. You can have a section or run a banner dedicated to health-related events or articles. This can include schedules of vaccinations, notifications of flu in a particular area and so on.

Respect privacy

Your customers buy online because they want convenience. A number of them also seek privacy while buying from you. Make sure your systems are geared towards ensuring the privacy of your customers. This is not only ethically appropriate but also legally required.

Act responsibly and ethically

Respect the law of the land. Take every reasonable precaution that you’d take if you were a physical store.

Offer to stay connected

An online pharmacy can offer newsletters for better engagements. In return, it will connect email addresses to build a mailing list.

Essential Features of a Medicine Delivery App

The set of features is the frontline of any mobile application. At this point, you will know what features a medicine delivery app must have and some advanced features that can enhance your app functionality.

Features of the Customer Panel:

Registration

Users can create a new account with an email or they can use social media credentials to log in to the app.

Explore Medicines

There are thousands of medicine available in the app stock. Users can search and order the preferred medicines with just a few taps on the app.

Upload Prescription

Users can upload the prescription on the app so that they can order medicine in a better and the convenient way in the future also.

Add to Shopping Cart

Users can add the required medicines into the cart and can purchase them whenever they need it.

Chat with a Doctor

Users can discuss their health problems with the doctor or an expert directly from the in app communication feature.

News and Blogs

Users can view all the latest blogs and pharmacy-related news, various articles and researches related to fitness trends.

Track Order

Users can track the real-time location of the delivery executive. They can also check the order of status whether it is accepted or out for delivery.

Multiple Payment Options

Users can pay for their order by cash or by various integrated payment gateways like e-Wallet, Credit/Debit Card, etc.

Refund & Return Policy

Users can return the medicine if it is not appropriate for them and they can also ask for a refund.

Push Notification

Users are notified with their order status, trending fitness articles and latest discounts & offers by in-app notifications.

Loyalty Reward

The app allows users to earn loyalty and reward points by referring the app to friends and relatives.

Rate and Review

Users can rate the services of the pharmacy and the delivery executive for a better future experience.

Features of the Pharmacy Panel:

Registration

Similarly, like the user, the vendor can also register with an email id or social media credentials.

Maintain Information

The retailer maintains all its information as well as the user’s information to provide the best services to them.

Listing Products

The store manager lists the available products according to category and deletes the unavailable items from the list for better user flexibility.

Maintaining Product Details

The vendor manages all the information and details related to the product and its benefits.

Filtering Similar Products

The store displays related items based on the user’s search. This allows the user a better experience while shopping.

Managing Orders

The pharmacy manager can manage all the past and ongoing orders with the help of the medicine delivery app panel.

Maintaining Cost

The store owner manages and sets the price of the medicines according to market policies.

Providing Discounts

In order to keep your user engaged on your app, you can provide offers and discounts on medicines from time to time

Reviewing Users

Dealers can keep track of feedback on the customer, on delivery executive and even on the products that the customer has purchased.

Features of the Admin Panel:

Admin Dashboard

The admin manages all the pending requests, orders, customers, and the store details from the dashboard.

Promotional Tools

The admin controls all the marketing templates, advertisement and campaign activities from this section.

Controlling Payments

All the payments made by the users through COD or by the in-app payment methods are verified by the admin.

Maintaining Users and Dealers

All the registered users, pharmacy dealers, and manufacturers are managed by the admin.

Notifications

The admin notifies the users and the dealers with the latest updates and news related to the app with the notifications being received through SMS or email.

App Analysis

The admin keeps a real-time analysis of the app by maintaining reports about total orders received, user feedbacks and, retention rates for managing the growth of the app.

Value-Added Features

Apart from the above-mentioned features, there are some other features that you can integrate into your app to make it more interactive and user-friendly. So binding your app with these features is surely beneficial for your business.

In-App Camera

Using the phone camera to take a picture of a prescription and then later upload it from your phone gallery is a tricky cumbersome task. The in-app camera feature will help users to directly upload the picture of the prescription in an easy manner.

Multilingual

The users of the app will be from every corner of the globe. So you should integrate a multi-language feature in your app, to achieve flexibility. This can be achieved by allowing users to choose their preferred language to use the app.

CMS

Editing or managing the content of the website is quite exhausting. An adaptable CMS or Content Management System will help the admin in maintaining and managing the content of the website and the app.

CRM

In order to keep your app users engaged, it is important to have a good relationship with all your users. A CRM or Customer Relations Management system helps you in keeping a long relationship with users and customers of the app.

Chabot

Sometimes users are not able to understand some features. In this instance, users can get answers for all of their queries and FAQs from the Chabot.

Smart Searching

This feature helps users to search for nearby pharmacies, diagnosis centers, and medical shops easily. Users can also search the preferred medicines by directly entering the name of the medicine.

User-Friendly

Integrating the app with the latest features makes it more flexible and user-friendly. This will help users to easily order their preferred medications.

Lab Aggregation

With this feature, users can easily search the nearby diagnosis centers for various categories such as a blood test, full-body checkups, regular checkups, and many more. The user will also be able to get the approximate fee for a particular checkup.

Reminder

The most beneficial feature of these apps is for aged patients. They can set a reminder in the app and the app will remind them when they have to take their medicine.

How does the application work for customers?

For using the app, here are the steps you should give a quick view about, to users to follow:

• Download the app and register yourself first. Users can register themselves in the app that is free of cost. They will have to enter their details such as contact number, email address, and come up with a unique password. Once they have completed the registration process, they will have to log into the app using the same email id and password.
• Create a profile by adding all the basic information that is required such ascontact number, name, addresses, etc. Also, mention all the details of the drugs that you consume every day. You will have to give access to the pharmacies, so that the doctors can review the prescriptions. They will then deliver them as per the dose that they want as committed.
•  Submit the doctor’s prescription by uploading the document online. Doctors can easily connect with their patients using the app in real-time with the data that they can get from the prescriptions uploaded by you.
•  Choose the drugs as per the prescription and order them online.
• You can also choose to cancel the order if you don’t need them.
• Once you have selected the drugs, you can add to the cart to complete the Booking.
• You can complete the payment by choosing your preferred payment methods to get the drugs delivered at your doorstep.

In the case, if you are confused, you can get in touch with our expert nutritionists or doctors to discuss further the medicine, and then place your order. Using the online map feature, they can find nearby pharmacies and visit the medical store personally. This will help you during emergencies to fetch medicines immediately. With an intuitive feature, users can get a reminder for their medicine time.

When it comes to health-related data, you have to ensure that the data never gets manipulated. And hence, the app features have a two-factor authorization security protection option for all the user accounts. Moreover, you can keep your data encrypted, so that any third-person can not use the data for their benefits.

 How does the application work for administrators?

For all administrators, they will have to follow the below steps:

Dashboard – The admin will have to verify the requests that customers are placing and for that, he or she can easily find it on the dashboard. Once he or she has registered, he/she can see the requests from customers on the dashboard.

Tools – Admins will get access to marketing tools like banners, posters, etc. They will have to provide the same to the owners who are requesting it.

Manage Payments – Admins will have to manage various payment modes that are made by the customers and clients. Moreover, they can also save the list for all the clients.

Team Structure and Technology Stack for the Medicine Delivery App Development

Selecting an eligible firm for the development of your app is a quite difficult task. You must choose a company that has previously worked on these projects and that can understand your requirements easily. For developing a robust Medicine Delivery Application, choose a company with a team of experienced and skilled developers.

Here is a list of most prominent members required for developing an on-demand medicine delivery app.

• Project Developer
• Android Developer
• iOS developer
• UI/UX Designer
• Backend Developer
• Tester

Various technologies have been introduced in the market. So sometimes it’s difficult to choose the right technology stack. We have come up with the best technology stack you can use to develop a robust and interactive Medicine Delivery App with the most advanced features.

For Front End Development: Swift, Java, CSS, Bootstrap

For Backend Development: JavaScript, Ruby, Angular JS, Python

• Twilio, Push.io - Push Notifications
• Nexmo, Twilio - SMS and Phone Verification
• Braintree, Paypal, e-Wallets - Payments
• MongoDB, Postgress,  Cassandra - Database
• AWS, Google, Azure - Cloud
• Hadoop, Cisco, IBM, Big Data - Real-Time Analytics

Let's Do The Cost Estimation! 

After the technology stack has been confirmed, comes the cost estimation part. Calculating the exact cost of developing an On-Demand medicine delivery mobile app is not an easy task. As the cost depends on various factors like features, platform, functionality, complexity and many other dependencies, An app with basic features will cost you less, but an app with most advanced features will probably cost you significantly more.

To know more about these factors in detail that can give you a fair idea on the complete cost estimation of Bus Booking app development, please go through our blog, 

How Much Does An APP DEVELOPMENT COSTS? LET’S ESTIMATE!

Are you ready to Kick Start Your Entrepreneurial Dreams with Your Own Uber for Pharmacy App?

We have reached the very end of this lengthy discussion of developing a robust Medicine Delivery App. The era for the flourishing of the ecommerce industry has entered a new phase with medicine delivery apps paving the way and we with our expert team of designers and developers are here to guide you every step along the way and deliver you the app of your dreams. 

Want to create an app just like 1mg or Medplus? Get your Quote and Lets jump start brainstorming!

Want to Build a Bus Ticket Booking App? Here’s all that you need to know!

Meta-description: What is an Online Bus Reservation System? What is an Online Bus Ticket Booking App? How Bus Ticket Booking Apps make Bus Travelling smooth and on-the-go, Technologies to be used for bus ticket booking app development, cost estimation, and collaborating with an app development company, the features to be integrated into the bus ticket booking app.

The emergence of the slew of public transit and transportation apps have modernized the world for good, and I think anyone and everyone will concede to that. The pain of standing in long queues, just to board a bus and get a comfortable seat during rush hour, or book a ticket for an overnight journey again by standing in long queues, all these pains have gone away. 

The cab and flight booking apps have established a strong foothold of their own, meeting the needs of the hour for the consumers around the clock. 

And now the bus booking apps are gradually making their way to reach that pace and level of popularity with exclusive bus ticket booking apps like WanderU, FlixBus, Rome2Rio, Omio, Redbus, Busradar, and more…

And why shouldn’t it be?

Online Bus Reservation System: What does the current trends say?

To meet the growing demand of travelers, an increasing number of travel agencies are also broadening their boundaries to various travel domains.  They are venturing into hotel reservations, tour and travel booking, cruise booking engine, flight booking systems, and more. This has increased the overall usage of mobile applications.

The apps have impressed the users, time and again with their ease, convenient features, and smooth functionality. This has increased their popularity among customers, with them referring to their family and friends. This has raised the overall usage of the apps. 

With Smartphone users expecting to rise up to 2.87 million, the mobile apps are expected to earn a turn around revenue of $188.9 billion, through downloads, in-app purchases, and ads, by 2020. This gives way to a preceding possibility of sharp growth in online travel bookings. The industry of online travel booking is forecasted to hit a revenue of $817 billion by the year 2020. That's tremendously huge! 

With the technological innovations in the travel software solutions, bus booking software is also becoming its integral part.  

According to a survey report of 2018, done across 12 different cities in the US, at least 74% of its residents prefer traveling in buses for short distance journeys, say for like 24 hours, instead of flights which would cost them triple the amount. Hence, the increasing revenue of the uber taxi and online bus booking services has been approximated to reach ‘2,841 million U.S dollars by 2022’, as per a Statista report. 

This has prompted the owners of travel agencies to start their business with a bus reservation system as it is a major source of generating revenue in this domain.

To Define...

The Online Bus Reservation System or Online Bus ticket booking app is a web-based and mobile-based application that works through a centralized network management system. It facilitates everything under one platform starting from visitors buying tickets, checking on the seat availability of the bus, paying online through any of the multiple secure payment modes, and canceling the ticket if needed. There is also the option for customers to inquire about any issue they face in the app that gets resolved with an instant & quick response. 

The bus booking software works nowhere like the conventional database. The traditional database is computerized to do ticket booking and tracking the real-time location of the bus. It maintains all bus details, user details, booking details, reservation details, thereby making it convenient, seamless, and travel easy. 

Through this system, a passenger will be able to buy any bus ticket over the Internet, 24/7, 365 days a year, and the bus ticket can’t be stolen, left behind or lost. Moreover, a traveler can select the bus according to the journey time, bus type, bus rating, and facilities/amenities provided while they are onboard journeying.

 

Bus Travelling Made Smooth and Convenient On-The-Go

The past few years have seen a massive breakthrough in the bus ticket booking app development. More and more users have realized the possibilities that these app platforms could offer, the accessibility, convenience, and comfort that comes with it. Booking tickets to enjoyable, comfortable journeys from their homes with just a few clicks on the smartphones, instead of standing in long queues, who wouldn’t want that!

The added serviceability of online bus booking systems where travelers can choose packages based on their preference has taken the convenience of the bus traveling to another level. The bus ticket booking process through mobile apps involves no fuss, is user friendly, and is pretty quick. 

Additionally, these apps also save a lot of effort and time for the travelers and they can devote this energy and time to other essential stuff. Owning to the many advantages that these bus ticket booking apps offer, the people of today find this concept truly useful.

Bus Ticket Booking App: Fundamental Modules

The vendor management system of a bus ticket booking app tends to play an important role in ensuring the smooth functioning of the app. Through this platform, the admin will be able to create multiple vendors who can update, add, create or delete buses running across the several distinctive routes as they like. 

Both the admin and vendor will be able to design routes, however, the outcome is solely dependent on the brand owner. These systems let the app owners view reports that show the availability of buses and their booking statuses, total seats booked as per date and route, chosen transaction mode, and a lot more.

Bus Ticket Booking App: Essential Features

Now that you have gained an insight behind the reason and purpose of starting the process of bus booking app development, let’s list down the essential features that the app will run.

The idea is to develop an Uber-like, paperless solution not only for the passengers but also for the drivers to not only show, allow online bookings and cancellations on the go but also provide real-time location tracking facility and ongoing trip updates in the form of push notifications. The bus booking mobile app needs to be useful and integrated with extraordinary features that can revolutionize and create waves across the travel industry.

Also, it needs to be inbuilt with robust security features, where the bus drivers can verify the identity of the passengers boarding on the bus through a QR Code mobile-based interface. Let’s delve into the list of necessary features that need to be imbibed within the app:

The Mobile App needs to have three modules:

• Customer panel 

• Bus Operator panel 

• Admin Panel

The Customer Module should have the Following Core Features:

• Registration - This feature will allow the users to register onto the app by providing their personal details, such as name, address, DOB, phone number, email id, and other pertinent details.

• Login - To login to the app after registering.

• Home (Top Cities, Top Routes, Offers) - This feature will show the top cities, and routes that the bus will travel through.

• Transport Companies and availability of their buses - This feature will show the Transport companies and their list of available buses. There will be a search option to search for buses by destination, stops, date, and date range. The users can zero down their searches by applying the basic and advanced filters available. They will also be able to find out other bus details like dropping & boarding points, amenities, fare, seats, time.

• Graphical presentation of Seat map - This feature will present a graphical presentation of the available seats. This will help the customers to do the suitable selection based on their convenience, by clicking on the seats shown in the map. There will be separate seat sections for females and males. Price variations for each set of seats will be shown when the customer clicks on a particular seat. 

• Ticket types (counter ticket, M-ticket, e-ticket) - The ticket types will counter ticket, M-ticket, and e-ticket. The ticket fare will be calculated as per the selection of the boarding and dropping points. 

• View information of packages (stay, travels, add-on options) - The customers will be able to view packages that include hotel options, travel spots of a particular destination, after selecting a seat. 

• View, rate & write reviews - This feature will let customers give ratings and reviews on their travel experience, within the app, after the end of every journey. 

• Get quotations on any package via email - The customer can get quotes on any of their travel requirements via email, by selecting the “Get Quote” option in the app or on the website.

• Options to make an inquiry/query for hiring any bus - The customers can make an inquiry or query for hiring any bus, through this feature.

• Payment modules of several types - Customers will be able to make online payments through the various secure payment modes available in the app.

• Users and Visitors can do social promotion and earn discounts/points - This feature will let users and visitors do social promotion of the app and in return earn discounts, loyalty points, hot offers, and deals. The users can redeem those loyalty points via third-party system code. 

• Counter tickets to be delivered at home

• Booking confirmation of bus tickets to be informed through email & SMS

• Buy vouchers for personal use and can also send it to relatives and friends

• Notification/ alert - This feature will give automated reminders to the user, to do bus booking or buy the searched tickets.

• Track bus location - This feature will allow the users to live track the location of the bus on the app. 

• Cancellation tickets to be done through based on the ticket number as per the Terms & Conditions - After cancellation, the passengers will be able to request a refund and track the refund status. Customers will also be able to reschedule the booked tickets, as and when required through the rescheduling option. 

• Customer support - This feature will provide customer support to the users on any issue they face in the app.

• Multi-Currency support - Payment mode support for multiple currencies.

• Newsletter subscription - Option to subscribe to newsletters of the app. 

The Bus Operator Module should have the Following Core Features:

• Login - This feature will let the user to login to the app and manage their profile. 

• Dashboard - This will show total bookings completed, Seat Graph, total revenue amount earned, and refund. 

• GPS Tracking and booking management - This will let the user Manage bus routes, Manage ticket bookings, Manage Bus Bookings, and Live track the bus’s location

• Attendance of passengers shown in Real-Time - This feature will show the actual number of passengers on board the bus. 

• Customer ratings & reviews - This will let the user view the customer’s ratings & reviews that will guide them to boost their service further.

• Alerts & Notifications - This will give automated reminders regarding any new update or integrated features in the app. 

• Verification of tickets done through scanning QR code - This feature will allow the bus drivers to get & verify the passenger details by scanning the QR code on their tickets. 

The Admin Panel should have the following Core Features:

• Login - This feature will let the admin login to their panel and view the dashboard.

• Profile Management - Through this feature, the admin will be able to manage their own profile, Manage users, Manage the business partners because of loyalty points, Manage business/brand owners for the show ads displayed on the website, Manage vouchers and promotions, all on one platform. 

• Ratings & reviews - The admin will be able to manage the customer ratings and reviews, through this feature.

• Operator Management - Through this feature, the admin will be able to Manage operators/ Travel agencies, and operators with customized dashboards. 

• Income Management - The admin will be able to Manage transactions (profit, the payout did to operators, refund, and income), through this feature.

• Billing Management - This feature lets the admin to Manage details of billing records for operators/Travel agencies and Manage cancellations & refunds.

• Amenities management - This feature allows the admin to manage the amenities options in the app. 

• Payment Integration - This feature lets the admin manage the integrated payment modes in the app. 

• Live Tracking - The admin will be able to  Manage the Live location tracking option of the customer and bus operator panel, through this feature.  

• CRM & CMS integration - Through this feature, the admin will be able to manage the CMS & CRM integrated software in the app. 

• Advertisement Management - The admin will be able to manage the displayed advertisements in the app, SMS & Email Marketing and Loyalty points of the users, through this feature. 

• Notification - This feature will let the admin manage the notification feature of the customer and bus operator panel of the app. 

• Management of user permissible features - This feature will allow the admin to manage all the user permissible features of the app.  

Advanced Features that can be included in the app to increase its User-Base:

Sign Up using Social Profiles: Users of the App can be allowed to sign up using their Google Facebook, Yahoo account details and can subsequently create their profiles through the automatic filling up of the birth date, postal address, phone number information thus saving time and energy of the users.

Real-Time Seat Chart: The app should show a real-time seat chart on its screen when a customer decides to book a seat. The customer can then go forward to select a seat based on his or her convenience by looking at the seating chart. In case the customer decides to cancel the booking within the stipulated time, the money will be refunded.

Management of Co-Traveller Facility: A customer should be able to make a booking for his co-travelers as well, by entering their details. After the booking is done, the co-travelers can simply see the details by opening the app of their phone, or the customer can share the details through WhatsApp or email. This certainly saves a lot of time and energy on part of the customers. 

Make Bookings Based on Personal Preferences: The app should allow the customers to book the buses by searching for them on their desired routes. They should also be able to see other details such as drop-off and pickup points, offered meal facilities, etc. 

Go Cashless with Multiple Payment Modes: The online payment feature will provide multiple secure payment gateways where passengers can make payments via card as well as through third-party e-wallets. After the payment has been done an online ticket will be generated portraying a QR code, which will enable the drivers to scan and verify the details of the customers while they board the bus.

Location Tracking Real-Time: This location tracking feature will show the customers the whereabouts of the bus and the departing time so that the customers will not need to call or contact the office of the bus operator for that information. They will be able to view the location of the booked bus in real-time on the inbuilt map itself. The map will also show the estimated arrival and departure time of the bus,  based on the boarding point that is selected by them while doing the

booking. 

The bus drivers will also have a live seat map of that bus with them that shows the occupied and vacant seats and the total number of passengers on-board. It also enables the drivers to access the upcoming & current bus schedules with drop-off & pick up points.

Booking Management System with Centralized Interface: Through this feature, the customers will be able to cancel their bookings by doing just a few taps on the app. It also allows the customers to view the upcoming, canceled and past bookings all on a single interface and search for specific, customizable booking through ticking the advanced filters present within the app. 

Journey Alerts: These features will allow the customers to view the estimated arrival and departure time based on the boarding points that were selected while generating the bookings. The push notification feature will send several alerts to the customers regarding their upcoming journey via SMS and the App. 

Also, the driver can auto-generate and push out the alerts to all of the bus passengers through

the driver app panel. This will help the customers to manage their time well.

Ticket Validation: This feature will guide the drivers to validate the bookings of the onboard passengers. Through the QR scanner integrated into the driver app panel, the drivers can validate bookings through scanning the QR code that is generated on the app of the customer, after booking the ticket. 

After scanning, the driver gets all the details of each of the onboard passengers such as their name, date of birth, phone no, email id, any other ID (passport, driving license, etc.), and the seat number. 

This benefits the drivers to complete their verification process with ease and also to expedite the boarding process of the passengers. Also, the QR scanning feature is paperless, so it does away with the cumbersome ticket checking process of the bus operators. 

CRM Integration: CRM or Customer relation management is a crucial aspect for the successful running of a business; thus, a capable CRM software integration is a must requirement for the customer service department.

CMS Integration: A necessary & fundamental feature as it allows the app operators to maintain static content pages like About us, FAQs, Contact Us, Booking Page, App Privacy Guidelines, and much more. This feature is of great use to the Admin as he/she is the one responsible for the smooth running of these pages.

GPS Tracking: The integration of the Google Maps or GPS location tracking feature, with the bus ticket booking mobile app, will make the tracking process smooth and seamless for both the drivers, passengers, and the admin as well.

Inbuilt Chat Feature: An Inbuilt Chat feature within the app will be quite cool as it will enable the passengers, drivers, and the admin to communicate and chat with each other. This will help them to directly address any issues that they face regarding the usage of the app or otherwise.

This feature will also benefit the admin in case he needs to convey some important information to the passengers as well as the drivers keeping both of them in sync.

Visual Calendar Integration: An visual calendar within the app will help customers to check for any scheduled meeting or functions on a particular day or week, before booking tickets for a specific journey.

Seat Maps: The seat map shown in the app will give a visual presentation of the available seats on a bus so that the customer can do the selection based on their preference.

Boards: This particular feature ensures the functionality of the automated chat support technology through machine learning.

Cloud Storage Integration: This necessary feature will allow you to save some of your everyday personal details in the app for any future requirement.

Integration of Cab Booking API: This feature is a useful one that one can integrate into their online bus booking mobile application. Integrating a Cab Booking API into the bus booking app will now enable the customers to book a cab through the same app itself if they are in a hurry to reach the pick-up location on time.

Hotel Booking Integration: Integration of a Hotel Booking feature into the bus ticket booking application, will let the app show suggestions of nearby hotels to the users based on their choice of location, the destination that they are headed to, bus routes schedules and pricing range. 

Thus, the users of your app will not need to look anywhere else to book a hotel. The users will get access to a lot of information on one single platform which will grab the attention of more users, thus raising the profile of your app.

The hotels of lowest prices can be shown at the top, gradually advancing to the mediocre priced and then to the higher-priced luxury hotels.

Information on Bus Routes: The integration of this feature will inform the users about the route that the bus will take during the journey. It will also show all the spots and rest stops that the bus will pass through to reach the destination.

Marketing Tools: This popular feature is a great way to enhance user engagement for your mobile application. You can offer coupons & discount offers, customer loyalty programs, to the users from time-to-time. This will interest your app users more to make the majority of their travel bookings through your app and also they will further refer it to their family and friends. 

These advanced features will transform the user experience of your bus ticket booking mobile app to an exceptional level, raise its USP, and give your app an edge over its competitors.

Technology Stack for developing the Bus Ticket Booking Mobile App

For developing a robust infrastructure for a feature-rich on-demand booking app, applying the right technologies are a must. Along with the right technologies, you will also need an experienced and qualified team of designers, QA testers, Project managers, and last but not the least, smart & efficient web developers.

Developing and implementing the right technology stack is a prerequisite for developing a robust, feature-rich  Bus Booking app with a seamless and user- friendly interface. Therefore, for crafting a groundbreaking app, that can reach new heights in the industrial niche, technology is certainly the one aspect that needs to be selected very smartly.            

• Push Notifications - Push.io, Twilio

• Mobile OS - IOS, Android

• Phone Verification and SMS Voice - Twilio, Nexmo

• Database - Hbase, MongoDB, Cassandra, MailChimp Integration, PostgreSQL

• Payments - Stripe, PayPal & BrainTree, Net Banking, EWallets

• Cloud Environment - Google, AWS, Azure

• API Integration of 3rd Party Companies - Cab Companies & Hotel Brands

• Real-Time Analytics - Spark, Hadoop, BigData, Cisco, Apache Flink, IBM

Cost Estimation:

The list of features and the technology stack to be integrated has been finalized, the only aspect that remains to be discussed is the Cost Estimation for the Bus ticket Booking Application Development.

If you have a good budget, then it would be way smarter to look for a Mobile Development Firm that has years of experience and accolades to its name to deliver the best in class apps. You will end up with a great product that will justify the budget spent. Then again, there are certain important factors that determine the cost estimation of building this app:

• The country where you are developing the app

• Your choice of platform, Android, iOS or bot

• Features, Functionalities

• UI & UX design 

Overseeing these factors you might decide to build a simple, less complex app, but will that cost less?

To know more about these factors in detail that can give you a fair idea on the complete cost estimation of Bus Booking app development, please go through our blog, 

How Much Does An APP DEVELOPMENT COSTS? LET’S ESTIMATE!

Ready to Start with the Development of the Bus Ticket Booking App of your Dreams? With all of your priorities, set in place, you are now finally ready to head onto the journey of starting with the development process of your app. And why not, the travel and tourism industry is growing at a rapid pace with the increased usage of mobile applications, and buses being the preferred choice of travel for the majority, an amazing Bus Ticket Booking App can just pioneer the the transport industry, steering it in a new direction. 

We at AllRide are here to help you create the best Bus Ticket Booking app with our proficient team of developers and designers. 

Have an idea in mind? Go ahead to get a quote.