.nl in the spotlight: digiwil.nl

What made you decide to set up Digiwil?

"I lost my father last year. He was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and after that things moved very quickly. So I experienced for myself how, when you lose a loved one, countless things need sorting out, and you barely know where to begin. You're in a state of emotional turmoil, and at the same time you've got to deal with all the different people and organisations involved with end-of-life situations. One after another, and sometimes several at once. And there's little or no contact between them; it's very fragmented. After my father's diagnosis, there was a lot of to-and-fro involving the palliative care providers, the family doctor, the home care service, the pharmacy and the hospital. Palliative care is care that's intended to give someone with an incurable illness the best possible quality of life. And we were dealing with various people within each service. After dad's death, the undertaker and the notary came into the picture as well. Keeping on top of it all while also enabling relatives and friends to be involved was challenging. I managed though, and now I want to use the experience I've gained to help others cope with similar situations. So I've started Digiwil."

How can Digiwil help people stay in control?

"My mission with Digiwil is to enable patients and their loved ones to focus entirely on each other, without having to worry about all the side issues and red tape. It's a person-centred service. At the moment, the web application has a few hundred users. I've been pleasantly surprised by take-up of the app in the initial phase; it's been good to see people starting to use it." "At present, Digiwil is an app that you can use by accessing our website from your desktop or on your phone. I designed and developed the software myself. The Digiwil app enables the patient and their loved ones to gather together all the necessary information about the patient: details of the medication and aids they're using, as well as their wishes concerning palliative care, inheritance and funeral arrangements. So you have a coherent body of information that's accessible to the individual in question and their family. The app serves as a personal reference file and a central information point, which the patient and/or their loved ones can manage. Privacy is fully protected: users retain complete control of their data. Information recorded in the app is anonymised and encrypted, so that only the user and people invited by the user can see it."

What's behind the choice of name?

"Digiwil is short for 'digital will'. The words appealed to me because of their light, neutral tone. The website has been designed to convey the sense that Digiwil is a practical application that offers comfort and helps people stay in control under challenging circumstances. It eases the administrative burden, so that people can focus on the emotional side of the process."

What kind of future do you see for the app?

"I'm currently building an iOS app for the App Store and an Android application, both of which should be available soon. The design of the mobile application will be very similar to the web application, so users can easily switch between the two." "In the longer term, I'd like to connect all the professionals associated with the final phase of life. My ultimate aim is to ensure that the whole process runs smoothly, from the initiation of care to the patient's death and the after-death arrangements. With that in mind, I'm actively looking to link up with care providers and institutions, as well as notaries and undertakers. Then, together, we can decide how best to take the app forward. It's only since the website went live that integration of all the people and organisations associated with the final phase of life has actually got going. That's the great thing about software: the development possibilities are endless."

What advice would you give other people looking to start a business?

"My own experience has been that it helps to use a real problem as your starting point. That way you arrive at a solution that's genuinely going to make a difference to people. And you need to consider right at the start how you're going to reach your target audience and how you're going to ensure your visibility on line. In the case of Digiwil, the target audience consists of people looking for palliative care. Many of them will start by searching for relevant information on line, so I'm using Google and Google ads to bring Digiwil to their attention. The Digiwil software is therefore very much internet-centred. And having a .nl domain name is integral to my visibility strategy."