Matcher provide a barcode-based electronic witnessing, labelling, scheduling and traceability system specifically created for IVF clinics and donor banks to help prevent errors through misidentification of patients and their gametes and embryos.
Matcher was developed in 2005 in response to high profile mistakes made within the UK IVF industry. These days Matcher is more than just a double-checking system as it touches many areas of the clinic with its inclusive system components including ID security with biometric checks, labelling for both cryo and non-cryo, workflow scheduling, electronic witnessing including a solution for PGT, lot tracking, cryo management and full reporting/audit functions.
Clinics worldwide now use the Matcher system and work with confidence knowing they have protected their staff and patients from the risk of mistakes, that the technology is safe and that they have a quality management system in place that helps streamline their working practices, saving time and money.
As a forward-thinking company wanting to further expand their services and reach new markets Matcher’s MD, George Heywood, looked to Innovate UK EDGE for support. Working with a team of Innovation and Growth Specialists over a few months Matcher are already reaping the benefits. To date Matcher have improved management capacity using techniques introduced to empower the existing team and free up time for innovation. New internal business processes have been introduced resulting in improved relationships and a distributor model that is now scalable. To service this three job roles have been maintained and a further three roles created.
Under the umbrella of innovation Matcher are enjoying increased client / partner satisfaction, have made advances in the use of technology moving into the cloud for deployment and scalability. Processes have been improved by making use of external experts thus accelerating change in terms of Brexit issues, product innovation and regulation.
Matcher are developing a change in culture with enhanced training and staff recruitment along with investment and a proactive approach to R & D. Regular review of their strategy for improving and increasing their global distribution network and processes is showing dividends as they continue to evolve and gain further market share.
As a result of multiple sessions working with Innovate UK EDGE I have felt a number of benefits already. The key benefits for us include a clearer understanding of what our biggest high-level challenges are, their root causes, a clearer focus on them by our management team, and more clarity around how we should prioritise tackling them. The sessions have allowed, or perhaps forced, me to take the time to stand back and look at the big picture view of the business, using some simple and structured tools to analyse what we do and how we do it. It has helped us to ask, and answer, some really fundamental questions for myself and our management team, so that now it feels like we are much more on the same page and that is already yielding benefits on a daily basis. Working with the Innovate UK Edge team has sometimes felt like intense therapy – and I mean that in a good way!
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