BES are set to enhance digital product ownership and leadership in the Pacific with the doors of a new Support Centre, based in Suva, Fiji, opening this week. 

Two full-time, Fijian staff will provide service desk support to BES platform users across the Pacific region – covering Tamanu, Tupaia and SENAITE.. Participating countries can directly access the Support Centre through the Tamanu platform or explore the revamped support website on mobile or desktop.

“The goal is to continue to localise tech-support, to create jobs and to add to the overall sustainability of the digital health ecosystem in the Pacific,” said Michael, Chief Executive Officer of BES.

“We know the Pacific is leading in implementing digital health technology. A local Support Centre just adds to this,” said Michael. 

“The best support is Pacific-based. The local team appreciates the Pacific context; such as internet outages, power interruptions and often a lack of local IT support. They know the culture, communication styles and for the health sector – the work landscape,” said Michael.

The support team will also be in the same timezone as its users. A benefit that cannot be understated. 

“It’s a simple thing, but when you’re having a tech-issue you don’t want help in ten hours or the next-day. Having a local support team will improve response times,” says Rahul Prasad who will help lead the support desk. 

Backed by Zendesk, a popular service desk system in the tech-industry, requests for help to the Support Centre can be raised in multiple ways. Email, online forms, and LiveChat can be used, with Viber being piloted later this year as another way to ask for assistance. 

Photo: Zendesk software will help the team manage requests coming from multiple sources across the Pacific

The LiveChat is powered by an intelligent ChatBot named Waka – who is programmed to respond to common questions with answers. While Zendesk keeps track of all the queries, the support team can work more efficiently with greater oversight of regional trends or issues. 

“Waka is a Polynesian word for ‘canoe’ and a Melanesian Pijin word for ‘work’”, explains Michael. “Our staff liked the idea of using Waka to go and get help, as you might do in a canoe throughout the islands – and to support their work” 

Equipped with dashboards and visual workflows, the support team can gain data-based insights for proactive monitoring, training, and ultimately, the optimised use of BES-supported platforms; Tamanu, Tupaia, SENAITE and DHIS2.’‘ 

A comprehensive Knowledge Centre with a search function is also at users’ finger tips. This helps users by providing easy to find training articles with step-by-step guides and lots of screenshots. 

The Support Centre’s initial roll-out serves BES customers based in Nauru. BES were fortunate to be able to provide face-to-face training for 61 dedicated health professionals from the Republic of Nauru Hospital and Public Health Clinics on the new BES Support Centre.

Photo: Clinical staff from the Nauru Ministry of Health receive training in accessing the new support centre and ‘Waka’

“A heartfelt thank-you to all our Nauru users for embracing this new platform. Your open-mindedness and willingness to adapt will undoubtedly enhance the benefit you’re getting from the systems and help you serve your communities even better in the long run.” – A message from BES staff member Alex to training participants in Nauru.

The full roll-out of BES Support Centre services will expand to include other Pacific countries in early 2024, where BES products are used. Palau is next onboard in mid-February, 2024. 

Any country that has Tamanu v1.36.0 (or above) and ‘accidently or curiously’ clicks the ‘Support Centre’ button at the bottom left of Tamanu (when logged in) can raise a ticket as well!

The future is digital, and it’s in the Pacific!

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