Interview with David Gràcia, Corporate CIO Eugin Group

Position and company: Corporate CIO Eugin Group
Date of birth: 3/21/1972
Marital status Married. Children: two
Sports practiced: running, mountain biking and skiing
Hobbies: sports, traveling and a good meal in good company
Studies: Computer Engineer and Executive MBA from ESADE
Dependents: 15
Seniority in the company: 5 years
Previous works: KPMG, Miguel Torres, Inibsa Laboratories

Interview with David Gràcia, Corporate CIO Eugin Group

What does the main part of the company’s IT budget go to?

Eugin Group is one of the main assisted reproduction groups in the world, with more than 40 fertility clinics in 10 different countries and where most of these clinics come from a process of acquisition and incorporation into the group in the last 3 years.

That is why a few years ago, when I joined the company, we began a strategic IT process to define what we wanted our Digital Roadmap to be, and from which a project to implement our INTEGRA platform was born. to cover the integration and digital transformation of the group. The implementation of INTEGRA that was carried out and the subsequent deployment to the different countries that we are carrying out, are the most important items in our budget.

In which area is the most being invested this year?

In addition to INTEGRA, and although it may not be the most important in absolute values, I would highlight, due to its increase and importance, everything related to Cybersecurity items, to which we are giving a lot of importance.

Which project are you most satisfied with?

Without a doubt our INTEGRA project, which was born to transform and optimize the organization and business processes, improving integration between clinics, capturing efficiencies, managing data and improving the patient and employee experience.

INTEGRA’s scope of implementation represents an innovative initiative in the Fertility industry to launch an end-to-end platform, based on SAP solutions, and including the Healthcare vertical, a Patient Portal, mobility for physicians, or integrated digital signature among others, and which was awarded at the SAP Quality Awards 2020 in the Business Transformation category.

If all the benefits of the company were put in charge of the IT department, what would you like to implement?

Related to the improvement of the Patient Experience, and linked to our Patient Portal and digital approach to it during treatment, have we ever thought of some kind of virtual assistant that accompanies you during the process, why not in a humanoid robot format with artificial intelligence…

Is security an issue?

I believe that we should not see security as a problem, it is obviously a threat and we must work to be prepared since cyber attacks cannot be avoided, but their impact on the business or response capacity can be controlled.

In this sense, and no matter how much is invested in technology, the weakest link in cybersecurity continues to be people, which is why raising awareness and involving the entire organization in the importance and alertness is essential.

Can you work from home?

Yes and no, obviously for certain profiles, because of their type of work, not because there is a physical part, such as a doctor in an operating room with a patient, but of course it is possible for countless positions, including the same doctor for a follow-up visit with the patient that we carry out online.

Even so, and although there are positions that could work completely remotely, I am in favor of mixed models, where face-to-face has a higher weight to favor cohesion and engagement with the area and the company.

What main trends do you observe in the ICT world?

First of all, everything that has to do with Data Orientationto better understand and be able to establish predictive models that favor decision-making, but also to change or improve the processes, products or business models of our organizations.

Second, the Customer Experiencein its maximum expression, how we are able to improve our product or service throughout the value chain to be different from our competition.

And finally, everything related to the cybersecurityand how we are able to protect our organizations against current threats.

Under no circumstances on your mobile can you miss…

News App, Spotify, Email, WhatsApp and lately a big fan of taking notes with OneNote from the mobile anywhere and having them synchronized on the PC later.

What is the tool that really changed your life?

I would say the Smartphone concept, the combination of mobile with internet and computing capacity, which allows us to have in the palm of our hand, and anywhere, the ability to handle practically all our professional and personal tasks and information.

Tired of solving the technological problems of family and friends? What do they usually ask for?

The truth is that yes, I must admit that I am a little tired of being the family helpdesk, perhaps that is why I have earned the “what is the point of being a computer scientist if you don’t fix my computer?”…

Do you have a social media account? In which ones?

Although I have the usual ones, I only really use Linkedin for professional matters and Instagram for personal matters.

What is this digital transformation? Slogan or need?

Although there is also some slogan, it is undoubtedly a necessity for companies to address their digital transformation process.

This process must be analyzed in a holistic way for the entire organization, since it changes the relationship with customers, suppliers, collaborators and products or services that it markets to be more agile and competitive in this increasingly changing environment that we live in.

Is the R+D+i thing an urban legend?

More than an urban legend, I think it is something that perhaps depends on the sector and degree of maturity of the company. In our case, we attach great importance to it, it is an area with participation in the steering committee and that has a relevant role in the research and development of improvements for our fertility treatments that result in a benefit for our patients through the products and/or services we offer them.

In the cloud or on-premise?

I would say that I am quite “cloud” and our model reflects this, since we have most of our applications and infrastructures in the cloud, and although some applications are on-premise, in the end we have them in cloud infrastructure.

This strategy is given by the accelerated and dispersed business growth model that we have, since it allows us to deploy and manage applications or infrastructures in a more agile, flexible and global way.

Is the lack of technological knowledge of customers and employees the main challenge?

I believe that it is necessary to differentiate between the use of technology to which employees and clients are increasingly accustomed, and that of knowledge of technology, such as programming logic, security or data protection, that the gap is greater, and that, although in a basic way, some transversal subjects should probably be taught in university careers as is done with mathematics for example

Does the AI ​​select the birth of a baby?

In our case, and thanks to the effort made in our INTEGRA project in structuring and capturing treatment data, we are already making several prototypes with AI or Machine Learning to match the patient-donor, help the embryologist to select the best embryo, or give success rates personalized to the patient

What will a robot never have compared to a human being?

From my point of view they can never have emotions or feelings similar to humans, we could say that a robot will never have a soul.

In an AI, which part would be the sperm and which would be the egg?

Well, I would never have considered it that way, it could become both, on the one hand, the sperm looking for the fastest way to win the race against its competitors, and on the other hand, the egg making an evaluation of the best candidate among the sperm that arrive to facilitate access…