Daniel Graf On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level

Customer experience. By recognizing a pain point, either personally or through customer feedback, business leaders have the framework for a potential tech-enabled solution. Uber is an excellent example of this. Getting a ride and paying for it via a smartphone is far easier for the consumer. Start by asking yourself, “How I can make what I’m offering more accessible for the end-user?”.

As part of our series about “How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Graf.

Daniel Graf is an entrepreneurial technology leader with over 25 years of experience bringing high-impact and innovative products to market. He’s worked for companies such as Uber, Twitter, Google, and now DispatchHealth; Daniel has a keen understanding of how products can transform industries.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I credit my fascination with tech, at least in part, to my Amiga 500 computer. Like many teens in the nineties, computers allowed me to dream big, and I took full advantage.

In 1998, I moved to New York to complete my Master of Science in Computer and System Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. If you’re not familiar, Rensselaer is a private research university established in 1824 for the “application of science to the common purposes of life.” It’s the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere, and many departments of applied sciences in the United States modeled programs after Rensselaer. It was a wonderful place to be and further stoked my fire for mastering technology enablement.

My first job out of graduate school was as a chief software engineer at an exciting new consumer electronic startup, ReQuest Multimedia. We created the world’s first MP3 hard-disk jukebox, kind of a predecessor to Apple’s iPod. My team and I got it done at record speed, only 11 months from product idea to market, which was extremely exciting and unprecedented.

Then, in 2001, the software engineering team I assembled at ReQuest joined me at Phillips Consumer Electronics. Together, we developed several first-of-their-kind innovations, such as the first internet audio stereo system and the first wireless home entertainment system with Internet video services.

Four years later, our innovations were mature enough to be handed over to the company’s mainstream organization. Software architect Erik Abair and I decided it was time to make a move to Silicon Valley. Together we launched our own tech startup, Kyte — an online, mobile, and social video platform for live and on-demand content. The Kyte Platform enables media companies, brands, and organizations to engage audiences through 360-degree social video experiences. We eventually had offices in New York, London, Hamburg, and Zurich. Customers include ABC, Armani Exchange, Clear Channel, ESPN, Fox News, HomeAway, MTV, Monster Energy, NATO, NBA Digital, Nokia, Tyra Banks, and many others. Over five years, Kyte became a leading video platform for live and on-demand content. IP Video leader KIT Digital acquired it in 2011.

A decade into my career, and now well-established in the industry, I started getting opportunities to work on projects with the potential to transform industries and significantly impact the consumer mindset — I’m talking Uber, Twitter, Google. As vice president of product at Uber, I led a cross-functional team of over 1,000 people. We drove the company success by engineering the right technology and products to set the best customer experience in an emerging industry. Before Uber, my team (several of whom worked with me previously) built two of the most successful and universal consumer technology products in history, Google Maps and Local Search at Google.

Tech is my passion, and I’m a serial entrepreneur with an addiction to startups. I love creating solutions the make life easier — more effective and efficient. It’s gratifying to recognize a problem, dream of the perfect solution, and then make it happen. And even more rewarding is when you see that solution impacting the greater good: it’s meaningful work, and I can’t see myself doing anything else.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons you learned from that?

One mistake that was not funny at the time, but that I can laugh about now, happened at ReQuest — my first big post-grad job where we built the predecessor to the iPod. I mentioned previously; we made our device in record speed, just 11 months. Our mistake was that we did not test it in the real world initially, which caused a colossal panic one week before launch. Proud of our device, which worked like a dream in the lab, we brought it to someone’s home and hooked it up to their entertainment system — we were about to show off our revolutionary design. However, their remote was not compatible, and it screwed up the system! We, of course, managed to recover, and ReQuest is alive and thriving today, but that experience taught me never to depend on how situations worked out in a lab. Test everything in the real world before calling it final.

No one can achieve success without some help along the way. Can you share a story of a particular person that you’re grateful towards, who helped get you to where you are?

Yes, my good friend and software architect Erik Abair who I previously mentioned. Erik is one of the best in the business. We met at Rensselaer; Erik is incredibly bright, one of those tech geniuses you hear about who ends up being more intelligent and advanced than any of their college professors. I hired Erik as a software developer at ReQuest when he was around 18. From there, Erik joined me at Phillips, and then we co-founded Kyte. And you won’t be surprised to hear he worked with me at Google, health-tech start-up Mindstrong, and is now a consultant at DispatchHealth. In the tech industry, particularly when you’re an entrepreneur and working on innovative technology, it can get lonely, and you need an excellent sounding board: for me, that would be Erik.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

“The Algebra of Happiness” by Scott Galloway is one book that’s made an impact on me recently. If you’re not familiar with Galloway, he teaches brand strategy at NYU’s Stern School of Business and hosts a great podcast together with Kara Swisher called Pivot. As I understand it, his most popular lessons are those that deal with life strategy. It’s a funny book while offering thought-provoking and moving commentary at the same time. His statement, “Holding the hand of a child feels always perfect,” sticks with me!

Working in the tech startup space is fast-paced. I liken it to a hamster wheel. The faster you go, the quicker that wheel turns, which makes jumping off difficult. Finding those opportunities to pause, step back and reflect on your blessings is how you avoid letting the wheel’s speed get out of control — Galloway’s book offers ways to do that.

There are two additional podcasts I’m listening to which sum me up pretty perfectly when it comes to business.

1. “All-In” with Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg. They talk all things economic, tech, political, social, and poker.
2. “SmartLess” with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett is my fun escape. It’s hilarious and takes no brain power to enjoy, which makes it a good stress reliever. In each episode, the hosts bring a mystery guest, which sets the stage for genuine, improvised, authentic conversation. It’s fun and a must-listen, especially for those of us who work in fast-paced environments.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose-driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?

In the United States, our healthcare system is spending an unsustainable four trillion dollars (17% GDP) annually. Research and experience show that roughly $340 billion of our annual spend qualifies for care in the home, where costs are 20% to 40% lower on average.

Imagine the ability to use those dollars for issues like homelessness, hunger, and education. The DispatchHealth founders, Dr. Mark Prather and Kevin Riddleberger, have an infectious commitment to humanizing healthcare, and it runs through the halls of DispatchHealth. When they started the company back in 2013, their purpose was bold and straightforward — to reduce the total cost of care, improve clinical outcomes, and elevate patient and provider satisfaction by moving qualified hospital-level care into the home.

Fast-forward eight years, and today DispatchHealth is recognized as the pioneers of in-home care. At our current growth rate, we’ll generate more than $2 billion in medical cost savings by 2023 — that’s amazing! And, they’ve hit patient experience out of the park with unprecedented satisfaction scores, which routinely come in at 20 points above the industry average for healthcare, hospitals, and care institutions. When you cut costs so dramatically, typically you see customer satisfaction dip too; incredibly, DispatchHealth has been able to save billions while at the same time providing better care with higher satisfaction. That alone is an excellent example of how purpose generates success!

Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? Do they also have potential to help people?

I joined DispatchHealth in 2021 to build upon their early success and ingenious clinical operations, to add extra tech-enabled fuel! I always say, “Tech is an early enabler that turns into an accelerator over time.” We are in the accelerator phase right now, which is extremely exciting! Early innovations for the company include a moderately complex lab, portable ultrasound, and in-home imaging, all sized and packaged to bring to the bedside for testing that immediately directs and impacts the plan of care. Now that those processes are soundly in place, we can take that digital transformation step and design technology to accelerate delivery: we’re talking about strategies for an even smoother, more seamless patient experience, and the logistics of managing teams in the field and getting teams where they need to be, with proper connectivity.

One project is a new connectivity hub that we’ll be sending into the field with care teams. We’re all familiar with wireless hot spots; sometimes, you lose connectivity — we need solid coverage regardless of where our teams are caring for patients. Our new connectivity hubs will include ruggedized, GPS-enabled mobile routers and enterprise-class security to stay connected, irrespective of where we are in the community. Connectivity will be crucial as we move into more rural communities where wireless signals are harder to come by. How does this help people? We have a public health crisis in rural America: there are not enough doctors to staff these smaller communities, and rural hospitals and health clinics struggle with profitability, leading many to close. By most measures, the health of those living in rural areas is declining. Mortality rates for the five leading causes of death — heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke — are all higher, and the gap is growing. By miniaturizing tools and technology for more accessible transport and designing strategies for better connectivity, we’ll be able to create lower-cost solutions for getting care into areas of our country that have traditionally struggled.

Thank you for sharing such a fascinating back-story! Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion: digital transformation. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what that phrase means? On a practical level, what does it look like to engage in a digital transformation?

When you engage in digital transformation, you replace a typically outdated way of doing things with technology that improves, streamlines, or advances efforts. Why is it so important? Embracing technology can improve processes, businesses, and even industries, catalyzing increased efficiency, which typically means better value. The smoother, more efficient workflow also elevates the experience for customers and associates — everyone loves it when things run faster, more efficiently, and at a better cost. As one example, McDonald’s has started replacing the traditional cashier with kiosks, where orders are input by customers themselves. It’s a more streamlined process that puts the consumer in the driver’s seat and gets them what they want more quickly. And considering how understaffed food service is currently, having one fewer task is certainly appreciated among staff and owners alike. In healthcare, almost everything that we’re doing digitally today was previously a manual process. In 20 years, it’s safe to assume we’ll see even more digital transformation — maybe we’ll get to the point where a single body scan can detect disease before it even starts to take hold.

Which companies can most benefit from a digital transformation?

Almost any industry can benefit from digital transformation. Currently, we’re seeing significant leaps in both healthcare and education — pandemic-induced necessity has accelerated this. Overnight, children nationwide were thrust into attending school via Google classrooms, and according to the CDC, the first quarter of 2020 saw a 50% increase in telehealth visits compared with the same period in 2019. And the best part is that it worked!

The beautiful possibility of digital transformation is the ability to transform industries for the betterment of society. Uber, where I was vice president of product, is one example. Transportation networking companies like Uber and Lyft are among the top recent technological innovations; they’ve altered the industry with efficiency in operation and costs. And beyond the ease of catching a ride and the simplicity of finding work for drivers, the evolution of ridesharing has decreased drunk driving arrests and fatalities in several major cities across the county.

Good digital transformation among consumer-facing companies meets customers where they’re at and delivers that last mile of service — think amazon prime, doordash, the brilliant new options in entertainment that Apple TV and Netflix are offering. I would encourage anyone wondering if their organization could benefit from digital transformation to look at what efficiencies might alter customer experience. Ask yourself, “If only XYZ were possible, what would that mean?” And once you dream it, go out and see if there is a way to make it possible through digital transformation.

In your experience, how has digital transformation helped improve operations, processes, and customer experiences?

I mentioned two already in Uber and ReQuest — we impacted industries and changed consumer expectations with these life-simplifying innovations. For example, the pain point with traditional cabs, in most communities, was the ease of getting one. Uber solved that with its first-in-class app. And ReQuest started the movement that liberated us from the clunkiness of CDs and cassettes — now you could play your entire library of music effortlessly from anywhere. That’s customer experience through digital transformation.

We built Google Maps for Apple iOS from the ground up, which resulted in one of the most successful mobile app launches in history, with over 10 million downloads in 48 hours. My story about this experience is that Google teams worked on the Android version for seven years. When my team and I joined, iOS integration was still just an idea — we got a blank canvas with a request to make it happen. It sounds daunting, but we loved it, because starting from zero means you have the opportunity to step back and dream of possibilities.

The work I’ve done as CEO at Mindstrong and now as chief product officer at DispatchHealth are both new ballgames in terms of the personal reward factor. Now, it’s about more than simply delighting customers. Through better health, we’re changing the trajectory of people’s lives, which is magical! Similar to the rural healthcare crisis, one in five adults experience mental illness, and more than 60% of counties in our country don’t have a single practicing psychiatrist — this is a big problem that needs solving. So, we designed technology that passively measures the end user’s emotional wellbeing through a digital transformation that uses their cellphone activity as a diagnostic tool. Smartphone interactions provide data around mental acuity and emotional valence, which can signal when someone might be having problems. For DispatchHealth, my team and I will be building off the clinical transformations that have beautifully designed processes for bringing healthcare into the home; now, we will use digital transformation to take customer experience to the next level. One of the first things I did when I arrived at DispatchHealth earlier this year was to dive into patient stories. It’s magical to see what was once an idea come to fruition, especially when it’s making such an impact on the health and wellbeing of those in our community. My team and I will design technology to take the delivery of complex medical care in the home to a massive scale, while preserving the unprecedented customer experience DispatchHealth is currently known for — exciting stuff to come!

Has integrating digital transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?

Being the first to do anything comes with challenges; you have to be ready for that when you’re engaged in digital transformation. Beyond the complexities of design, you can’t overlook the people behind digital transformation — a quick scan of any of the 2017 Uber headlines will demonstrate how quickly good news can shift to bad news if you’re not mindful of company culture! Of course, the space is stressful, and tempers can flare based on tight deadlines and pressure to realize a dream. That said, it’s imperative never to get so caught up in what you’re building that you overlook the value of company culture!

DispatchHealth is an example of an organization that built a solid foundation with a vision of a welcoming workplace that champions diversity, equity, and inclusion among its highest priorities. In 2021, that vision was validated by its Great Places to Work certification — the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue, employee retention, and increased innovation. And then, most recently, Dr. Prather was named by the Denver Business Journal as one Colorado’s most-admired CEOs. Throughout my career, poor company culture has caused the most significant challenges and derailed the process of digital transformation the quickest. And typically, once a culture crisis occurs, it is tough to pull the train back on track — negative news overshadows all your good news and kills morale.

Based on your experience and success, what are “Five ways a company can use digital transformation to take it to the next level”? Please share a story or an example for each.

I’ll say that you don’t have to be a tech expert or even know the first thing about technology design to dream up digital transformation solutions for your organization successfully. All it takes is the awareness of a problem that needs solving, and you can take that problem to experts in the field who can design and drive the tech-enabled solution. The five areas where a company could start looking for opportunities include:

1. Quality. DispatchHealth co-founder Dr. Mark Prather started his career as an emergency room physician, an experience led to the realization that some of his patients left the hospital worse for wear. In search of a solution, research showed the home was a more conducive environment for healing. That realization set the course for tech-enabled clinical solutions that have resulted in a higher quality experience for his patients. I would dare any business leader desiring a higher-quality experience for their customers to think about tech-enabled possibilities.
2. Customer experience. By recognizing a pain point, either personally or through customer feedback, business leaders have the framework for a potential tech-enabled solution. Uber is an excellent example of this. Getting a ride and paying for it via a smartphone is far easier for the consumer. Start by asking yourself, “How I can make what I’m offering more accessible for the end-user?”.
3. Organizational efficiency or operations. Food service comes to mind here; pandemic-induced staff shortages have become significant. We talked about McDonald’s previously, but others are similarly turning to their apps for ordering and paying to solve workforce issues. Any business leader challenged with an operations issue impacting day-to-day efficiency could look for a tech-enabled solution.
4. Communications. Platforms like Slack are tech-enabled tools that aid more transparent and efficient communication benefit businesses immensely. Without quality communications, it’s challenging to move to the next level.
5. Economic advantages. Organizations in need of cutting costs without impacting quality or customer care could benefit from tech-enabled solutions. Back to Dr. Prather’s emergency room experience — it was there that he realized the need for an alternative place of care for a substantial number of patients who were utilizing expensive emergency room services but could qualify for treatment in another venue. His vision, matched with the necessary technology and clinical integration, enables DispatchHealth to care for qualified patients at home, saving billions of medical dollars while producing unprecedented patient satisfaction scores. Any business leader who finds themselves saying, “These costs are out of control,” should consider the potential of tech-enabled solution.

In your opinion, how can companies best create a “culture of innovation” to foster competitive advantages?

My answer will sound overly simplistic for a concept as big as creating a culture of innovation, but it’s not complicated. All that it takes is transparent communication, betting on big, bold bets, and fostering a culture of curiosity. For the big, bold bets, you must remember, every single one of them starts tiny, appears insignificant early on, but can become business-changing.

Finally, remote working is a necessity. Given the technologies we have at hand, e.g., Zoom, work can happen from anywhere in today’s world. Moreover, given the talent shortage, it is essential for many companies not to be geographically limited when it comes to tech talent. Why limit yourself? Maybe the best person for the job lives across the country. The pool of talent is limitless when embracing working remotely.

Can you share your favorite life lesson quote and how it was relevant in your life?

“There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way,” has always resonated. The point that holds true for me is if you only live for what’s to come in the future, you will never be happy — this is my daily reminder.

How can our readers further follow your work?

www.dispatchhealth.com

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Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!