The case of Artexe SpA: “Let’s help healthcare improve”

The case of Artexe SpA is the classic example of how a trade association can become a development accelerator for small business in the province. Five years ago, at the headquarters of UNIVA (the Varese Union of Industrialists), a shareholding operation by Varese Investimenti, the holding company created in 2007 by UNIVA (60%) and Intesa San Paolo (40%), to support the growth of this small, innovative company, which was founded in Caronno Pertusella, and which, at that time, was still a limited liability company, specialised in reception services and queue management, was presented to the press.

On that occasion, the concept presented by Ruggero Di Maulo, the company’s founder and chairman, was very clear: it is technology that must give in to the people and not vice versa. The business idea of Artexe, namely, to prevent queues and to eliminate waiting times for healthcare services and state services in general, was, therefore, destined to be successful because, when we speak about healthcare, the times that patients have to wait to get treatment, become the indicator of good or poor healthcare.

In these five years, Artexe has received a number of acknowledgements, the latest of which was from Milan Polytechnic’s Digital Innovation Observatory in Healthcare, who awarded the Vàldes test laboratory in Cagliari, for the Zerocoda project developed in collaboration with Artexe. Thanks to a system managed on a cloud platform, it is possible to make bookings on the laboratory’s website, free of charge, choosing the precise time and date for the visit to the laboratory. On the same website, there is a list of about 700 tests, which can be booked and paid for (by credit card, or PayPal), allowing the user to go directly to the sample desk, on the day and time established. Moreover, it is also possible to book and pay online for a blood sample to be taken at home, thereby eliminating the time needed to go to the facility, the risks connected with it, and to protect disabled users. In the first three months of 2016, more than 500 bookings were made using the new system.

The time needed to assist clients who book on the Internet is 10 minutes, and the time to receive them has been eliminated, with a resulting reduction in the number of patients in the waiting room. This factor, together with the optimisation of resources and services at the desks, has led to a reduction in the reception time also for patients that come through the traditional channels – for whom times have gone from an average of 45 minutes, to an estimated time of 20 minutes.

“The involvement of Varese Investimenti in the capital,” Di Maulo explained, “was decisive because it allowed us to develop our business in a coherent way, and established our image, particularly with the banks, which is essential for anyone who works in the healthcare sector and with the public administration, who often struggles with problems of payments and of credit discount. Having an experienced person on the board has helped us a lot: we are forced to report better, to keep the numbers regularly under control, to take stock of the situation, because in a state system, it’s difficult to make predictions because a lot of things do not depend on you but on external variables.”

This private equity should end in two years, leaving the company in excellent health. Indeed, over the last few years, Artexe has supplied over 300 systems, serving 15 million Italians, has almost doubled its number of employees, from 13 to 25, and increased its turnover, from €1,650,000, in 2012, to €2,500,000, in 2015, with an EBITDA (gross operating margin, ed.) that has increased by 67%. “Over these years,” Di Maulo said, “we’ve supported growth with investments in development research, which, in the last year, amounted to €325,000, more than 12% of the turnover. Now, it’s time to consider foreign markets.”