The following is an excerpt from the DFAT India Economic Strategy by Mr Peter N Varghese AO

CASE STUDY:

Synapse: A successful model of integrated service delivery for Australia and India

Australian company Synapse Medical Services has found an opportunity to provide Australian hospitals and clinics with the services they need, making the most of what workers in both countries can offer.

Synapse provides administrative support for clinical services in Australia, with an integrated delivery centre for medical billing, clinical coding and transcriptions in India. Synapse set up an office in the southern Indian city of Chennai four years ago and now employs 100 people. It has developed Australia’s first medical billing app, to save time and reduce costs associated with clinical service delivery.

Synapse services help improve the efficiency and productivity of their Australian clients. Australian staff work at the customer interface; Synapse India works at the data interface.

Having a service centre in India has boosted the company’s capacity and capability to deliver services and has led to new contracts in India and overseas.

Synapse has also identified expectations and protocols of Indian business culture and sought to work within them. Margaret Faux, Synapse Medical’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, visited Chennai as a backpacking teenager and formed an attachment to the city. Years later, when she was looking to establish her business in India, Chennai was the obvious choice, not only because of her familiarity with the city but because she was able to tap into a skilled workforce and the relative ease of doing business. She cites forming personal relationships with staff and clients and having close communication between Synapse’s Australian and Indian offices, as central to the company’s success.

“Now that India has committed to Universal Health Coverage, there are real opportunities to engage, but very few Australians are in the race. I think they are missing out.”

To read the full India Economic Strategy to 2035 click here.

Pictured: Margaret Faux with Harinder Sidhu, Australian High Commssioner to India, at the official opening of the Synapse office in India.