myOneFlow's CEO, Shanthi Subramanyam was recently featured in Carnegie Mellon University's alumni spotlight for graduates of their Master of Software Engineering program. Shanthi discussed the inspiration behind starting Empyra and myOneFlow.
The following is an excerpt taken from the original article.
[Shanthi's] inspiration for starting her own company grew out of her own experiences — trying to find scholarships and spending time in doctor’s offices engaging in “dumb data collection” — and from a deep desire to “want to do something bigger to help others.” Over the years, she had witnessed “the disparity between those who have access, have education, have knowledge, how the privileged can connect to resources more easily. There are so many programs and resources designed for everyone, but not everyone can access the resources they need. The problem is about connecting those individuals to available resources. And, so many resources are duplicated and siloed in different government agencies.” She knew that there had to be a better way.
Soon after graduating from the MSE, Shanthi applied her interest in understanding, optimizing, and tracking business processes to her passion for economic empowerment, education, and human rights and founded Empyra.
“I enjoy listening to the customer outline their needs and then figuring out how to solve a customer’s problem. Building good software is not only about algorithms. It’s about realizing who the audience is and thinking about if the next step in the process is intuitive and realizing that different users have different perspectives.”
As Shanthi continued to work with government agencies and higher education that served the public, the goal of connecting people to the right resource at the right time took on a new dimension. She saw the need for a more holistic approach to human services, one that could help people access resources from multiple organizations without having to fill out the same forms over and over. This inspired the idea for an interorganizational network that would break down silos between service providers and make it easier for individuals to access multiple resources through a single, common intake form.
Shanthi combined this concept with her expertise in software processes to create myOneFlow, a configurable platform that uses automated workflows to help service providers more efficiently serve their clients and connect with partner organizations. Today, myOneFlow helps over a million people efficiently access the resources they need to meet their needs and goals – without redundant data collection.