It's time to admit it. The traditional playbook for diversity in clinical trials is broken. Why? It was built on a flawed premise: that a list of names from an underserved community was the same as having access to that community.
Organizations were chasing a vanity metric, a list of contacts, without building the trust required for real engagement. Indeed, this approach failed in the short term. But it also often went further, deepening the mistrust it was meant to overcome.
At Acclinate, we didn’t want to build a better version of a broken model. We chose to build a new one. This is the story of e-DICT™ and our move from passive databases to a dynamic engine for health equity.
Building an Engine, Not Just a Database
What's the difference between a database and an engine? A database is a static collection of information. An engine is a system designed to produce an outcome. The old way of thinking gave our partners a database. We wanted to give them an engine that would drive better decision-making with better insights.
e-DICT™ is that engine. Its fuel is the data from our NOWINCLUDED platform, and its entire purpose is to analyze and help guide community members through a journey. We track the progress from an initial connection (“accessed”) to active participation (“engaged”), and finally to taking a specific action (“mobilized”).
Our touch-and-tech strategy is the framework for this journey. Technology provides the insights, but our teams on the ground do the work of building human connection. This unified approach is a repeatable process for creating measurable impact.
The more e-DICT™ learns, the smarter it becomes. Each campaign, event, and conversation adds to the body of knowledge that helps partners understand why engagement happens—not just where. Over time, e-DICT™ builds a feedback loop between digital interaction and real-world behavior, allowing partners to tailor outreach with empathy, precision, and speed.
The Feature That Reveals the Mission
If you want to understand the soul of e-DICT™, look at our location data visualization. It isn't simply a map with dots, but a tool that provides clarity and drives action. Data without insight is noise, but the right visualization can show you where the real opportunity is.
One of our partners realized this recently. While looking at their project’s dashboard, they had a breakthrough moment. "I see a lot of engagement in New York," they said, "but that site isn't active yet. I’m going to call them right now and see how fast we can get them activated to capitalize on this."
This example highlights e-DICT™'s differentiator. Instead of asking people to overcome barriers to get to a trial site, our partners can see where the community is already active and bring the opportunities to them. The obstacle wasn't the community, but the lack of insight. We provided the tool that showed them the way.
This feature represents what we value most: visibility that empowers action. When leaders can see community potential, they start to reimagine their strategies. conversations move from “why aren’t people enrolling?” to “how can we meet them where they already are?”, that mindset shift is how systemic change begins.
Our Compass for Making Hard Decisions
Building a product that serves a mission means you’re constantly making tough calls. Do you release a feature that’s good enough for now, or do you hold out for the perfect version? Our guide for these decisions goes beyond our custom prioritization methods. It's "product sense."
Product sense is an internal compass. It’s an intuition built from a deep commitment to our mission and a clear understanding of the customer's needs. It allows us to navigate the tension between speed and perfection. It’s the discipline that ensures every update, no matter how small, is a step toward making our platform more effective and respectful for the communities we serve.
Every product team has metrics, but not every team has meaning. At Acclinate, meaning drives momentum. We measure progress not only by how fast we ship, but by how much closer each release brings us to equitable participation in healthcare research. That alignment between purpose and product is what keeps our compass true.
How Customer Feedback Sharpens Our Vision
A product roadmap should be a living document, not a stone tablet. Some of our most important innovations are the direct result of listening to our customers. Our referral features are a prime example. We learned from our partners that a seamless, timely follow-up on referrals was critical for building trust with community members.
We didn’t just add partner feedback to a backlog. We treated it as a catalyst. We iterated quickly, making the referral process stronger and more user-friendly. We reinforced the principle of the "warm handoff," ensuring that no one gets left behind when moving from our platform to a research site.
That mindset—listening, adapting, and improving—is what keeps e-DICT™ relevant. Each new feature reflects a partnership between our clients, our community, and our mission. We build technology, but what we’re really building is trust at scale.
e-DICT™ is more than a platform. It's our playbook for changing how healthcare organizations connect with hard to reach communities, one trusted relationship at a time.
Ready to see how e-DICT™ can help you build stronger community relationships? Schedule a 1:1 with our team.
