Brilliant Perspectives: How Alcon’s Adi Digital Ecosystem is Meeting the Needs of Customers Today and in the Future

At Alcon, our purpose to help people see brilliantly goes beyond surgical products. Adi is Alcon’s digital ecosystem designed to help surgeons and their staff plan cataract surgeries, improve workflow efficiency, optimize schedules, seamlessly integrate inventory management, and connect data from the clinic and operating room (OR).¹

Part of the Alcon Vision Suite, Adi was recognized with a 2026 MedTech Breakthrough Award. In this conversation, Brian Faz, Vice President of Digital Health at Alcon, sits down with members of the Adi leadership team, Roshni Bhagalia, Vice President, Adi; Brant Gillen, Senior Director, Data and Analytics; and Sebastian Shahfari Ibler, Senior Director, UX and UI Design, to discuss how the platform is designed to meet the evolving needs of Eye Care Professionals (ECPs) today and in the future.

Brian: Why did Alcon introduce Adi? What was the initial inspiration?

Roshni: Alcon introduced Adi to connect and streamline clinical and operational workflows in surgical eye care. While diagnostic and surgical techniques and devices have advanced significantly, workflows within practices have remained fragmented and manual. Data silos can introduce errors and further complicate care delivery.^{2-4, *} For many ECPs this creates inefficiencies in clinical decision support, clinic-to-OR coordination, surgery day planning and inventory management, all of which pull focus away from patient care.⁴

Adi was developed to unify data and workflows to create a more cohesive Alcon ecosystem for surgical eye care. By acting as a connective layer across the Alcon Vision Suite, Adi helps improve clinical and operational efficiency, as well as visibility and coordination across the clinic and the OR.¹

Sebastian: Adi’s user experience (UX) was designed specifically for surgeons and their practices, because technology alone is not enough. You can have the most advanced clinical solution in the world, but if users do not understand how to use it—or if it disrupts their workflow—it will not be adopted. At the end of the day, ophthalmologists need easy-to-use digital solutions that simplify the complexities of running their practices.²

Brian: What roles do each of your teams play in the evolution of Adi?

Brant: My team focuses on the data and AI layer. Essentially, we determine how Alcon captures and activates meaningful data from our devices and digital modules. By bringing that data together, we empower physicians to make more informed decisions and uncover opportunities to improve practice efficiency.^2-4,*

Sebastian: We focus on UX and user interface (UI). Our goal is to make complex systems more intuitive for practices. We spend time inside practices, observing workflows, listening to staff, and understanding pain points from the user's perspective. From there, we translate those insights into simple, effective user flows that align with how our customers actually work. Ultimately, our role is to remove friction from clinic and surgery center processes to ensure Adi feels natural and intuitive, with scheduling, planning, inventory, and ordering seamlessly working together, so customers have what they need when they need it.¹

Roshni: The Adi team leads the strategy, development and delivery of next-generation digital products, enabling seamless surgical eye care experiences for patients, providers and practices. Adi products aim to transform eye care by connecting disparate systems (e.g., devices, Electronic Health Records, etc.), removing data silos, surfacing AI-enabled insights for users and aggregating data at appropriate points in the surgical journey. Adi is built as a cloud-first platform, allowing us to deploy scalable digital solutions with a strong emphasis on privacy and security.⁵ The first operational efficiency Adi modules are commercially available now. Later this year, the team is bringing a new solution to market that will streamline cataract surgery planning: Adi Planner.¹

Brian: What sets Adi apart from other digital platforms in the industry?

Roshni: A key differentiator for Adi is its ability to connect clinical and operational workflows across surgical eye care. This allows clinics and surgery centers connected via Adi to easily share information and leverage insights from pre-op, inter-op and post-op data for use across the continuum of surgical eye care.¹ Highlights include the ability to send clinical decisions (e.g., lens selection) and scheduling data to the OR, and to leverage inter-op data (e.g., final lens implanted) and post-op results back in the clinic. To maintain data integrity, Adi is built with strong data privacy and security standards across every module. Furthermore, because documentation plays such a critical role in surgical workflows, we have built our systems to capture that relevant information cleanly and consistently across key provider-practice-patient touchpoints, reducing the likelihood of negative outcomes caused by data outliers.⁵

Sebastian: Building on that, another key advantage of our modular approach is that we can activate only the modules a customer needs. If a practice wants just specific digital solutions like Adi Inventory and not Adi Clinic, we can easily configure their deployment with that kind of flexibility—without requiring a full-system rollout.⁵ From a design standpoint, modularity can introduce complexity, so we have invested heavily in building a consistent design language. The digital experience should feel familiar, whether you are using Adi Inventory or Adi Store. We want users to feel like they are working within one integrated Alcon experience—not bouncing between separate tools.¹

Brian: As the leader in eye care, Alcon has access to a significant amount of data. How did Alcon leverage that advantage when building Adi?

Brant: As the market leader in eye care, Alcon is present at multiple points across the clinical journey, enabling the ability to connect data across the care continuum. Now, with that data and AI working together, Adi becomes a tool that helps inform decisions related to patient care.⁵ This allows us to build connected digital ecosystems that can support better decision-making. With Adi, we can connect and activate that data to help physicians better understand their patients from the start of their journey and deliver more personalized, efficient care.^1,5

Brian: To close out our conversation, can you each share your vision for Adi five years from now?

Sebastian: In five years, I see Adi becoming so seamlessly embedded into the surgical experience that people will not think of it as a separate “Alcon technology.”

Brant: My vision is for Adi to be a core part of everyday workflows across surgical practices, helping to inform smarter decisions and streamline operations, both of which play a role in how care is delivered to patients.⁷ It should feel like a trusted partner that physicians rely on to support both clinical and operational success.

Roshni: Adi is designed for full integration across Alcon’s surgical and diagnostic device portfolio, with global deployment underway across clinics and surgical centers.⁵ We will continue leveraging the power of AI and machine learning to simplify the digital experience—so our customers can focus less on navigating systems and more on delivering exceptional care.⁴

Brian: Thank you all for this thoughtful discussion. For me, Alcon’s future of delivering complete, connected care is bright. Five years from now, I see Adi becoming the essential engine behind ophthalmic practices; intuitive and integral to impactful patient care. As it grows, Adi will deepen its integration across Alcon’s digital and device ecosystem, using intelligence and automation to simplify complex tasks and let clinicians focus on what matters most: patient care.^4,5,7,**

“Adi is built as a cloud-first platform, allowing us to deploy scalable digital solutions with a strong emphasis on privacy and security.⁵” - Roshni Bhagalia, Vice President, Adi⁵

“By bringing that data together, we empower physicians to make more informed decisions and uncover opportunities to improve practice efficiency.^2-4” - Brant Gillen, Senior Director, Data and Analytics

“The digital experience should feel familiar, whether you are using Adi Inventory or Adi Store. We want users to feel like they are working within one integrated Alcon experience — not bouncing between separate tools.¹” - Sebastian Shahfari-Ibler, Senior Director, UX and UI Design

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* Based on a time-and-motion study and a modified Delphi consensus study involving 12 cataract experts
** When using a digital, connected surgical planning system.

References

1. Alcon Data on File, 2025. REF-28521.
2. Davidson J, Ainslie-Garcia M, et al. Unmet Needs Associated with Disconnected Ophthalmic Equipment, and Considerations for Integration: A Modified Delphi Study. (Eversana Life Science Services, ed.). Alcon Laboratories, Inc.; 2025.‌
3. Pan, Li-Chen et al. EE483 Efficiency Benefits and Practice Value of Alcon's Digital Cataract Surgery Planning System Value in Health, Volume 28, Issue 6, S151.
4. Zavodni Z, Pan LC, Mok K, et al. End-to-End Impact of a Cloud-Based Surgical Planning System on Efficiency in Cataract Surgery: A Time-and-Motion Study. Clin Ophthalmol. 2023 Jul 3;17:1885-1896. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S392669. PMID: 37425026; PMCID: PMC10327899.
5. Alcon Data on File, 2026. REF-29126.
6. Kruse CS, Ehrbar N. Effects of Computerized Decision Support Systems on Practitioner Performance and Patient Outcomes: Systematic Review. JMIR Med Inform. 2020;8(8):e17283. Published 2020 Aug 11. doi:10.2196/17283.
7. Jennings E, Hall B. A Retrospective Study of Visual Outcomes When Using a Cloud-Based Surgical Planning Platform and the Barrett Universal II Formula. Clin Ophthalmol. 2024 Sep 17;18:2605-2609. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S481797. PMID: 39309686; PMCID: PMC11416102.

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