We have had great success supporting our healthcare Industry clients
Big opportunities are available to those in the health care world. Some of the largest, are in taking rapidly converging technologies and blending them together in powerful ways to change everything from patient communication, diagnosis, research, and all aspects of wellness care. Often overlooked are less flashy areas where there is too much time and dollars spent way too inefficiently. It is not always the most obvious areas of inserting technology that may have the most impact.
At its basic core, the roles and abilities of the patient and the provider are rapidly shifting. The patient now feels like they can take charge of their own healthcare. They have access to more information and more doctors in order to gain the insights and feedback to improve their communication and the level of interaction. This big trend has been accelerating for years.
The consumerization of healthcare is here as smartphones and watches are now supercomputers with the ability to track sleep, monitor your heart and provide EKGs at a moments notice. Patients can get baseline genetics, manage their blood pressure, diabetes, or more complex challenges. Maybe the most exciting ability will be the impact of being able to be connected to healthcare social networks and directly to their healthcare provider.
As stated however, it may be the behind the scenes, less glamorous areas of healthcare which have the nearest term opportunities to be disrupted and improved through the use of technology. Improving the tools used for finance, administrative and operations have been on the march for years. These applications of technology are improving, converging, and becoming more mobile. Connecting the backend applications with consumer tools has almost unlimited potential.
The trend of connectivity is being led by the internet of things. Today we live in a world of cars that self-diagnose, refrigerators that tell us what we should buy, and the ability to control our house from anywhere on the planet. These supply chain technologies drive just in time information, the ability to know what you need to know, when you need to know it. The ability to know what you need when you need it. Inventory management has taken a dramatic shift in the past ten years and when applied to health care has created a whirl wind of activity to cut costs, improve capabilities, and provide better service.
If you combine the best technologies of supply chain with the shift in consumers and you get the eCommerce websites of today. The decline of the retail shop and the in-person seller continue the spiral of the physical sales industry. In its replace are the technologies that utilize graphics, logistic capabilities, and mobility and combine them with countless features like build your own, or easy return policies that create an experience beyond what could have been imagined just a few years back. This onward march of e-commerce has hit the healthcare world.
The tech giants like Apple, Google, IBM and Walmart all view healthcare as critical markets and are investing billions. However, it’s the startups and entrepreneurs that are bringing thought leadership to the eCommerce space. Companies like Suzzor and XXX are looking to reinvent elements of healthcare by providing new agile eCommerce marketplaces. These marketplaces use the latest technology to offer healthcare providers the same level of service, ease of use and flexibility that consumers have come to expect.
As health care becomes mobile, connected and digital it will manifest itself in better prevention, diagnosis, treatment and discovery. These trends are driving the movement towards these agile marketplaces. The need for better inventory management, less cost and on demand ordering of supplies is a logical component of the overall architecture of today’s hospital.
Today, in our just in time world, e-commerce healthcare sites are mobile and on all the time. This agility is in how they provide cloud based, friction-less ordering and transparency. They create the opportunity for the healthcare industry to take advantage of all the moving parts of technology. The potential is great. Just as eCommerce has empowered the individual, the same technologies can be empowering to the healthcare industry and to individual hospitals.