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Author Archives: CIO/COO

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About CIO/COO

Senior Executive with more than 18 years’ diverse experience across FMCG, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, regulation and pharmaceutical industries within public companies, private sector, government and non-profit organisations.

Digital Trends & Digital Leadership

22 Jul

What are the key digital trends of 2019, and what are the key traits of successful “digital leaders”?

  1. Digital Trends

Research recently released by Harvey Nash/KPMG, Info-Tech, Gartner and Deloitte have highlighted a mostly shared view of of current and future technology focused trends. The research demonstrates that organisations are changing their product/service offerings or business models in a fundamental way, predominantly driven by digital disruption and the need to get closer to the consumer. 

The combined research demonstrated an increased investment in cyber security, data analytics, AI/automation and transformation. Organisations not investing in AI and automation can expect, over time, for their cost base to be relatively higher than their AI-investing competitors.

The combined summarised view of digital trends is shown in the table below:

Digital trends where 2 or more trends were featured across the four sources

Digital transformation is becoming business as usual as enterprises look to stay ahead of the game. It has been recognized that digital transformation should and can be handled within existing budgets and without extra investment. 

Digital transformations should be business led rather than IT led, to ensure business leaders are fully engaged with how their operations should be optimized for automation and digital change.

2. Digital Leadership

Leading organisations who demonstrate strong digital leadership experience improved time to market, superior customer experience and high operational efficiency. As a result, both revenue growth and profitability are higher too. Today, there is no longer business strategy and technology strategy. There is just strategy, and technology is driving it.

Digital leaders, as opposed to the Digital Management mainstream, have several traits that set them and their organisations apart from the rest. Digital Leaders distinguish themselves as being more outward-looking, using technology as a means of breaking into new markets, engaging with customers and gaining market share. They also tend to have different operating models that focus on the business owning and leading aspects of technology delivery in collaboration with IT.

Digital leaders:

  • Implement new technologies end-to-end across functions and geographies and change the ways of working to maximise value from technology. They use cross-functional teams (IT and business staff) and ensure business leaders work collaboratively to deliver technology change
  • Report business outcome-based metrics for technology projects, and scale up projects quickly if the project is successful or stop quickly if it isn’t.
  • Integrate core business systems with newer digital solutions and bring a long-term ‘product’ rather than a short-term ‘project’ mindset to technology implementation. They employ automation in software development and maintenance, and use methodologies such as agile and DevOps to speed up project delivery
  • Ensure that non-IT staff have the right technology skills, and use both internal and external resources to access the right skills
  • Maximise value from the data they hold and maintain an enterprise-wide data management strategy
  • Identify and manage the key security and privacy issues across technology development and operations, and build customer trust through the service delivered to customers and end user

In essence, digital leadership is about prioritizing value creation over efficiency generation, with a focus on speed and agility. The role is that of influence and partnering with the business rather than about control.

According to Harvey Nash / KPMG, the top 5 Board Priorities for digital leaders are:

  1. Developing innovative new products and services
  2. Delivering consistent and stable IT performance to the business
  3. Enhancing the customer experience
  4. Improving business processes
  5. Increasing operational efficiencies
 
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Posted by on July 22, 2019 in customer experience, digital, innovation, Leadership, strategy, technology, trends

 

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Customer Experience & Technology

11 Mar
Customer Experience & Technology

Every organisation has a different array of stakeholders, whether it be customers, staff, consumers, suppliers, the Board, shareholders, clients or owners.  Each of these stakeholders have different needs and expectations. For example, customers may want great service or excellent value, staff may want certainty and to be paid well for what they do, and shareholders may seek a solid return on their investment.  As professionals, we are there to help balance the needs of these stakeholder groups. At the end of the day, none of these groups would exist without the need for the service or product in the first place, and no business would survive without these consumers paying for (or being funded for) these products and services.

So, why would consumers spend money with your organisation, and keep on coming back?

Customer Experience

Happy customers receive a perceived value or benefit from purchasing a product or service. A core component of receiving value and benefits is through having a positive customer experience.

Positive customer experiences drive positive emotions, brand loyalty and referrals. For companies it is also shown to increase stock prices.  You enable trust in your brand by providing products and services which are timely, consistent, easy/simple, are of great value and meet needs of customers. Customer intimacy is also an important sustainable differentiator.

Two thirds of companies now compete on the basis of customer experience (and that figure is projected to increase).

So, how do we improve customer experience?

There are many ways to improve customer experience, some of which involve technology, all of which involve process change, people and leadership.

Technology is a significant enabler of customer experience but is certainly not the magic pill to address all customer experience challenges. For the perspective of the IT department and IT leader there is a need to reprioritise technology projects towards those that are geared towards providing better customer experiences. The technology department must work very closely with other areas of the organisation (such as HR, Marketing, PMO, etc) to make this happen and to ensure alignment of change.

The Approach

I believe the best approach is simply talk with people. Talk and (more importantly) listen to as many stakeholders as possible to find out what they do, how they do it, and what their challenges and pain points are.

Synthesize this information, along with research, experience and best practice to devise a plan, ensuring that the end goals and objectives were well defined and aligned to Corporate Strategy.

This should be broken into phases and prioritised based on costs, value for money, effort, complexity and risk.

In Summary

  • Identify the end goals & objectives. What are the problems you are trying to solve?
  • Liaise with key internal and external stakeholders
  • Develop a plan (aligned with corporate strategy) that includes:
    • An integrated approach to encompass people, process and technology
    • Customer experience (mostly external) and operational excellence (mostly internal)
    • Prioritisation of initiatives based on value, cost, risk, complexity, effort.
    • Identify low hanging fruit, quick wins, etc. Celebrate the wins. Be agile. Fail/learn fast.
  • Leadership, leadership, leadership (plus teamwork and accountability)
  • “Sell” the plan. It’s all about the people. Communicate as one with simplicity and meaning.
  • Change management. Answer the “what’s in it for me” question to improve change acceptance
  • Measure benefits and success. Reassess the plan and priorities regularly.

“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to“

Richard Branson
 
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Posted by on March 11, 2019 in customer experience, digital, strategy, technology, Uncategorized

 

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2017 Strategy Considerations

15 Dec
2017 Strategy Considerations

 

This post explores some key innovations and technologies that are worthy of consideration for strategy planning in 2017 and beyond. Whilst each of the technology innovations are at different stages of maturity, hype and utilisation in the market, each should be considered for their potential uses and applicability as part of blue-sky innovation and strategic planning processes.

 

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning include systems that appear to learn, understand, predict and operate with minimal (or no) human guidance. These characteristics make machines appear intelligent. Smart machines intelligent applications can change their future behaviour through learning. Real world examples include robots, autonomous vehicles, drones and virtual personal assistants, intelligent sensors, smart appliances and smart tools (such as a digital stethoscope).

 

The New “Realities” – Virtual and Augmented

Virtual reality (VR) is essentially technology that generates a virtual environment, and simulates a user’s physical presence in this environment through interaction. The virtual environment is separate from the real-world environment, and headwear is typically used to shut-out the immediate surroundings from the virtual world. In a work environment VR can be very beneficial for training, where staff can develop skills in the virtual world without the real-world consequences of failing.

Augmented reality (AR) overlays virtual objects with the environment around you. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it. The most well-known real-world example is Pokomon Go. Other examples include the Topshop AR dressing rooms which allows shoppers to virtually try on new clothes. There is also the Shisedio makeup mirror, the IKEA AR catalogue (to visualise how various furniture would look inside your home) and the IBM shopping app, which provides personalised information whilst browsing the shelves.

 

Mobile Wallet

The use of mobile wallets is continuing to go mainstream, and fully integrated mobile wallets are starting to become a reality. Mobile wallets store payment credentials to enable users to authenticate themselves and/or make transactions from a mobile device. The credentials can be payment-related, such as a bank card, bank account or prepaid card, or non-payment-related, such as a loyalty card or mileage card. There are also closed wallets that allow use at specific merchants and open wallets that allow use at many other merchants. Businesses, retailers and organisations need to embrace this change, and identify the opportunities and risks of the technology.

 

Natural Language Question Answering

Natural-language question answering (NLQA) technology is a type of natural-language processing technology, composed of applications that provide users with a means of asking a question in plain language. A computer or service can answer it meaningfully, while maintaining the flow of interaction.

Unlike information retrieval systems such as search engines, NLQA aims to supply users with “just the right information” instead of merely providing a list of hits. NLQA technology is improving at a rapid pace. Current day examples include SIRI, Cortana and GoogleNow, however they are more like voice assistants and text analysers than true NLQA systems. Future uses in business include the use of NLQA in answering customer queries, contact centre applications and staff training.

 

Analytics

Analytics comes in many variants. Some examples are predictive, prescriptive, real-time, graph, personal and embedded analytics. It is no secret that the use of analytics and business intelligence in helping make and shape business decisions is critical for all organisations. Analytics can be used to transition organisations from a reactive to a proactive mode of operations and must be considered a core enabler of strategic and operational development.

 

Geospatial and location intelligence

Geospatial and location intelligence (GLI) includes applications, infrastructure and tools that enable access to, and utilisation of, geospatial and location data of people, things and information for location-referenced information analysis.

It is estimated that 80% of all business data contains a location component. It is therefore critical to understand how location affects business. Properly analysing location can provide insights that support and improve decision making in virtually anything, including marketing and supply chain logistics and operations. Location intelligence involves layering multiple data sets spatially and/or chronologically, for easy reference on a map.

Location intelligence complements business intelligence – where business intelligence may find one-dimensional relationships between customer demographics or store and warehouse locations, location intelligence enables much deeper dives into the relationships between geography and customer data.

 

Blockchain

Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology where transactions are sequentially grouped into blocks. Blockchain is used to track the ownership of assets without the need for a central authority, which speeds up transactions and cuts costs whilst lowering the chance of fraud. Blockchain is widely known as the technology that underpins the digital currency bitcoin. Whilst blockchain is still a relatively new and experimental technology, the ecosystem is growing rapidly and includes start-ups to major technology vendors.

Blockchain comes with cautions however. Considerations include potential lack of transparency, limitations concerning consumption of resources, operational risk from unintended centralisation of resources; and lack of alignment to existing legal and accounting frameworks. There are also potential adoption challenges, including the lack of standards, robust platforms, scalable distributed consensus systems and interoperability mechanisms.

 

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s)

UAV’s include miniature helicopters, airplanes and multirotors that can be remotely controlled by human pilots on the ground or outfitted for autonomous navigation and used to perform aerial surveillance. UAVs typically incorporate GNSS, camera, sonar sensors and navigation systems that guide them for imaging, thermal and spectral analysis. Memory caches and communications links allow UAVs to collect and transmit datasets, as well as transfer them to the cloud for record or instance calculation.

More and more commercial applications for UAV’s are emerging, and there is an increasing number of investments made in UAV start-ups and big companies. Practical examples of commercial UAV applications include parcel delivery, pipeline inspection, disaster inspection, security inspection, and agriculture inspection.

 

 

 
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Posted by on December 15, 2016 in innovation, strategy, technology

 

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Business Transformation – Turning Digital Thinking into Digital Reality

05 Apr
Business Transformation – Turning Digital Thinking into Digital Reality

The digital revolution is here – it is essential for organisational survival, and is now a natural expectation of staff, customers, managers, boards and industry partners.   Failure to embrace digital disruption will ultimately result in significant impacts to organisational efficiencies (at best), or will ultimately lead to organisational demise (at worst).

Organisations are using technologies like social media, mobile, analytics and embedded devices to change their customer engagement, internal operations and even their business models. Whilst there are many organisations that are realising real benefits, many organisations are left wondering how to start the journey, or how to successfully execute a digital transformation.

Based on various studies, research and personal experience, the following key practices are critical in enabling organisations to undertake successful digital transformation:

 

1.  Develop a Vision

Senior leaders need to have a common vision of how to proceed, and weed out the activities that run counter to that vision. They also need to understand why to change, and how the future will be better than the current situation. Without a vision of change, employees tend to do what they have been doing for years, even if it is no longer useful in the digital world. The first step is to understand the threats and opportunities that digital represents to the organisation. Will existing ways of working continue to be effective in a digital world? Are there new opportunities available in customer experience, operational processes or business models? It is also important to assess the organisations digital maturity.

Organisations must change the approach from supporting the business with information technology, to identifying what is possible with digital – starting with mobility, cloud, situational context, and then consider how to get there from here using technology as the catalyst.

2.  Invest in Digital

To realise the digital vision, organisations must invest in the right areas. This includes cutting back in unproductive areas while ramping up investment where it needs to occur. Organisations should choose to excel in a few areas based on existing capabilities such as customer experience, social media, mobile, customer analytics, process digitization or internal collaboration – but not in all.

Organisations will need to consider adapting their business model, which could include adding value to products and services, reaching new customers, linking operational and customer-facing processes in new ways, and even launching entirely new businesses. Strong governance mechanisms are also required to increase the level of coordination and sharing across silo-run digital initiatives.

3.  Organisational Engagement

When employees are engaged in a shared vision they help to make the vision a reality. They offer less resistance to change and often identify new opportunities that were not previously envisioned. It is beneficial to use a wide array of digital channels, such as broadcast, web, video, and social networks to generate continuous two-way communication at scale. Equally important is to encourage employees to identify new practices and opportunities that will advance the vision.

4.  Customer Focus

From a digital solution perspective, focus on user experience design by directly engaging with your customer base. Ask for feedback, challenge current processes, and validate effectiveness. Provision of products or services can be enhanced by engagement with the customer base to understand the demand, and include co-design, enabling greater take-up and the ability for self-service. Provide access to your products and services from anywhere, anytime and on any device, regardless of location.

5.  Cloud First

Investment in cloud based platforms can accelerate the journey to digital, providing opportunities for simplified mobile platform interfaces, use of contextually aware services (utilising customer location, preferences, usage history, etc), context sensitive data integration and data exchange among mobile, big data analytics, social media, internet of things, etc. Develop capabilities to generate forward-looking predictive analytics and overlay with open data sources to truly innovate and provide value.

6.  Sustain the Transformation

Successful digital transformation is built on a foundation of core skills and capabilities. Assess the skills on your teams to insure they fit the new platforms for digital business. Consider hiring some experienced executives who can make an impact quickly and coach existing employees. Redesign your training programs to develop skills your company needs. Where useful, partner with vendors to gain skills and cross-sector experience that complements your capabilities. Senior leaders must focus on building and sustaining momentum for change.

Quantify and monitor progress toward the digital ambition through KPIs or digital scorecards. Scorecards have power beyond just measuring the impact of major investments. They help to change the culture. A shared understanding between IT and business executives is also critical to success.

For a real-world case study (from independent research firm Gartner), please see the link below or contact me via email, linkedin, twitter or this post.

Building a Digital House: How an Industry Regulator Created an Exemplary Public-Sector Digital Service Model

 
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Posted by on April 5, 2016 in digital, general, innovation, strategy, Uncategorized

 

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Technology Trends 2015 – The CIO Perspective

12 May
Technology Trends 2015 – The CIO Perspective

Early in 2015 Deloittes published their sixth annual Technology Trends report (Tech Trends 2015: The fusion of business and IT).  This publication identifies the eight technology trends that have the most potential business impact over the next 12 to 24 months for technology and business.

Reading through the entire report may not appeal to all audiences, so I have attempted to distil the most relevant take-away points from the perspective of the CIO. What does this actually mean on a day-to-day basis? What aspects of this report deserve serious consideration and action for strategy and planning?

 

 

  1. CIO as a Chief Integration Officer

In brief:  The CIO role is evolving, with integration at the core of its mission. CIO’s need to harness emerging disruptive technologies for the business while balancing future needs with today’s operational realities.

Actions:

  • Engage leadership resources to solicit feedback and understand priorities
  • Tap into ideas through new employee and partnership channels
  • Prototype and demo to make the possible become feasible
  • Evaluate the current positioning, and understand the balance sheet of IT
  • Invest in underlying capabilities to improve efficacy

 

  1. API Economy

In brief:  Application programming interfaces (API’s) are the key to integration, exposing core business assets for reuse, growth, and innovation.

Actions:

  • Have a clear API strategy to define the intention, value and audience of the API.
  • Establish ownership by placing effort under an IT executive to simplify the path forward
  • Evaluate the available tools, platforms and integration possibilities
  • Plan big, start small. Businesses should balance payoff with added complexity
  • See it through. Drive a sustained campaign for awareness and support, while keeping ongoing documentation and maintenance needs in mind.

 

  1. Ambient Computing

In brief: Harnessing the real potential of the Internet of Things. From the growth of embedded sensors and connected devices, focus on translating the possibilities into real business impact.

Actions:

  • Beware of fragmentation. Use cases will require cross-organisational collaboration
  • Avoid distractions from exciting new technologies by starting with concrete business outcomes.
  • Usability should guide implementation, even if the solution is automated
  • IoT standards are evolving. Don’t wait to invest until the standards are finalised – help shape them.

 

  1. Dimensional Marketing

In brief:  A new vision for marketing is being formed as CMO’s and CIO’s invest in technology to reach digitally connected customers. CIO’s can help deliver analytics, mobile, social and web.

Actions:

  • Understand the customer journey and focus on authentic engagement
  • Big data and predictive analytics should play a role in how you invest in targets and priorities
  • Have a holistic approach – explore new channels and tools to complement existing ones
  • Authoring, provisioning and measuring usage and effectiveness should be seamless processes that provide users with contextual content across channels
  • Social activation – move beyond passive listening to inspiring brand ambassadors

 

  1. Software-Defined Everything

In brief: The entire operating environment (server, storage, and network) can now be virtualized and automated.

Actions:

  • Employ standardised design techniques. Emphasise templates and commonality to manage complexity
  • Infrastructure and application teams should work in tandem for rapid deployment
  • Every asset/application should be analysed to determine technical considerations for migration
  • Some vendors may accommodate creative financing arrangements
  • Consider potential benefits in coupling SDDC initiatives with broader IT transformation effort

 

  1. Core Renaissance

In brief: Use existing investments in core systems to form the foundation for growth and new service development. Modernise systems, re-platform solutions and extend legacy systems to fuel new services & offerings.

Actions:

  • Have a plan – balance business needs with limitations of existing systems and potential of emerging technology
  • Invest deliberately in the core to eventually become a catalyst for growth
  • Partner with strategic venders to explore new solutions for existing issues
  • Embrace a living approach to architecture with usability, integration, data and security in mind
  • Find a burning platform to move the conversation about the core to the centre stage

 

  1. Amplified Intelligence

In brief: Companies are applying machine learning and predictive modeling to large and complex data sets. Artificial intelligence is now a reality that is not about replacing workers, but augmenting their capabilities. Advanced analytics can help amplify our intelligence for more effective decision making.

Actions:

  • Develop a wish list to guide priorities and reveal what data is needed
  • Balance opportunity against expected organisational resistance.
  • Let user experience dictate the format, granularity and decisiveness of insights
  • Be transparent in intent, and consider programs to re-tool and redeploy workers

 

  1. IT Worker of the Future

In brief:  Technical talent is scarce, the legacy-skilled workforce is retiring, and skills are needed in the latest emerging, disruptive technologies.  Companies need to cultivate the IT worker of the future, with habits, incentives and skills that are inherently different from those in play today.

Actions:

  • Incentivise IT leaders
  • Rethink hiring. Include externships, hackathons, and recruit those with design aptitude
  • Introduce mechanisms to submit, explore, and develop new ideas
  • Create a virtual culture – provide tools that support remote workers
  • Leverage crowdsourcing, incubators and start-up spaces
  • Invest in your own IT workforce to drive retention and encourage referrals

 

Exponentials

In brief: Science and technology breakthroughs advancing faster than Moore’s law. Fields include: artificial intelligence; robotics; additive manufacturing; quantum computing; industrial biology; cyber security.

Four dimensions for effective innovation strategy:

  • Trend sensing: stay on top of new developments. Use “show” versus “tell” in demos and prototypes
  • Ecosystems: combine the traditional allies with entrepreneurs, start-ups, venture capitalists, etc
  • Experimentation: fail fast and cheap, move forward, and think about the impact, feasibility and risk
  • Scaling edges: achieve innovation by establishing new teams on the fringes of the organisation
 
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Posted by on May 12, 2015 in general, innovation, strategy

 

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eHealth in 2015 – what’s in store?

08 Dec
eHealth in 2015 – what’s in store?

2015 is set to be a progressive year for eHealth.  Following the momentum built up in 2014, I take a look at the top 4 predictions and eHealth “hot-spots” that deserve the attention of Healthcare strategists in 2015.

 

Personally Controlled Electronic Healthcare Record (PCEHR)

In 2015 expect to see substantial progress in the PCEHR and integration of clinical information. Some of the progress made in 2014 will flow on to impact providers and consumers of Healthcare in 2015. Healthcare providers in particular should already have plans in place to align with the work NEHTA is doing, and if not, get prepared now for change.

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) will offer funding to private hospital groups to begin integrating their systems with the PCEHR. They have released the details of their Private Hospital PCEHR Rapid Implementation Program (RIP), which will contribute towards the technical requirements for uploading and viewing of clinical documents. Release five of the PCEHR will pave the way for NEHTA to work with pathology and diagnostic imaging services to enable provider information systems to send PDF pathology and diagnostic imaging report to the PCEHR.

In Aged Care, 2015 will (hopefully) see the formation of a single client record that aligns the Aged Care Gateway system and the central client record, to the PCEHR.

In Melbourne, Western Health is gearing up to enter phase two of a project to securely deliver notifications from its hospital systems directly into GP desktop practice management software through an SMD-compliant eMessaging Gateway.  This initiative, and others like it, will become more common-place in 2015.

 

Expanding Consumer Choice

Consumer Directed Care (CDC) is set to be more widely integrated in 2015, with a broadening of services offered under this model.  Whilst CDC within the home and community care setting will continue to develop strengthen, residential aged care looks to embrace the same model of handing control to consumers over their choice of providers.

The My Aged Care gateway website for example, could be the “virtual marketplace where consumers and providers – or demand and supply – meet”.   The quote from a speech delivered by Senator Mitch Fifield goes on to say “Trip Advisor style capacities on the My Aged Care website will develop ratings for the quality of providers and their services, according to what matters to consumers, rather than what Departments and providers think they should be”.

CDC for Residential Aged Care is good for consumers, and is currently in the mindset of policy makers.  Residential Aged Care providers would be wise to consider the impacts of this, and think about strategies to best position themselves for the years ahead.

A current challenge is how Healthcare Providers will manage the new CDC reporting requirements. From July 2015 all Home Care Packages will be delivered on a CDC basis, so there is some concern in the industry around the lack of IT capability to deliver on these reporting requirements as July 2015 approaches.

 

Digital Healthcare

In 2015 many facets of healthcare will increasingly be digitised. Healthcare digitisation offers many benefits around clinical workflow automation, storage savings, longevity of records, and transmission and communication of clinical information.

Fully digital hospitals promise connection, integration and digitisation of medical records, x-rays, pathology results, radiology imaging, medications, CT/MRI scans, vital signs and other health information. Digitisation also provides opportunities around big data analytics and business intelligence to gain a broader picture of patients to improve health outcomes.

Other examples of digital healthcare include: doctors using speech recognition software to translate voice instructions directly onto patient records; linking patient meal planning with allergies and conditions (eg diabetes); medication verification and stock supply; and fingerprint biometrics for clinical staff access to rooms and systems.

It is not just hospitals that will benefit from digital healthcare in 2015. In the home care space a clinically validated monitor has recently been released that allows home users to measure blood pressure and heart rate, and connect it wirelessly to a mobile app. QardioArm works with Apple’s HealthKit, which lets users access all their health and wellness information in one place. It also records irregular heart beat history to provide a reference for doctors. This is just one of many examples.

With digitisation of healthcare inevitably on the rise, appropriate management and governance within this new paradigm will be required.  One example that helps pave the way is the release of the “Clinical Images and the Use of Personal Mobile Devices” guide, which was created to assist doctors and medical students in the proper use of personal devices such as smartphones, when taking and transmitting clinical images.

 

Interoperability

Interoperability is essentially an expansion of the PCEHR.

In the medication management space, 2015 may be the year to directly import medication information out of the PCEHR or GP systems straight into Healthcare Providers medication management (or clinical) system.   From a hospital perspective, work needs to be done to address the challenges faced by interoperability between different clinical systems, as well as the challenges in mapping the Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) to SNOMED CT-AU.

2015 will also see the continued proliferation of wearable devices. A recent survey from Kronos indicates that 30 per cent of Australians use wearable devices in their personal lives. This adoption rate could result in a smooth transition to wearables for health and fitness use. Health and fitness data can be useful in doctor consultations to aid diagnostics, and in the future could be designed as medical devices and for monitoring general health and well-being.   There will be a time where the patient will upload the data and it will end up on the health professional’s screen.  It may not happen in 2015, but it will happen.

Some wearable devices that already exist include glucose meters that allow clinic alerts and remote monitoring; devices that monitor vital signs; devices and apps that allow patients to monitor their diets; and apps to help with medication compliance. Check out my blog “The Mobile eHealth Revolution” for more information.

 
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Posted by on December 8, 2014 in e-health, strategy

 

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The “must have” tools for Managers

19 Nov
The “must have” tools for Managers

What are the “must have” apps, tools and resources that CIO’s and IT Managers can’t live without?

I have compiled a list of some of the most popular and helpful tools that I have found useful over the years. If you have any further suggestions for the Managers Toolkit, I would love to hear from you. I will update the list below with popular suggestions and will add new apps, tools and resources as they are released.

 

 

Time Management

Rescue Time – www.rescuetime.com

  • If you are not sure if you are using your time wisely, the Rescue Time app will send you weekly reports to indicate your time thieves. It runs security in the background of your computer or mobile device and tracks time spent on applications and websites. You will be given detailed reports and data based on your activity.

 

Idea Capture

Evernote – www.evernote.com

  • Evernote is a free tool that allows you to capture all of your ideas, thoughts and images. You can record meetings, interviews, speeches and ideas, create lists, add voice or text attachments and share files with others.

 

ICT Templates and Example Documents

Dokoze – www.dokoze.com

  • Dokoze is a great resource if you need to download high quality document templates and example documents. It is based around a community theme where users can share their own documents to get free or discounted downloads. There is no mandatory sign-up process and is mostly focussed around Information Technology documentation.

 

Task Lists

Remember the Milk (RTM) – www.rememberthemilk.com

Tooledo – www.tooledo.com

Wunderlist – www.wunderlist.com

  • RTM is a web-based task list that has free apps for Android, iPhone, iPad and Blackberry that syncs with your RTM account. You can organise your list by due date, postpone items for later, create recurring items, share tasks or assign tasks with individuals or groups, set priority levels and view the list in a number of ways. Tooledo is also a web-based tool that has basic task list features as well as project manager functions. Wunderlist is a good looking task manager that has free apps for iOS and Android.

 

Project Management

Asana – https://asana.com/

  • Asana is a hybrid task and project manager that has iOS and Android apps, and has various collaboration features for individuals and organisations. Asana is free if you have less than 15 people working on your project.

 

Track Time on Projects

Toggl – www.toggl.com

  • Toggl is a simple time tracking tool that is a great alternative to timesheets. Simply write the task you are working on and start the timer. It tracks tasks via a day-by-day breakdown and gives you an overview of where you are spending your time. Toggl can work online or offline.

 

Mind Mapping

Mind42 – www.mind42.com

  • Mind42 is one of the best free mindmapping apps out there. It is a browser based tool that allows you to manage all your ideas, whether alone, twosome or working together with the whole world. As mind42 runs inside the browser, installing mind mapping tools is no longer needed – just open the browser and launch the application when needed – it behaves like a classical desktop application.

 

File Back-up

Syncback Freeware – www.2brightsparks.com/syncback

  • SyncBackFree allows you to create backups of your computer quickly and efficiently, with clear directions to help even inexperienced users make the right decisions. In addition to creating backups, this program also can synchronize files and create mirror profiles, and you can choose to compress your files or not each time you run a backup.

 

Password Manager

Universal Password Manager (UPM) – http://upm.sourceforge.net/

  • UPM allows you to store usernames, passwords, URLs and generic notes in an encrypted database protected by one master password. UPM is simple, cross platform (Android, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) and features database syncing across several devices.

 

File Sharing

Dropbox – www.dropbox.com

OneDrive – www.onedrive.com

  • There are many apps available that allow you to transfer data from one device to another. Both Dropbox and OneDrive are free and easy to use.

 

 

 
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Posted by on November 19, 2014 in general

 

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The Mobile eHealth Revolution

21 Aug
The Mobile eHealth Revolution

The mobile e-health landscape is about to be transformed. We are now embarking on an era where consumerisation will drive the proliferation of integrated mobile medical health.

There are already a staggering number of healthcare apps available to consumers, but the piece of the puzzle that will take consumerised healthcare to another level is the integration and usability of applications, systems and devices across the full spectrum of care.

Research suggests that smartphone and tablet shipments are still on the rise. Another metric on the rise relates to the number of seniors going online. In a recent article from Senior Housing News, 71% of seniors go on-line every day.  In addition, tablet ownership among seniors has risen from 2% in 2010 to 25% in 2014. According to the study, the number of seniors going online from their phone has quadrupled from 7% in 2009 to 29% in 2014.

Not only do the families of seniors want to be connected and involved in care, it’s the seniors themselves who are becoming engaged in mobile and internet connectivity.

Further to this, data published on the Intel Healthcare Innovation Barometer demonstrates that we are more ready than ever to embrace technology in monitoring and maintaining our health.  The Intel study showed that:

  • People are more willing to anonymously share their health records or genetic information than their banking information or phone records.
  • Seventy-two percent are receptive to communication technologies that allow them to remotely connect to their doctor.
  • Almost half of respondents (43 percent) globally would trust themselves to monitor their own blood pressure and other basic vitals.
  • Fifty-three percent of people say they would trust a test they personally administered as much or more than if performed by a doctor.

It’s been no secret that Samsung, WebMD, Apple and Google are all investing heavily into health. Their aim is to help consumers see all their health and wellness data in one place, and provide both platform and integration capabilities into the consumer space. The term “ubiquitous connectivity” is often used in this situation; where mobile platforms are used to integrate health data from disparate sources to provide people with a complete integrated view of their health.

The two dominant players in the mobile space are Apple (iOS) and Samsung (Android). They are both ramping up investment from a device and application perspective.  Looking first at the devices, both companies are making use of an increased number of device sensors.  The iPhone had 3 sensors in 2007 – accelerometer, proximity, ambient light. In 2013 the iPhone 5s had 5 sensors, adding a 3-axis gyro and fingerprint sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S in 2010 had 3 sensors – accelerometer, proximity and compass, whereas the 2014 Galaxy S5 has 10 sensors adding gyro, fingerprint, barometer, hall, gesture, heart rate, ambient light.

Secondly, Apple and Google are in a race to have the health and fitness platform of choice.  The Apple Health platform (HealthKit) allows apps that provide health and fitness services to share their data with the new Health app and with each other. A user’s health information is stored in a centralized and secure location and the user decides which data should be shared with your app. Independent programmers can develop additional apps to integrate with Apple Health.

In addition, Apple Health:

  • Displays personal biometric data (heart rate, calories, blood sugar, and cholesterol) from other fitness devices (eg JawBone, Glocose Meter).
  • Provides a single app that collates all the data in an easy to read dashboard.
  • Allows users to share information with doctors and other healthcare professionals.
  • Enables health providers to take advantage of the sensors in iPhone 6 and the iWatch (coming soon).
  • Will soon allow apps to sync with providers electronic health care records, with the aim of seamless integration.

There is no doubt that Apple aims to be the “hub” for health care data. The Apple alliance with IBM will also lead to a significant influx of healthcare mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad.

Google has announced “Google Fit”, which is a health platform similar to Apple Health Kit that allows various apps to share health data for individual users to create a complete picture of their fitness. Whilst the open platform is soon to be released, it looks set to provide developers a single set of API’s to access and store fitness data from apps and sensors. Like Apple, this will eliminate the complexity of accessing multiple sources of information to provide a unified view of fitness activity & overall health.

With the increasing number of seniors going on line and their growing acceptance of technology to help manage and enhance health outcomes, combined with the development of platforms that bring all health data together by integrating apps, hardware and systems, we are positioned for a transformation in electronic healthcare opportunities and management.

So where does this leave us as Healthcare and IT leaders?

  • It’s time for a strategy refresh!!! People of all ages (including the older folk) are ready to embrace technology to improve and maintain their health. Ignore these trends at your own peril, and instead look to develop strategies that leverage mobile health app platforms. Depending on your situation, you may need to weigh up the benefits of building your own independent app versus building an app on an existing health platform.
  • Consider the opportunities for integrated medical records. Look at opportunities to use these mobile platforms to provide a more integrated solution that, at the end of the day, will ultimately assist the end user to view all their medical data in one place.
  • A greater number of sensors and integration points results in more data. As vast amounts of this user-generated data is collected there will be opportunities to monetize that data.
  • Telehealth, remote monitoring, telecare – Patient care will become less complex and more affordable with an increased number of devices and software able to connect and integrate seamlessly.
  • Issues around security, privacy, consent and ethics still need to be considered.

For more information, please feel free to contact me.

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Posted by on August 21, 2014 in e-health, mobility, strategy

 

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Key Strategic Considerations for 2014/15

16 Jul

Arguably the three key players in the global ICT research and analytics space are Gartner, Forrester and IDC. These three companies undertake vast amounts of research and analysis pertaining to current and future trends and predictions for ICT and business environments. Throughout the course of any given year, these well respected organisations release their analysis, insights and predictions that every organisation should consider as part of their strategy and planning.

In evaluating and cross referencing the publically available information that has been released from these key players over the last 12 months, there are four high level overlapping themes that emerge which are common across all three organisations.

These are:

  • Cloud
  • Internet of Things (everything)
  • Big Data
  • Mobility

Whilst these themes are high level and of little surprise to many, they provide insight into technologies and strategies that every organisation should consider when undertaking technology research, planning and innovation initiatives. The following content provides some snippets of these key themes…

 

1.  Cloud

Gartner

  • “Enterprises should look to model themselves off of the cloud leaders Amazon, Google & Salesforce. IT organizations should align with and emulate the processes, architectures, and practices of these leading cloud providers.”

Forrester

  • “Public Cloud will be the default backbone for the Internet of Things”.
  • Forrester predicts that Software as a Service will become the new de-facto for buying new applications.

IDC

  • The worldwide revenue from public IT cloud services grew four times more than predicted.
  • “By 2015, one of every seven dollars spent on packaged software, server and storage offerings will be through the Public Cloud”.

 

2. Internet of Things (everything)

Gartner

  • “The Internet is expanding into enterprise assets and consumer items such as cars and televisions. The so called “Internet of Things” will be succeeded by the “Internet of Everything.”

Forrester

  • “Sensors & devices will draw ecosystems together”.
  • “The Internet-of-Things will move from hype to reality with the ubiquity of connectivity and proliferation of devices, and wearable computing will go from niche to broader use”.

IDC

  • “The global Internet of Things market is expected to grow by more than $5 trillion over the next six years”.
  • IDC research predicts “that the global IoT market would hit $7.1 trillion by 2020, as people around the world – and particularly in developed nations – develop an affinity for full-time connectivity”.

 

3. Big Data

Gartner

  • “Big Data – information of extreme size, diversity and complexity – is everywhere and is destined to help organisations drive innovation by gaining new and faster insight into their customers.

Forrester

  • “Firms that embrace big data concepts are creating the next generation smart systems. Cheaper, more agile, collaborative, and adaptive methods for analytics and data sharing are key. Important to design “predictive apps able to sense their environment and respond in real-time, anticipate user action, and meet users in their moment of need.
    • Mobile contextual data will offer deep customer insights and is a key driver of big data.

IDC

  • IDC expects the Big Data technology and services market to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 39.4%, or about 7 x the overall ICT market.

 

4. Mobility

Gartner

  • For mobile application environments, Gartner for 2014 predicts the future lies in HTML5 and the browser .
  • With more users wanting to work across multiple devices, Gartner recommend app developers work to create “building blocks” that can be assembled to fit the needs of different devices.
  • Gartner predicts there will be more popularity in smaller, more targeted apps than more comprehensive, one-size fits all apps.

Forrester

  • Leading organisations are moving to deliver mobile, cloud and big data solutions more readily. Contextual data will offer deep customer insights and is a key driver of big data.
  • Competitive advantage in mobile will shift from experience design to big data and analytics.

IDC

  • By 2015, the worlds mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion.
  • Nearly 1 billion smartphones will be distributed globally in 2015.
  • Predicts Windows Phone will capture the number 2 spot in market share by 2015

 

Some other interesting information that was released…

  • API’s will become the digital glue by providing open access to useful functionality through network-based services.
  • The smart machine era will be the most disruptive in the history of IT. This will include the proliferation of: contextually aware, intelligent personal assistants; smart advisors; global industrial systems; autonomous vehicles.
  • Gartner statistics predict 3-D printing to grow 75 percent in 2014 alone, with the number of unit shipments doubling in 2015. 3-D printing is a real, viable and cost-effective means to reduce costs through improved designs, streamlined prototyping and short-run manufacturing.

The above content provides just a fraction of the available information released by Gartner, Forrester and IDC, however when all major research companies are banging on the same drum, we should all sit up and take notice.

 
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Posted by on July 16, 2014 in strategy

 

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Mobile Health Applications – Trends and Predictions

02 Jun

The concept of using mobile applications to manage medical conditions and improve health outcomes is well and truly here.

The 4th mHealth App Developer Economics Study (www.mhealtheconomics.com) conducted in Q1 2014, outlines the major trends and direction relating to the mobile health landscape, and confirms the view that mobile health applications will continue to break new ground in terms of innovation, market penetration and change.

The proliferation of smartphones has provided the medium on which mobile health applications are consumed. If we turn the clock back to 2009, only 13% of all handsets shipped were smartphones. Today, smartphones have become the global number 1 connected device (mostly iOS and Android), whilst tablets are now outselling laptops. This means that, apart from some developing regions, almost everyone in the world has (or will have) a device that could run a mobile health solution.

In the Apple and Android app stores there are more than 100,000 apps within the health category. As the study points out, this is more than double the quantity of mobile health apps listed in the store only 2.5 years ago. More than 30% of all apps that are listed in the Health & fitness and Medical app sections are fitness trackers or exercise guides. The second and third largest groups are Medical Reference (16.6%) and Wellness apps (15.5%). Medical reference apps provide information about drugs, diseases, symptoms and give advice on how to take drugs or what to do in case of experiencing pain. They also show locations of pharmacies and medical centres/doctors. Medical condition management apps represent the 5th largest group of mobile health apps (6.6%).

Some of the predictions from the study participants (mobile health app publishers) paint an interesting picture about the future of the mobile health app market:

  • The main market drivers for health apps over the next 5 years are increasing penetration of capable devices and user/patient demand.
  • The potential show-stoppers are lack of data security and standards, and poor discoverability. This could leave room for specialised mobile health app stores.
  • Android and iOS are the dominant mobile platforms for which mobile health app developers will continue developing their apps in the next 5 years.
  • Fitness apps are believed to diminish in their relative importance. In five-years’ time they are expected to go from 1st to 5th position in terms of business potential. The app categories that have the highest expected market potential in the near future are remote monitoring and consultation apps.
  • The areas that are predicted to have the greatest impact on healthcare include improved outcomes of treatments, self-care of people, slowing down the increase of healthcare costs, improved interaction between patients and doctors, and enabling patients to take better care of their own health.

Many of the most popular mobile health apps today draw data/information from different sources to provide an enriched and comprehensive experience to users. This occurs through the use of “APIs”. These API’s are connectors that allow apps to import or export general health information (e.g., databases for drugs, food, diseases), personal health information (e.g., calorie intake, steps, weight), and medical device information (e.g. from glucometers, blood pressure monitors, heart rate monitors, step tracking bracelets).

Three different categories of vital parameters are captured today are health & fitness tracking data, patient monitoring data, and medical examination data.

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With “consumer directed care” models now part of the health landscape, mobile healthcare apps form part of the solution to empower users/patients to take a more active role in their treatment process. The opportunity is ripe for mobile health to form an integral part of the nation’s healthcare strategy.

In the next 5 years there will be increased prevalence of sensor networks (wearable and built-in sensors). Sensors can have a tremendous impact on the mHealth industry and on how patients track their vital data in the future.

Companies like Apple, Google and Samsung are incorporating more and more sensors into their devices. These companies are seeing the potential in mobile health development, and investing heavily. In May 2014, Reuters reported that Apple has been on a biomedical technology hiring spree. Much of the hiring is in sensor technology, an area Chief Executive Tim Cook singled out last years as primed “to explode”. Recent reports suggest that Apple is developing a smart home platform to enter the Internet of Things space and an iOS application called Healthbook to help users track their heart rate, blood pressure and more. Industry insiders say the moves telegraph a vision of monitoring everything from blood-sugar levels to nutrition, beyond the fitness-oriented devices now on the market. Apple has also poached biomedical engineers from companies including Vital Connect, Masimo Corp, Sano Intelligence and O2 MedTech. Masimo is best known for its pulse oximetry device, which non-invasively measures patients’ oxygen saturation, an indicator of respiratory function. Vital Connect focuses on tracking vitals like heart rate and body temperature. O2 Med Tech also is experimenting with biosensors and developing new devices.

“Internet of Things” and “Big Data” anyone?

 
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Posted by on June 2, 2014 in e-health, mobility

 

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