12/09/2022 | BlogPost
Tapping into the power of continuous market specific data to build successful digital health strategies
By Stela Nikolova, Marketing Manager, Research2Guidance
The global digital health market is very complex and dynamic with innovative solutions and services, new connected devices, partnerships & acquisitions, and funding being presented regularly. The ability to collect continuous market-specific and relevant real-time data, analyze it and get access to expert market and competitor insights help key decision makers define and build successful digital health strategies.
Healthcare is a very regulated, data-driven and ambiguous market. A lot of investors have made serious moves into the digital health space and billions have invested in startups and innovators. Digital technologies are making healthcare more affordable, accessible, and personalized.
Everyday smartphones and smartwatches, along with wearables and implanted sensors are transformed into powerful diagnostic tools. Advancements in technology and AI have laid the foundation for innovative, effective, and inexpensive guided digital self-help treatments to support and improve people’s overall health at scale. Changes in the reimbursement of RPM and telehealth services have opened completely new revenue opportunities for healthcare stakeholders.
The market has also attracted different stakeholders, including big tech companies, who are continuing to make moves into digital health and expanding their target audiences. Interestingly, although big tech companies are very successful and can leverage their business experience and technology to develop cutting-edge solutions and services, their success in the digital health space is so far limited. Just recently Amazon announced that by the end of 2022 it will shut down its telehealth offering, Amazon Care. Not knowing well the healthcare space, not being familiar with the market dynamics, a doctor-patient relationship and facing strict regulations could be part of the challenges faced by big tech companies, while reshaping the wellness space with grace.
CHALLENGES FACED WHILE TAPPING INTO THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF INFORMATION.
The digital health landscape has become even more complex and dynamic to follow and be part of. There is an enormous amount of news, raw data, and insights from different stakeholders poured into the space that is hard to filter the most relevant, accurate data to make sense of the market, stay on top of trends, successful business models and be empowered by the market-specific information to draw smart and predictive market intelligent decisions.
Being profitable in the digital health market and running the digital health agenda is still a trial-and-error process. For instance, the initial focus of DarioHealth, a leading DTx company in the U.S. direct-to-consumer market did not result in reaching either expected growth or scale of the business. As a result of the growth limits in the consumer market, the company adjusted its business model and adapted its strategy to concentrate on the B2B market, expanding its offering to HCP providers, health plans, and self-insured employers. DarioHealth has also expanded its digital chronic-disease-management business beyond diabetes and introduced hypertension care. In the past few years, the company has acquired several companies which allow them to enter the MSK market, behavioral health and mental health space.
DEVELOPING SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL HEALTH STRATEGIES IN A VERY DYNAMIC DATA-DRIVEN WORLD.
Being successful in a very dynamic data-driven regulated market requires at minimum great evidence-based product / solution that can demonstrate health outcomes, FDA / CE MARK approval, a sound commercial and operational model with different revenue models depending on the type of clients the company has, scalability in place and user-friendly experience.
To have a clear approach in implementing a successful market vision the importance of big data, analytics and continuous market and competitors monitoring should not be underestimated. To successfully navigate the complex and ever-changing digital health landscape, and be aware of major trends that will shape a specific market-space , key decision makers need to have access to:
- Ongoing market monitoring – Getting access to continuous market monitoring and digital health market-specific real-time insights helps to determine the size of the intended market, drive innovation, and outline and build successful digital health strategies.
- Deep dive curated expert opinions – Staying on top of what competitors are doing and having a complete picture of their business models, and partnerships, enriched by an expert opinion aid in connecting the dots and adapting one’s own strategy to market dynamics.
- Bird's eye view – Keeping an eye on top of market trends and events, evaluating market attractiveness, identifying successful new entrants and understanding the “Why?” behind the success, and learning about product releases allow for intelligent data-driven decision-making.
A digital health strategy and commercial business model need to be constantly adapted to the market dynamics. Tapping into the market data and having an ongoing interpretation of market trends and competitors’ moves, being able to pinpoint best practices, and what is missing in the market and adjusting strategies and models accordingly can lead to becoming one of the leading players in the market. It is vital to have accurate and relevant real-time data with some expert deep-dive analysis to navigate through this attractive and uncertain digital health landscape.
During this year's Frontiers Health, October 20-21, 2022, in Milan and online, R2G alongside Healthware Group and several digital health thought leaders will lead the panel discussion on "Building successful digital health strategies in uncertain and dynamic markets". Join us for some highly insightful practical insights and engaging discussions.
