Helping organizations grow businesses in more ways. When Aging in Place Technology Watch first launched in March, 2009, the intent was to mirror the services of a traditional Industry Analyst firm – client annual fixed price/time retainers, research reports, marketing white papers, and speaking engagements – offerings that are still very much in place and in use. But a few who read this blog know that over the past few years, the services have expanded – and could be of benefit to some blog readers. Contact laurie@ageinplacetech.com for client references, pricing, and to learn more about:
An upcoming and splashy event looms – time to market. We are in the fall show season and it shows. So the new product isn’t really tested past a slick prototype, but the brochures must get to the printers NOW. Why? CES (or Connected Health, ATA, or the mHealth Summit) is on the calendar and innovation is expected, no actually, innovation is mandated. For the price of a booth, press release, brochures, a demo device and all travel costs, marketers must market. Whether the product works? Not important for demo purposes. Does anyone need the offering? See the hype for 2010 launch of Healthrageous and now see the 2013 shutdown.
Tablets are hot, hot, hot – but are the usage plans affordable? So 34 percent of Americans own tablets – of these, "ownership skews toward adults ages 35-44 (49%), compared with younger and older adults. Tablet owners have incomes > $75K per year and are typically people who have a college education." Let’s hope these folks share their tablets with parents and/or grandparents; that the high-energy and youthful AARP training was and will continue to be a worthwhile and available program to help those parents and grandparents. Lots of good can come from tablets – not the least of which is ease of ongoing maintenance compared to PCs, etc. And apps are plentiful and mostly free. This charming Art in the Moment iPad app for seniors with dementia recently caught my eye. Or check out Breezie, seen at AARP’s Life@50, soon to be available in the US. GenConnect has launched with free iPad training video tutorials. But with all of this effort, charm, and enthusiasm, let’s dwell on the elephant in the room – monthly carrier costs.
AARP TEK – fabulous training for older adults. When an organization becomes as large and influential as AARP, what a party they can throw and how attendees enjoy being brought together at its large events. Life@50+ in Atlanta was clearly fun for the attendees -- but what made it special in the context of technology utilization were several days of continuous training classes (see below) on using tablets. Led by Philip Jordan, of SeniorTechRally who did many of the training sessions himself, 4-H Club participants, dubbed "Tech wizards" sat at each of the training tables to answer questions and demonstrate use of the device. Part of a program called Mentor Up, these young adults were charming – they didn’t patronize trainees, answered questions energetically and ran around the tables showing and telling.
What goes around comes around and gets a new market sizing. You may have seen a rather giddy press release recently that sized the market for aging in place technology at a cool $30 billion by 2017. The global market for elder care technologies will hit $7.2 billion by 2018 and as for home monitoring of seniors, the number of units of wearable wireless devices will climb from 3 million units (2011) to 36 million units by 2017, and users of family locator services (including PERS) will reach 70 million by 2016. It’s a good thing these sizings forecast three to four years from now. That will give everyone time to overcome barriers that hamstring utilization today -- like controlling the cost of device, figuring out who pays for them and will the target user actually be able to afford to use it/wear it to help them stay safe or will the doctor and supporting staff remain engaged to help the user keep their chronic disease(s) under control?
Finding the visibility and network that your offering deserves. We are entering the trade show season, so it’s time to make a few go/no go decisions. You have had your product (or new version) or service ready for the past months or year. Your pilots have been successful and you now know that professionals, prospects and early customers are pleased with what you’ve done. You’ve read Ten Tips for Launching a Product or Service. You have first focused on the local/regional events. Now make sure your offering – whether it is caregiving, health and wellness, home safety, learning, engagement or just plain fun – is well-received at events attended by prospective customers, resellers, referring professionals, possible partners, and adjacent product categories. Consider this list of national events (listed in date order). Study prior exhibitor participant lists, learn about typical number and profile of attendees, booth costs, hotel and attendance fees. Note any (of many) innovation award opportunities, if not now, then for the future. If you are not that familiar with any of these, consider going once as an attendee -- before exhibiting. Comments about other events are, of course, welcome:
Isn’t it cool that all of our technology knows us and our location? It’s a widening and wonderful tech world isn’t it? We are blessed with video and the web on our smart phones; social connections all around are endorsing and Linking us In. Best of all we can speak and ask our device stupid questions -- and get specific and even charming location-based answers. Siri, tell me,what is Pi to 500 places? That was easy, but how many miles (kilometers, inches) is it to Miami? How long will it take if I’m walking from where I am standing in Washington, DC? Unlike Trivial Pursuit -- where knowing the answer matters -- with our fabulous devices all you need is the question. And because your phone is on, your starting point is wherever you are RIGHT NOW.
Incubators and contests -- do they enable innovation? Paul Krugman's interesting article about GE’s competition to find a new design raises a question about how to boost innovation and lower its cost. If you read the article, entitled 'Complexity is Free' – you will discover how a simple contest, fielded internationally, generated a design improvement at almost no cost for GE: "The winning prize pool [was] $20,000, spread out across 8 finalists, with awards ranging from $1,000 to $7,000 each." So for $20K, GE got something it wanted, layered that something into a design process that enables continuous revision to designs without new infrastructure investment (the 'free' in the title.) Does anyone else find it interesting that there was no internal engineer who could figure out how to design a lighter-weight bracket component -- and that a contest was required? Or was this a publicity stunt to generate good will for GE?
Rounding up the recent technology launches – tech for older adults. Catching up, here are few recent announcements from in-market companies. A brief digression: I get a bit upset when I read about companies in the news that are described as offering "SOLUTIONS" about products that are not ready, products for which they could be taking pre-orders, but basically there is nothing to buy. This is especially unfortunate in the category of PERS, where consumers expect a solution can address a fear of falling and being left alone. It is especially NOT okay for products that target the senior housing industry, where the residents may be very frail, where the companies are very cautious, and the industry is not known for leading with tech of any type, let alone one that is so new that it cannot be purchased. So here are four new offerings – it is my belief/hope that all are available -- preventing a few others from being on the list. Content is from the vendors’ press information:
