Extra tags: Digital Transformation
Attributed to: Joe Byrne, Vice President of Technology Strategy and Executive CTO at AppDynamicsWearable medical technology has taken off in a big way over the past two years. A new global study by Cisco AppDynamics has found that 37% of consumers currently use at least one wearable health technology device and this number is set to increase, with 73% of people planning to increase their use of wearable technologies and associated applications over the next 12 months.
Whether it’s a smart watch, bracelet or ECG monitor, people are using these devices to manage and improve a wide range of matters relating to their health and wellbeing. Restricted face-to-face access to medical professionals during the pandemic, along with improved 5G network connectivity and improved functionality of devices, have meant that people are no longer viewing wearable technology as just a way to track and manage their general physical fitness. For instance, 82% of consumers want to use health technology, including wearables, to manage chronic or ongoing health conditions, while 86% want to be able to identify the early warning signs of life-threatening illness or diseases (such as cancer) through wearable medical technology.
Overall, 57% of people report that they have become increasingly reliant on technology to assist me in managing my health, wellbeing and any medical conditions.
Of course, for the wearable medical technology sector, the opportunities are vast. Recent data showed that the global wearable healthcare market is projected to reach USD 30.1 billion by 2026 from USD 16.2 billion in 2021. Furthermore, 320 million consumer medical wearables will ship globally in 2022 (according to Deloitte).
It really does feel that the industry has reached a watershed moment, where seemingly insatiable consumer demand is combining with phenomenal new innovation, to drive mass adoption of wearable medical technology.
Reliance on wearable technology raises the stakes around digital experience and trust
These are hugely exciting times for vendors and service providers in the wearable technology market. But in the rush to take advantage of the countless opportunities that lie ahead, it’s vital that they recognise that consumer expectations around technology and digital services have shifted dramatically during the pandemic.
A Cisco AppDynamics report last year found that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have become more reliant on applications and digital services as part of their everyday lives, but at the same time they have also become more demanding and intolerant of poor digital experiences. 58% of global consumers said that brands have ‘one shot to impress’, and if they fail to offer a good experience they will move to a competitor.
So when it comes to the wearable medical technology market, it’s important to consider the entire user experience, beyond the shiny devices that people wear around their wrists. The reality is that these devices are essentially there to capture health data and feed it through to the myriad of applications that collect this data and provide people with information and analysis on their health, wellbeing and fitness.
The risk is that if these applications don’t work as they should - for instance, if they are slow or unresponsive, if they’re difficult to install or, worst case scenario, if they don’t protect people’s personal health data properly - then consumer appetite for wearable technology could easily dissipate. Expectations for digital experiences may have risen across the board over the last two years, but when it comes to personal health, which by its very nature is so sensitive and important to people, these expectations have risen to a whole new level.
Indeed, our research found that 86% of people expect companies offering wearable technology and applications to demonstrate a higher standard of protection for their personal data than any other technology they use. And the consequences for brands that fall short of these customer expectations are severe. 75% of people claim that they would stop using a specific wearable device or application if they had a bad digital experience; and, alarmingly, 56% of people claim that a bad digital experience with one wearable device or application would put them off trying other health or wellbeing wearable technology.
These findings should act as a stark warning to technology and application providers. Unless they are able to deliver a seamless experience for customers, from the wearable device through to the digital health application, then they risk losing serious numbers of customers and revenue. And at a broader level, unless the industry as a whole recognises the need to put digital experience at the heart of its future strategy, then there is a danger that people around the world will lose trust in wearable medical technology, and all of the potential benefits around population health and wellbeing will be put in jeopardy.
Full-stack observability is critical to drive user experience and seize the opportunity of wearable technology
Of course, anybody that works in technology will know that, just as consumer expectations are spiraling to new heights, the task of optimizing IT performance and availability is becoming ever more challenging. IT departments are now trying to manage an ever-more fragmented patchwork of legacy and cloud technologies, and the unfortunate reality is that most IT departments simply don’t have the tools and insight they need to make informed decisions around technology performance issues.
This is why application providers need real-time visibility into IT performance and availability up and down the IT stack, for compute, storage, network and public internet, from the customer-facing application to deep down in the back-end. This enables technologists to quickly and easily identify anomalies, understand dependencies and fix issues before they impact the end user. Only with genuine full-stack observability do they stand a chance of cutting through data noise and being able to identify and fix performance issues before they impact customers.
But as demand for digital health applications continues to soar, this level of visibility still isn’t enough. Technologists urgently need to connect full-stack observability with real-time business metrics, so that they can pinpoint and prioritize the issues that pose the biggest risk to customer experience. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re looking at 100 performance issues, but if you instantly know that only a couple of them really have the potential to impact customers then you can immediately focus your efforts in the right places.
This type of business lens on IT performance makes it far easier for digital health application providers to consistently optimize IT performance and provide the seamless digital experience customers now demand. And crucially, it will ensure that wearable medical technology can deliver the game-changing impact that is now within touching distance, improving health and wellbeing for people all over the world.
