Medtech industry concerned about keeping up with—wait for it—technology
Nearly 90% of executives leading medical-technology companies see emerging technologies as a top challenge. And they’re struggling to apply these advances not only to their product and service lines but also to their own business operations.
The finding comes from a keyword-relevance analysis of quarterly earnings statements from several dozen major medtech companies, combined with an evaluation of survey responses from execs at 16 of them.
The study was conducted by Deloitte, which has posted a report online.
After technological advances, common sources of pressure include policy and regulatory activity (63%), changes in consumer attitudes and spending (63%), cybersecurity threats (56%) and disruptions to business models (56%), according to report authors Glenn Snyder and Bushra Naaz.
Other notable survey findings flagged by Deloitte for special consideration include:
- 69% believe cyber readiness will be their top priority over the next five years. This signals “the need to balance digital transformation opportunities with risk preparedness,” the report’s authors comment.
- 81% feel they’re well prepared to address emerging opportunities around customized treatments, while 69% are ready for openings in curative therapies and 63% for digital therapeutics. Just 38% say they’re positioned to capitalize on market prospects involving nontraditional technologies such as robotics, nanotechnology and tissue engineering.
- 0% see their company as “digitally mature.”
Commenting on that last remarkable finding, Snyder and Naaz note that seizing the opportunities at hand may require medtech vendors to adjust overall business strategies, build innovative corporate cultures and put forth supportive leadership.
Additionally, encouraging industry leaders to “embrace the future of health,” the authors recommend medtech companies “consider what role they would like to play in the future ecosystem: data and platform provider, well-being and care delivery organization, care enabler or elements of all three.”
Such a change in strategic focus, they add, “may require leaders to identify their company’s relative strength, revisit their business strategy to cater to changing consumer demand and identify ways to fill the gaps.”
To read the full report, click here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.