Becoming a Business of Experience: My perspective with a Health lens.

Hello - thanks for jumping in and taking a little time to read my thoughts.

As context to this article - know that I've been supporting innovation and changes in experiences in Health related companies for many years. I've worked with Regulators, Life Sciences companies, Hospital groups, Public Health organisations and Social Care groups. I've also implemented and supported use of some leading Marketing, Infrastructure, Cloud and ?device technology that I can be proud to say has impact on the world we live in today. I've been leading or governing incubators, accelerators, startup challenges, immersion sessions, explorations and design sessions. I'm incessantly curious and take an active interest in emerging areas such as digital health growth and, at times, proudly being one of the reasons for some of it. I've authored vision papers, white papers and research papers and read more than most on exciting new developments and seen many move from idea to reality. If you've read my other articles, you also know that I have a complex home life and some of that I bring into my work as I represent, authentically, the carers perspective. I've seen lots of failures, stalls, blockers, knocks, risk mitigations and disappointments - it's been hard yards mostly because some organisations are not structurally ready to take something 'new' on. Why do I share this? Well, I want to share a few views and I'd like you to know I understand that some of them are not easy. I understand as I've lived it.

My view - Innovation in health has profoundly changed - our perception of it, the pace of it and the role of it. It can no longer be seen as a special activity that is the privilege of a select few. The pandemic has created a lot of changes in our society. It has been a wake-up call for many of us and reset and challenged us in so many ways. There’s no denying also that the relationship between healthcare services and our expectation for how they are administered has fundamentally changed also. Stakeholder expectations surrounding innovation have changed. Within our organisations it’s clear that an “Innovation Unit” alone will not suffice. A collaborative approach is necessary to create products and services which patients, carers and citizens deserve.

This is the first of a series of blogs which will dive straight into the opportunity for health organisations to think about being experience-led and adapt to help realise this potential. Over the series I will explore findings from our UK Patient Survey and what they mean for the rest of us who are influencing or owning action towards positive changes to the lives of patients, carers, and citizens. I want to explore how becoming a ‘Business of Experience’ is foundational.

While the UK survey isn't representative of every country in this world (and some of you might know that I do work with many different clients - usually taking a global perspective), I wanted to focus on one country, the one I live in, and give views based on that to help structure my points. Know please that even if you are not in the UK, you are on my mind too.

Rethinking the relationship with healthcare users

There is an opportunity to solve human problems in fundamentally new ways. To do this we need to make ‘experiences’ the whole organisation’s responsibility. Our recent UK Patient Survey found that people want one thing more than anything else from their healthcare experience: communication. More than three quarters (76%) told us that they are looking for a medical provider who explains their condition clearly. And 64% said they wanted a provider who listens, understands, and provides emotional support. As a Carer - I hear this and it resonates. I'm working with complex needs and it’s a strain - one that at times, I have found to be near impossible to cope with.

This is equally true for Life Sciences companies, where respondents told us that transparency in the R&D process (42%) was the number one factor in improving their trust in the industry. This was closely followed by transparency in pricing (42%) and clear communication about treatment effectiveness and side effects. What is clear is that healthcare users want a new kind of relationship with providers.

To deliver on these demands, both providers and Life Sciences companies could look to move away from thinking about user/customer experience and instead, aim to become a Business of Experience (BX). In this approach the strategy, organisational plan, employee experience, operating model and technology are all in service to delivering exceptional health experiences. I know it's a big ask, but some of you that are reading this are real change makers - we eat big challenges for breakfast.

BX is not a tactic that shows up at one specific moment in time- instead, it percolates to all levels of the business. It’s not achieved by optimising CX touchpoints alone, such as a website or mobile app, rather it guides the entire organisation to obsess over how to deliver value-driven experiences that people want and need. For example,?Zocdoc?didn’t just create a booking website – they created a business of health empowerment, by offering a better experience for patients to connect with doctors without the roadblocks that prevent them from taking ownership of their health. I like this approach - it's not an endorsement!! I do like what they are trying to do.

Embracing the opportunity to reimagine experiences

Activities that were felt as aspirational pre-pandemic have now become necessary, like virtual health consultations being deployed at scale or programmes like NHS DigiTrials that give clinical researchers increased access to patient data. The challenges of the pandemic have led to widespread innovation and collaboration across organisational boundaries. However, to build on this rapid progress, leaders should make sure they involve patients themselves in the process.

In the UK, 72% of respondents in the 2021 UK Patient Survey told us they want to have control over how their personal health information is collected and used. This is an opportunity to engage people proactively in their healthcare journey and strengthen the relationship between people and digital health technology.

To find this balance there are four key winning ways outlined in the Business of Experience research that could help guide health and life science leaders:

Obsess about customer needs – and use that as your compass

• Understanding user needs is particularly important where patients themselves don’t always know exactly what they are looking for. This focus needs to be the guiding principle throughout organisations, not just with those who work most directly with patients.?E.g. If you are using research on patient needs dating pre-2018 please stop - and get this updated - our needs have changed and our expectations have changed too. Please listen to how we think, feel and hope with much more recency.

Make experience innovation an everyday habit

• Establishing innovation across healthcare organisations is going to require a delicate balancing act. The creativity and speed needed to help organisations continuously innovate must be balanced against patient safety to ensure that new products and services are thoroughly tested and proven effective. Look for new partnerships, new ideas and nurture concepts yourself - if you are a senior person try to sponsor initiatives around innovation at all levels of your organisation and try to include everyone rather than nominate an individual person or isolated team. E.g. It's not Kevin's job to bring you start-ups that are fully developed, but maybe Kevin can help you all understand how to engage as a partner and help you appreciate what is needed to be successful.

Expand the experience remit across your organisation

• Driving an operating model and incentives across the organisation that changes the focus from engaging people at specific touch points to building engagement in every journey will be challenging. However, changes like upcoming Integrated Care Systems could be a key step in creating a seamless experience for healthcare users.

Sync the tech, data, and human agenda

• Integrating technology platforms, tools, data, and processes to enable human-centric healthcare at scale could provide the foundation for continuous innovation. The UK health system is uniquely situated to make the most of this opportunity, with its large single provider offering an opportunity for large scale integration but many other opportunities exist. I know this is hard, as in I really know - but the point needs stating (again and again).

As health leaders explore the implications of adopting a Business of Experience mindset, one aspect will remain critical: patient insight. Links are below including the UK Patient Survey. Let me know what you think of the full findings or on anything else.

Look out for my future blog posts, where I’ll go deeper into the above points. In the meantime, please feel free to share your thoughts and feedback.

Finny

Further reading:

• The original?business of experience?that I'm building on with my own lens on things. It's a cross industry position with a lot of research backing up the positive impact this approach can make. I've been working in this mode for a while and it's working whenever we make the changes and take the leaps.
• The?UK Patient Survey?that I've referenced.?This explores what almost 1200 people want from their health experiences and the role digital technology can play in delivering on those expectations. Thanks to Ashish, Jean and team.?
• The?Fjord Trends 2022?that recently released and keep me thinking. I'm not specifically referencing this above however I really like it and thought it was worth a plug. If you've got this far in the article - surely you're willing to take a look if you haven't already.

P.S. I've nothing against Kevin. Let's empower Kevin to have greater impact ;-)