Learning while on a Moonwalk

Over the last years I have participated on a few different Moonwalks here at Tata Communications. 

A Moonwalk is where a cross functional team is formed to research a specific topic, learn what we can on present day, short term and long term future of the topic assigned and report back to our CEO and all employees on what we learned. The Moonwalks allow our employees to jump into an area that is completely new to them and grows their knowledge. Also gives them the freedom to truly explore.

The most recent Moonwalk i participated in was on "Technology and Services for the Ageing Population." This is a very broad topic so we early on decided to focus our efforts on Market Trends, Technology and Environments, opportunities and the futuristic view.

I wanted to share some of what we learned as the topic itself should interest everyone given we will all get old at some point.

The market shows

• People live longer now so there will be more required of senior care. Percentage of 60 years + is growing
• Wearables already play significant role in elderly care and is seen to become even bigger
• At home care or ageing in place is a necessity now, not a goal
• Problem and opportunity with caregiving demands
• Ageing population is slowly adopting the internet and technology
• Simplified everything (i.e. devices, access to data, reports, home care, etc.) is required
• Healthcare is getting more expense forcing more technology driven solutions to reduce costs
• Bringing health care via technology to the home or living facility is a key to the future ageing population care

Key transformation areas in the future of aging care:

• Home Care or Living Facility Care
• Caregiver Technology and Devices
• The growth of IoT, Smart Cities and Smart Homes
• Virtual Health
• A Persons Vitality and Longevity

Technology and Devices Explored

• Wearables and ingestible
• Monitors
• Mobile Apps
• Big Data, Analytics and Visualization
• Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)
• Drones
• Companionship solutions
• Physical Enhancement solutions (i.e. improve strength, mobility, etc.)

Key Challenges we see:

• Security Concerns
• Data Confidentiality
• Low Adoption
• False Positives with Wearable devices
• Data Accuracy
• Rapid Technology Changes
• Data Analytics
• Interoperability of Technologies
• Generation Gap Between Companies / Elderly

Smart Everything

• Foundation built on the people needs, smart homes and smart cities. Think Internet of Things (IoT)
• Creating age friendly environments are paramount to the future
• Enabling communications between the person and everyone in their life, including health care team, etc.
• Enabling connected health care
• Homes or housing adapted to the elderly needs
• Enabling and empowering social participation and inclusion
• Enabling adaptive public transport
• All of the above is anchored to the integrated Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to achieve better and more efficient health care and social services

Smart Homes for Elderly

• Home with cloud solutions for bid data storage and processing, analytics and reports.
• Wearable's feeding the home cloud data which is a mix of physical movement data (more likely to identify and predict health issues) and biometrics to see ones key health markers.
• Unified communication (UC) solutions to take the data KPIs and send caregiver alerts, doctor alerts, emergency alerts, specialist alerts, etc.
• The UC solution will also enable the social aspect for seniors who cannot leave their homes.
• The UC solutions will be used to engage transportation, etc.

Smart Cities for the Elderly

• Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud of things, Advanced AI, Big Data and Analytics
• Wearables, gamified fitness, surveillance technologies, personal safety
• Location based services, triggers to shopping and targeted marketing, voice to test, etc
• Surveillance systems, monitoring sensors, smart cards
• Robotics, drones, assistance robots, human activity simulators
• Social networks, dedicate space on key market apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Health and emergency care platforms plus crisis management apps

We found numerous areas for Tata Communications to work on and get involved with over time. When you look at our portfolio of products and services it is clear there are not many companies that are as well positioned to jump into the IoT, Smart Home and Smart City space than we are. Our strength is in our Ecosystem of services. 

Technology and Services for the Ageing Population is just one area that will see amazing growth while delivering life saving and sustaining solutions. I can see Tata Communications playing a critical role in this space.

If you are interested we also had some of our team members put together an outstanding documentary on our research which also includes interviews with some of the leading thought leaders in this space. Please message Katy Volo Sanchez to get a screening.