During the pandemic, companies adopted digital health solutions to make employees happy. Now, the focus has returned to fundamentals. Buyers demand solutions that demonstrably reduce costs, like insurance claims or sickness absenteeism, rather than just offering 'added value' perks.
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By allowing insurance companies to price plans based on biometric data (blood pressure, fitness), you create powerful financial incentives for people to improve their health. This moves beyond abstract advice and makes diet and exercise a direct factor in personal finance, driving real behavioral change.
Sales leader John McMahon explains that while perpetual licenses offered years to fix issues, today's consumption-based models can see customers churn in a week if they don't see immediate value. This demands an intense focus on rapid value realization.
Urgency is forcing a major shift in hospital procurement. CIOs are no longer willing to wait years for incumbents like Epic to develop AI tools. They are actively partnering with startups to deploy commercially ready solutions now, prioritizing speed and immediate operational impact over vendor loyalty.
Two dominant strategies are winning. Companies can either be the absolute best at one specific thing (e.g., musculoskeletal care, women's health) or build a platform that aggregates these best-in-class solutions into a seamless 'digital front door' for insurers and corporations.
By analyzing real-world data with machine learning, Walgreens can identify patients at risk of non-adherence before a clinical issue arises. This allows for early, personalized interventions, moving beyond simply reacting to missed doses or therapy drop-offs.
In the digital age, traditional metrics like hours are obsolete for knowledge workers. Productivity is a holistic equation including rest and recovery. As AI handles repetitive tasks, human effectiveness—fueled by well-being—becomes the key differentiator and a core driver of business value.
Instead of chasing futuristic 'shiny objects,' the most impactful digital initiatives solve tangible, existing problems. For example, using an AI model to predict when pharmacists will run out of medication directly prevents lost sales and improves the patient experience.
When pitching a wellness product to B2B clients, shift the conversation from a 'nice-to-have' perk to a 'must-have' financial tool. Use data, even if anonymized, to demonstrate how your product reduces tangible costs like workers' compensation claims, making it an investment with a clear ROI.
AI companies are pivoting from simply building more powerful models to creating downstream applications. This shift is driven by the fact that enterprises, despite investing heavily in AI promises, have largely failed to see financial returns. The focus is now on customized, problem-first solutions to deliver tangible value.
To create transformational enterprise solutions, focus on the core problems of the key buyers, not just the feature requests of technical users. For healthcare payers, this meant solving strategic issues like care management and risk management, which led to stickier, higher-value products than simply delivering another tool.
