Technology is a great thing. It simplifies our lives and gives
us the ability to do things we could not have done otherwise. Remember when
people carried personal CD players around? They could play an entire CD and
were relatively handheld. But then… the IPod came and we could play thousands
of songs hundreds of different CDs. Have
you ever wondered where these things come from? How does this evolution happen?
Really, it is simple. These ideas come from paying attention
and watching people closely. This is one of my favorite parts of product
management. As a product manager, it is my job to constantly pay attention to
everything. For example, I watch what is happening in the market, what
competition is doing, and how end-users use my product. From that, ideas are
generated. For example, I may see a person doing a particular task over and
over and I’d ask myself – ‘can’t we make that easier for them?’ or ‘how can we
do that better?’ Many times, the changes or development are not massive,
sometimes a little goes a long way at making the customer happy.
Other times, a new development is a disruptive technology
(translation = disrupting the status quo). For Apple, someone saw people stuck
with just one CD at a time and said ‘can’t I make that better? What if you
could have thousands of songs from many CDs all in one place.’ As we see now,
that person hit a home run for Apple.
These improvements can take many forms. The change can be
related to a new business model, a new marketing or positioning strategy, a new
look, improved technology, or a combination of many things. The most important
thing is to make sure that the customers want the change. The customers are a company’s
most valuable asset.
Now, perhaps, you are thinking “this isn’t about healthcare,
this is about technology. What is she doing?” Well technology is HUGE in
healthcare and it is only going to get bigger. Think about the insurance website
you log in to when you check if a doctor is in network… technology. Think about
robotic surgery … technology. Think about EMR and medical billing software…technology.
Electronic claims submission…technology. And the list goes on and on.
In this evolving world of healthcare, you had better be (or
become) tech savvy. With that, let’s start talking about technology.
