Author: Lee St. James
Date: August 26, 2024
On August 21, 2024, GlobalDWS hosted the first in our new series of webinars designed to demystify technology adoption and provide a proven, efficient framework to help senior care administrators align their technology adoption activities with their overall goals and budget plans.
Operators of retirement homes and LTC residences are being inundated with technology choices promising to transform their operations, support staff, improve resident experience and more. Click below to view the video recording of this webinar:
About GlobalDWS:
GlobalDWS was founded in 2013 as a systems integrator. As far back as 11 years ago, Rami Wehbe and his co-founder, Yahya Saad, realized the growing need for and importance of 'digital workplace services'. The company helps customers integrate and leverage the latest technologies. The focus is on improving safety and sustainability, increasing productivity and contributing to greater employee and customer satisfaction.
And we are committed to delivering efficient, affordable and timely solutions. We enable the Future of Work.
The webinar opens with some definitions of the three areas of expertise that GlobalDWS brings to clients: Internet of Things, Service Robots and Artificial Intelligence and what we mean by Digital Transformation.
IDEA Framework:
As a Microsoft Gold Partner in AI and Data Analytics for over 8 years, GlobalDWS leverages Microsoft's IDEA framework to support our clients. The "I" stands for Inspire - it is so valuable to be inspired and to inspire your stakeholders. We can help you imagine the future and set some goals based on what you envision.
The D stands for Design - This is about exploring and assessing what is possible; conducting assessments and aligning your goals with your technology choices and budget.
The E stands for Empower - involving staff, residents, family members, volunteers and your community in trials to gather their feedback and perspectives and help them see the potential value. For many people, a demo brings the future to life. Seeing is Believing.
The A stands for Achieve - deploying the solutions, measuring the results and finetuning as needed to ensure your achieve your desired outcomes.
Global Market Trends in Technology Adoption:
Globally, long-term care spending is forecast to rise over the next 8 years at a compound growth rate of just over 6% per year. Canadian spending is expected to be aligned with these global trends. This is a massive market with over $13.6B spent on facilities-based LTC in Canada as of 2021.
However, the rise in spending is accompanied by some serious challenges -
- staffing shortages, burnout, injuries and increasing wage demands
-back office complexity and a dizzying array of technology options
- along with economic challenges including inflationary costs for supplies and relatively high interest rates
Challenges & Opportunities:
While there are significant challenges involved in balancing the budget, delivering quality care and meeting demands for regulatory compliance in the senior care industry, at GlobalDWS, we see challenges like these as opportunities to be solved through smart use of technology.
In 2021, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario published a detailed report called: "identifying and Harnessing the Potential of Technology in Long-term Care settings in Canada".
Some of their key findings include:
Residents of LTC homes, and increasingly those in retirement homes, have complex health and social needs.
It is important to engage all stakeholders in developing and adopting technology solutions
...perhaps the biggest barrier lies in our long history of NOT scaling up promising health innovations ...
If you haven't seen the report, please click the link here to view the full report.
INSPIRE:
The next section of the webinar was intended to inspire attendees with examples of successful technology adoption in Denmark, the Netherlands and Taiwan. Please click this link to view the video from Denmark. The research report from the Netherlands is here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10901-021-09888-z
The MDPI publication from Taiwan is here:
Technology Use Cases: Envisioning what's possible
An important part of the "Inspire" stage is to help people understand what the tech solutions look like and how they might benefit their organization. We covered 12 different types of technology as shown below:
After some interactive Q&A with the audience, the webinar continued by introducing our GlobalDWS Technology Adoption Business Model:
The GlobalDWS Technology Adoption Business Model is a key take-away from the webinar. Success starts at the base of the 'building' by establishing a solid foundation - you do that by initiating a digital assessment, creating a technology adoption plan and conducting pilot projects to test and validate the solutions you are most interested in.
The Technology Adoption Plan helps keep you focused on the vision you have for the future - the transformation you envision - but it also keeps you grounded in the need for a roadmap and step by step, incremental changes you can make in the short and medium term to build capacity and find savings that can help make room for future technology deployments.
Technology Adoption: FRAMEWORK for SUCCESS
We are certified at the federal and provincial level as digital adoption advisors and have developed technology adoption plans for businesses in many sectors.
At GlobalDWS, we have a 5-stage framework for conducting a digital assessment and developing a technology adoption plan in collaboration with our clients. These projects can be done in as little as 1-2 weeks or may take up to 6 weeks depending on how many options you want to examine and how much time you can allocate with your core team to discuss, prioritize and gather input from staff, residents and family members.
Before the final Q&A segment, we mentioned the new funding available to Ontario LTC Home Licensees - the Integrated Technology Solutions Program. GlobalDWS is happy to discuss how our technology solutions might be leveraged within the funding provided to eligible homes. Please contact us to explore further.
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