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On the first day of Christmas we heralded a drone…buzz buzz buzz buzz…
On the second day of Christmas we talked reality…virtual, augmented and mixed…
On the third day of Christmas we tightened up on Slack…teams and workplace…
Today, we unveil #9 in our Disruptive Christmas countdown. On the fourth day of Christmas…we zeroed in on health…
So far we’ve covered the disruptive influence of Drones, Virtual Reality and Slack. Today we get a bit heavier as we look at how big data and health are colliding to disrupt everything from fitness to insurance. Some swear by it’s miraculous impact. Bottom line is that being healthier is more valuable than ever.
The intersection between health and tech is an intriguing one, especially as much of the Western World are obsessed with health and fitness.
The Battle of the Bulge is no longer fought in the trenches, or even at Weight Watchers meetings – that is so 90s. Now, every health-conscious individual is glued to their smartphone or wearable device which easily monitors their calorie intake, heart rate, steps taken as well as a whole host of other information that helps them live a longer life and pursue a more sustainable lifestyle.
Professionally and academically, what this means is that medical professionals and researchers now have far more data to play with than ever before. The testing cycle and timeline will shorten. The sample size will grow. They can learn an immense amount about you without ever even having to meet you. This will see significant advances in the fields of medicine and health.
On smaller scales of course, this data has been circulating for years, however, it has been stored at individual hospitals or surgeries, making its impact extremely limited.
But as we move into 2017 that is all set to change with companies such as the recently created Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, which apart from aptly sounding like something out of Star Trek, aims to use data to form a far more detailed picture of the patient. This data will not only be helpful in isolation, but will be compared to thousands of others to help track specific issues affecting the population as a whole.
And talking of Star Trek, the Tricorder is getting closer to reality.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a trend if Apple wasn’t in on the act. Apple and IBM have just announced a partnership which will see the two companies work together on a big data health platform allowing iPhone and Apple Watch users to share IBM’s Watson Health cloud healthcare analytics service with the aim of gaining some new medical insights.
The image above shows the Apple Health app dashboard from the iPhone. This market is accelerating. The impact is astonishing and we’ve only just begun. The impact on health and insurance will be phenomenally disruptive.
Not only will this technology help everyone behave more healthily but it genuinely provides researchers with invaluable information that could help save lives.
Do you use health apps or wearables? What impact will more health-conscious and informed/aware consumers have on your business?
If you would like to discuss how big data and health will impact your business model (and it will one way or another) and how your business can leverage this disruption swiftly, or if you have any brand, marketing, social media, content marketing, email marketing etc related questions in general, feel free to drop us a line at [email protected]
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