FUTURE Perspective is a quarterly newsletter written by Elaine Cameron, head of Strategic Research & Trend Analysis at Burson-Marsteller EMEA. The newsletter focuses on trends that have concrete communication takeouts.

1. March 2010

2. Key trends driving healthcare technology adoption Barriers to healthcare technology adoption
HEALTHCARE/TECHNOLOGY: ➔ Escalating Healthcare Costs: Public healthcare
➔ Security Concerns & Resistance to Change
The Rise of M-health systems and healthcare insurers are increasingly Although the implementation of online and
concerned about the rising cost of delivering care mobile health technologies is appealing and
to patients. impressive, their proliferation into more
healthcare fields could take time due to issues
➔ Increased R&D Spend in Pharmaceutical like:
Industries: Implementing wireless applications o potential security breaches
into discovery & development stages of clinical o perceptions of unreliability
R&D could reduce time by up to 30%. o inherent resistance to change amongst
healthcare professionals
➔ Greater Uptake of EMR/EHR: Many healthcare
providers are now using Electronic medical COMMUNICATIONS TAKEOUT
records (EMR) and Electronic Health records
Innovative technologies are rapidly transforming (EHR). The e-prescription and EMR markets are
healthcare delivery, although there is still work to be estimated to reach $166.7 million in 2013.
done to allay fears about security and overcome
inherent resistance to change. ➔ Reduced Admin Burden: Wireless and online
technologies considerably reduce burden on
M-Health = E-Health nurses and therapists. Technologies such as PDAs
(Personal Digital Assistant), smart phones and
Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) can also aid patient- • There are many opportunities surrounding the
➔ E-health can mean creating electronic versions of
patient records across a national system while M- centric healthcare by providing details of patients mobile & wireless future of healthcare, not
health can serve as access points to provide remote including clinical histories & lab reports . least for those companies involved in the
information to healthcare providers. These financing or development of these
technologies find a wide array of applications that ➔ Drive towards Evidence Based Decision Making: technologies. New products coming to market
include remote data collection , disease and Electronic medical records (EMRs) offer one way
will need assistance in differentiating their
epidemic tracking and diagnostic and treatment to help align what doctors do & what the best
offering in an increasingly crowded
support . evidence says they should do. At a basic level, marketplace.
EMRs gather & organize health information. But at • In order to overcome industry resistance,
➔ Healthcare telecom spending is expected to grow 44% their best they offer "decision support," reminding
change management programmes would help
over the next three years from $8.6 billion to $12.4 the doctor of a test that might be needed, to minimise the challenges placed on
billion. The mobile health market will reach an pointing out a worrying health history trend or
healthcare practitioners and support staff.
estimated $4.6 billion opportunity by 2014. warning against prescribing the wrong drug. • Negative perceptions can be shifted with
Betting that EMRS will improve quality of care, the sensitive and evidence based communications.
Obama administration has earmarked $19 billion
to give EMRs to doctors.
WATCH: FUTURE OF WIRELESS MEDICINE
http://www.bit.ly/btbwC8

3. CONSUMER/TECHNOLOGY: Turf Wars COMMUNICATIONS TAKEOUT
Location, Location, Location ➔ Now the big players are getting in on the act.
Google released a location-based service,
Location-based services such as FourSquare and
Latitude, a while ago and its new social
Gowalla are being hyped as the “next Twitter” and
platform, Buzz, can track locations, too and
even the “new Google.” Privacy concerns have so far
Twitter has begun to experiment with
largely been ignored or glossed over.
geolocation features.
New Kids on the Block
➔ Meanwhile, according to reports, Facebook
will begin allowing its 400 million users to
➔ Location based services could generate nearly $13 share their location in the next couple of
billion in revenue by 2014. Location-based mobile
weeks. The aim is to go head to head with
spending will hit $4 billion in 2015, an increase of • Foursquare and Gowalla are taking the best
Google as a destination for small, local
nearly 12,000% from the $34 million spent in 2009. practices of traditional marketing and loyalty
business ad dollars. It makes a lot of sense:
with over 400 million users, FB has a programmes of the past and tweaking them
➔ The obsession with knowing where users are is a veritable wealth of information to mine and for today’s media savvy consumers. In so
sign of the importance of the mobile internet, doing, they’re moving customer involvement
sell to small businesses. With the addition of
which is growing more quickly than desktop into a whole new dynamic and could perhaps
location based data, they’ll also be able to
internet usage did thanks to the availability of high- overtake Twitter in the process.
target in-service ads.
powered mobile phones, 3G coverage and the pull • For companies starting to engage in social
of social networks. media, it is wise to spread involvement
Privacy concerns
across several networks to avoid being left
➔ Facebook asks “What’s on your mind?” and Twitter behind when one falls out of favour.
➔ Both Foursquare and Gowalla offer incentives
wants to know “What’s happening?” but new social • Privacy concerns need to be addressed from
to drive user activity. If you’re the most
networks are focusing on a different question: an enterprise viewpoint [see next page].
frequent visitor to a location in Foursquare then
“Where are you?” Services such as Foursquare,
you become its “mayor”. Many places, such as
Gowalla and Rummble allow you to “check in” at bars,
cafés, have begun offering discounts to their READ: 9 KILLER TIPS FOR LOCATION-BASED
restaurants, clubs and even offices and railway
mayor. Meanwhile Gowalla has begun adding MARKETING
stations so that your friends know where you are. You
virtual items, such as iPhone cases, that can be http://www.bit.ly/dtVkPe
can use services on your mobile phone to find places
collected and used to enter competitions.
that have been recommended by your friends, or by
strangers.
➔ However, once the fun of the game element
wears off, some users are left with concerns
about privacy and worries that they will be
targeted with location-specific adverts.

4. ➔ As a result, companies are rushing to change
ORGANISATION/TECHNOLOGY: privacy and social media policies and deploy COMMUNICATIONS TAKEOUT
Information Protection technologies to prevent
Privacy: a Growth Industry such leaks and losses.
•The public is highly concerned about how its personal ➔ This raises questions of a Big Brother nature,
information is collected, stored & processed. where policing or blocking of personal email
•Technology companies compete to create new accounts is the norm in corporations. Add to this
applications that will analyze personal data & meet the conundrum of unregulated microblogging sites
new needs, such as the ability to broadcast one’s GPS such as Twitter and you have a recipe for deep
data to family and friends. distrust and unrest between companies and
•The government is interested in access to personal employees. • Companies need to maintain a clear IT policy
data for law enforcement, regulatory and and educate its users on its importance.
administrative purposes. Legislation Lagging Behind • Auditing and tracking data loss incidents
•And the media, when not reporting on the latest should be an integral part of any enterprise’s
privacy invasions by companies or government, is ➔ More recently a surprising new trend has Information Protection Strategy.
publishing “tell-all” stories on anyone viewed as emerged, where judges and legal experts are now • Consider the use of private microblogging
newsworthy. advocating for enhanced employee rights, services like Yammer that offer platforms
especially in relation to electronic privacy. The that are safe from hackers.
Top Secret prevailing norm, however, is for employee emails • Employees need to measure the impact of
to be collected and scrutinised because they the information they share online to ensure
➔ The recession, combined with new technology, is reside on servers to which employers have access. they are not damaging either their own or
sparking new skirmishes between employers and Cloud computing is bringing yet another their company’s reputation by their personal
employees over leaks of sensitive and confidential dimension to this debate. revelations. Robust social media guidelines
information. Data loss is a major, often are a must.
unmeasured, issue for companies. ➔ The web also ends up reinforcing old power • The instantaneous nature of the internet is
structures as those with the financial and technical changing internal and external
➔ In a recent survey, 14% of US employees admitted resources to do intensive data mining (the communications. Important announcements
.
they had sent confidential or potentially management, workforce and investors of tech can no longer be flagged internally days
embarrassing company emails to outsiders. companies) hold power over those who casually earlier, but should be communicated
share data. Behavioural tracking and constant internally & externally simultaneously.
➔ From an enterprise viewpoint, the volume of optimisation of user interface design and
sensitive data has grown exponentially, exposing advertising not only allows these companies to READ: LIFE RECORDERS – WOULD YOU
companies to increasing risks relating to the loss of satisfy consumer desires, but influence them. WEAR ONE?
data. The average annual cost of data loss is $1.8m http://www.bit.ly/61f0r
among enterprises that can quantify it. The ➔ Overall, privacy law is failing to keep pace with
majority of data loss goes unreported, or remains technological change.
undiscovered.

5. HR/ORGANISATION Fundamentals Become More Important COMMUNICATIONS TAKEOUT
Social Recruiting ➔ Twitter & Facebook are social media tools and as
such they are not going to replace recruiting
Social recruiting is engaging with users and using social fundamentals. Instead they will highlight
media tools to source and recruit talent. This trend is everything that is already wrong with your current
increasingly crossing over from the recruitment industry recruiting process.
into corporations.
o A badly written job description will not • The rise of social media in the workplace and
Reshaping the Search for Talent get more attention from great candidates beyond makes it vitally important that
just because you posted it on Facebook companies ensure social media is integrated
➔ Corporate recruiters are getting more proactive or Twitter – in fact it will get less because
and following in the footsteps of recruitment into their existing recruitment strategies.
there is so much more competition now • Just registering for a Twitter account & using
agencies in the use of social networks to provide for people’s limited attention.
company information and set up interest groups this for recruiting is not enough. Companies
o Attracting more candidates through a must be authentic, include real voices of their
to source candidates. clever social media outreach campaign employees and engage Millennials in
will only make you look bad to more conversations they are already having online.
➔ CareerBuilder.com found that 37% of surveyed people if your hiring process is flawed.
employers plan to put a greater emphasis on • As ever when engaging with social media, it is
o Candidates who have a poor interview important to have robust and transparent
social media in 2010 to create a more positive experience with you now have so many
brand for their organisation. usage guidelines in place.
more places to voice their A USER’S GUIDE TO TALENT RECRUITMENT
disappointment, through Google’s THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
➔ As social media is increasingly used inside Sidewiki, or Glassdoor, Diigo, Twitter or
companies to increase collaboration, http://www.bit.ly/9F2UG7
other emerging sites. And their comments
communication and innovation, it has become will do more to define your recruiting
important for recruiters inside and outside the brand than anything you are thinking
company to locate prospective employees who about doing with your website. CONTACT
are also users of social media.
➔ Social recruiting is about experimentation &
➔ Some companies are going beyond posting To request further information, give feedback
opportunity. At the same time, it is important not
tweets about new positions to using the wisdom or suggest a future topic for the newsletter,
to forget that job seekers are in the public eye and
of the crowd to write a new job description or to please contact:
respect their privacy. This, of course, works both
decide on a new job title . This was the case with ways and there have been some high profile cases
our own B..L Ochman @whatsnext who Elaine Cameron
of potential employees being caught out because
crowdsourced the title of her new role “Head of Strategic Research & Trend Analysis, EMEA
they have not measured the impact of their social
Emerging Technologies” at Burson-Marsteller. This elaine.cameron@bm.com
media exposure. There are even apps to perform
spawned a number of blog posts and dozens of psychological profiling on Twitter feeds, so
tweets and conversations., all raising the profile of And don’t forget to follow on Twitter:
candidates need to think hard before they tweet.
the company and the position. http://www.twitter.com/FUTUREPersp