Choosing eHealth for a sustainable future
Article:
Telenor Objects will strengthen its focus on eHealth and Assisted Living. Building on the Shepherd platform for M2M services, the eHealth solutions will be delivered in collaboration with local application partners, in Norway and in other Telenor markets.
Juan Carlos Lopez, Head of Technology and Products and Elin Heir, Head of Sales and Marketing eHealth in Telenor Objects.
Telenor Objects has since its inception been focusing on building horizontal service enablement functions for a range of M2M (machine-to-machine) application areas. The Shepherd© platform has been developed and released to support the vision: allowing any device to connect to any application.
As a result of changing market dynamics, Telenor Objects will from 2012 focus more strongly on the eHealth and Assisted Living segment. The Shepherd©platform is at the core of the eHealth offerings and will also be used locally by Telenor companies taking M2M eHealth solutions to their respective markets.
“In many countries the number of old and retired people is steadily increasing while the percentage of people in work decreases. This situation represents a big challenge to public health care providers and in Telenor Objects we are actively responding to this challenge by defining our new role mainly as a player in the eHealth segment. From 2012 we will focus our M2M activities and strengthen our position in this segment,” said Juan Carlos Lopez, Head of Technology and Products in Telenor Objects.
The Shepherd© platform allows Telenor companies to work with local application partners who already have close relations to public health care providers.
“We started developing and testing this platform in Norway at an early stage and it is now ready for other markets. The concept has already been well received in Telenor Hungary who is preparing eHealth offerings together with a local partner,” Juan Carlos Lopez said.
Value adding caring services
Caring services is a collective term for a variety of technologies which contribute to a more efficient and demand-controlled care, allowing people to get help when they actually need it, including smart home technology, body sensors, tracking technology, administrative technology, and automated machines.
Telenor Objects eHealth solutions based on the Shepherd platform do not start from scratch but are adding value to existing caring services and customer relations. In Norway, Telenor Objects is collaborating with Visma, the leading supplier of patient journal services for Norwegian municipalities, and Telenor Norway who supports Telenor Objects with its existing sales force.
The successful Norwegian market trial with Visma last year included sensors for measuring blood pressure and oxygen saturation in the blood and for detecting falls and bedwetting. The project showed that care personnel could improve the quality of their services while adding minimal changes in their way of work. By receiving important information electronically, the care personnel could reduce the travelling time between clients and increase the time for those who needed it most.
“After completing the trial with Visma last year, we are now in the midst of preparing a beta phase with minimum four municipalities, starting up this summer. We are talking to different partners and prospects customers, covering most of the Norwegian municipal market. The beta phase will provide further learnings and we expect to have several commercial installations at the end of the year,” said Elin Heir, Head of Sales and Marketing eHealth in Telenor Objects.