Archive for November 13th, 2009

So, will digital medical records “bend the cost curve” … in the right direction?

November 13, 2009

Ken’s Take: As a a digital kinda guy — who worked with a start-up that digitized med records —  I’m naturally in favor of electronic medical records.

But,   I am a bit concerned about privacy issues and how gov’t will use my info.

Further, I’ve watched my doc struggle while inputting data to an online system and I’ve had digital prescriptions get lost and “corrupted” in cyberspace.  So, the below article struck a chord.

Now, I’m officially ambivalent on the subject. Anybody have a strong point-of-view

* * * * *

Excerpted from RCP: Government by Holiday Inn Express, October 27, 2009

Starting during the campaign, President Obama touted digital medical records to reduce errors, improve care, and cut costs. More than $19 billion of stimulus funds were earmarked for it.

But when the Washington Post examined the matter, they discovered that digital records not only fail to produce the promised benefits, they actually reduce efficiency and cause errors.

The digital systems currently available give physicians too much information. Pages upon pages of digital information document every conceivable ailment a patient might have.

Doctors have difficulty wading through all of the unnecessary data to reach the critical information.

One emergency room physician at a hospital that had adopted a digital system complained, “It’s been a complete nightmare. I can’t see my patients because I’m at a screen entering data . … Physician productivity and satisfaction have fallen off a cliff.”

Some hospitals have adopted digital systems only to abandon them.

Full article:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/10/27/government_by_holiday_inn_express_98882.html#

Posted in Health Care / Medical Insurance | Leave a Comment »

Deep thoughts …

November 13, 2009

Another worth-reading editorial by Peggy Noonan in today’s WSJ.  Subject is Obama’s “deliberative” process re: Afghanistan.

I thought the following thoughts had relevance beyond Afghanistan and politics.

Thought can be harder than action, weighing plans as hard as choosing and executing one of them. A question of consequence deserves pondering.

All often depends on the outcome. If a long pondered decision is sound and ends in success, history will not say the decision-maker was indecisive and Hamlet-like. If the decision results in failure, history will not celebrate a decision-maker’s wonderfully cerebral deliberative style.

The country’s mood now is intensely bottom-line. Americans aren’t concerned about Afghanistan because they are swept by democratic feeling and certain world peace will be enhanced if Afghans are able to vote in honest elections. They aren’t driven only by indignation that the Afghan government is corrupt, which it is.  And Americans aren’t motivated primarily by concern about Afghanistan’s inadequate infrastructure. They’re concerned about their own.

WSJ, Just the Facts, Mr. President, Nov. 12, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574531950422058942.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Posted in Deep Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Market segmentation is so yesterday … today, it’s self-selected “tribes”

November 13, 2009

TakeAway:  The power of the Web is undeniable.  It gives companies access to consumers in ways never thought possible.  Companies enjoy the luxury of leveraging online consumer groups for product development feedback, buzz generation, etc. 

Now, companies are flipping their segmentation strategies upside down and using consumer data gathered from the Web to build their segmentation strategies.  And, these companies are realizing cost and accuracy benefits.

* * * * *

Excerpted from Strategy & Business, “The Promise of “Self Segmentation”,” By Nick Wreden, October 5, 2009

… Today, a community-based approach to segmentation — which is both less expensive and more effective than the traditional methodologies based on customer relationship management (CRM) systems — is becoming possible …

Self-segmentation provides a foundation for leveraging customer experience and input … The rise in social networks and online communities, combined with the new era of the Web-empowered consumer … consumers are increasingly segmenting themselves into communities, based on common characteristics, passions, interests, or needs. Such “self-segmentation” is likely to be much more accurate and reflective of consumers’ attributes …

Companies can now bind themselves to consumer communities of interest or “tribes,” … such self-selected communities not only reflect consumers’ true interests but also involve their connection to others with the same passions. This opens the door to fostering brand ambassadors, enabling customer collaboration, and facilitating word-of-mouth cross-fertilization …

Since relevant communities represent self-selected groups who share one or more interests, marketers can substantially reduce the costs, time, and toil required to identify, and segment, qualified prospects … and the communities provide a better guide to potential purchasing behavior …

Interactions within communities represent an ideal listening post, enabling marketers to glean direct insights without the filter of market research …

Engaged participants can provide product development guidance and identify shortcomings in service or other areas to help a company improve its brand …

Companies can utilize three approaches to leverage self-segmented communities — engaging with social networks, tracking online communication behavior, and mass customization …

Segmentation is vital as mass marketing slips into irrelevancy, with information overload causing consumers to block out many corporate communications … But CRM-based market segmentation can be expensive, complex, one-dimensional, and static. It fails to accommodate the multidimensional nature of consumers … It leads to top-down initiatives that view potential customers as targets to be blitzed with campaigns, ambushed with messages, and subjected to guerrilla marketing.

In this new era of branding, companies must focus on ethnic, cultural, religious, sports, or other segments, not markets. This pivot could be achieved through CRM systems, but self-segmented communities of interest provide a more effective alternative. Such communities can provide fast, low-cost market research, generate ideas and feedback about new offerings, help improve corporate and customer-to-customer service, strengthen relationships, provide an early warning system about problems, and promote favorable word-of-mouth. It all starts with finding communities united by a passion or an interest, and talking with them, not at them.

Edit by TJS

* * * * *

Full Article
http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00004?pg=all

* * * * *

Posted in AMS Concepts-Frameworks-Examples, Internet - Soc Networking, Internet Marketing - eCommerce -, Mktg - Segmentation | 1 Comment »