Mobile, Modal, and the Ambient Health Ecosystem

Euro RSCG Life 4D is committed to exploring ways in which the growing range of digital technologies can be harnessed to foster the interests of everybody who has a stake in health care.  We believe the disciplines of communication and influence applied through smart technologies can deliver significant benefits in terms of health outcomes, cost control and business growth. 

These insights are published in an occasional thought leadership series we call “4Thought” and today, Euro RSCG Life 4D has released results from online survey we conducted, which examined usage and uptake of mobile applications among a sample of 502 online users.  It’s entitled “4Thought: Bigger Than DTC? The Promise of Mobile Health” and you can download the report and the accompanying press release on the News & Awards page of this site. 

It’s an interesting read about a topic that will continue to grow in importance and impact.  The key takeaway is that digital health really looks like a mobile business, built on a series of key moments where we have the potential to facilitate real conversations and mediate real human connections – throughout the health journey. Because of this we have an incredible opportunity to put this to work for health brands by providing real utility at every touchpoint. Mobile will become a functional intermediary between brands, patients, and physicians: delivering information, apps, tools, and support geared to answer questions, providing comfort, and promoting healthy and compliant behaviors and practices.

Information and support is transmutable and will live in a “cloud”, accessed on-demand by patients and professionals. We have an unprecedented opportunity to be responsive to the “in-the-moment” needs of patients, their loved ones and caregivers. At multiple intervals throughout the course of even a single day, these needs translate to differential modes of use that demand it be served up through multiple devices, in multiple formats, to suit that particular mode of use – from research to reference to collegiality, and more.  Mobility doesn’t just mean portable, it means experiences that are liquid and adaptive – sensing and delivering what you need – and when. 

These moments, collectively, point us to the rise of “ambient healthcare”—that is, the implementation of the myriad digital, mobile and social tools available for health management.  We’ve grown accustomed to the idea that our immediate environment can harm our health.  We’ve become fearful of particles that cause allergies and bugs that cause disease and chemicals that cause cancer.  But, thanks to technology, we now have the real prospect of taking control and engineering an environment that actually fosters health.

With smart use of technology and psychology, the “ambient space” of everyday life has the potential to become a major factor in helping people manage their health better at all levels, from simple fitness all the way to chronic disease management.

Next week, in part two of this four-part blog, we will look at both the background and the exciting potential of ambient health communication.