Benefits, Challenges and Obstacles

Why have companies implemented digital solutions and what has stopped them?

For what reasons have you introduced or are planning to introduce these technologies?

Health (68%) is unsurprisingly the biggest reason for introducing new technologies, and more specifically, improvement/ expansion of intended use coming out on top. Establishing better scientific data was close behind with 46% of respondents quoting it as a benefit. Conversely, COVID-19 appears to have had little impact, with just 13% of respondents saying it was a reason for implementation.

Selected other reasons:
"Accelerate product development"
"Compliance in remote working environment"
"Customer preference"
"Data Protection"

"Managing increasing complexity"
"Process and data quality optimisation"
"Regulatory requirements"
"Time"

How difficult have you found each of the following challenges
when introducing digital solutions?

Clinical validation was rated as the biggest challenge when introducing digital solutions, with an average rating of 3.88 out of 5, closely followed by budget and resource (3.81). Strikingly, almost no respondents said any of the issue were not at all challenging, with the vast majority admitting at least some hurdles to overcome.

*Excluding 'Not applicable'

What are the biggest obstacles to implementing digital/AI solutions into your business?

For those areas where digital or AI solutions haven't been implemented, regulatory compliance/ market access, and cost were cited as the two biggest obstacles - each with 47% of respondents. At the other end, reimbursement (24%) and bandwidth/ network coverage (19%) are relatively uncommon issues.

How well do you think your organization understands the quality and
regulatory landscape associated with AI/digital technologies?

Understanding the quality and regulatory landscape is essential to successfully implementing new digital solutions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most respondents felt their organization had some, but not full understanding of most of the technologies. Augmented reality is the least understood, with 28% admitting they have no understanding of its ladnscape. At the other end, 20% feel they have a full understanding of mobile applications.

In your opinion what are the most important advantages that AI/digital solutions
will bring for your organization? (Selected responses)

"Smart closed-loop medical device therapies”
“New IP-issues for legal advice, getting regulatory authorities and health ministries on board for policy making”
“Ability to scale, consistent quality output, value add for clients”
“Better products”
“Competitive edge”
“Faster development timelines, reduced cost”
“Improved business financials - less wasted, increased efficiency etc. Plus potential to bring products to market faster.”
“Improved market penetration and better products”
“Interaction with patients”
“Mass data management”
“Data collection and analysis”
“Analysis of meta data”
“Speeding up of processes, improved detection of signals in different fields”
“Scalabilty, replicability, shorten time to market, and reduced cost”

“Lead to automation”
“Speeding up of processes, improved detection of signals in different fields”
“Market relevance”
“Marketable early disease prediction software”
“Quality, lesser cost and quicker timelines”
“More and better data”
“Chance to work with the NHS jointly”
“Staying ahead with the changing technological trends”
“Greater market access and accumulation of data”
“Competitive advantage”
“Speed and accuracy”
“Operational efficiency, differentiated offering, customer lockin”
“Prediction and diagnosis”
“Rapid analysis of non-homogeneous data sets”