The Journal of mHealth Vol 3 Issue 2 (Apr/May 2016) | Page 28

Going Global: A Recipe for Building an International mHealth Brand
Continued from page 25

government, but you have 150 different
health insurance companies in Germany,
that are providing these semi-private services? By contrast you then have the Swiss
or American systems, where the insurance companies are completely privately
run and the government has, I would say,
little impact on their operational issues.”
Regulation is one of the major differences
between markets, particular when discussing digital health. It is essential to understand the regional regulations relating to
mobile and digital health solutions and
then ensure that the product or service is
compliant. Of all the factors to consider
when building a global solution this is
probably one of the most important and
likely will be a major cost consideration.
Similarly, language is a major factor. In
some circumstances it may only require
simple translation of a digital product to
make it available to users in a different
language, but in many cases it will require
much greater adaptation and change
to take into account cultural, linguistic
and social factors when repurposing the
product for a new audience. For dacadoo
language is an important consideration.
In California, the company has a lot of
Spanish users, so it has been necessary to
consider things like the look and feel of
the solution, cultural issues, even down
to the way that the healthcare questions,
within the solution, are structured.
Disparities in adoption of
digital health services
When it comes to the adoption and use of
digital health products and services, some
global markets have been, so far, much
more receptive to these solutions than others. This means that there are still many
disparities between regions when it comes
to digital and mobile health use. The
nature of the digital health sector means
that the deployment and adoption landscapes, even within established markets,
are constantly changing. It is essential to
understand the digital hea lth trends that
are, or are not, evident within a particular
region prior to considering market entry.

cation, but they are very scared of digital
healthcare” says Ohnemus. “When we look
at the market today, what we have found,
so far, is that in Scandinavia people seem
to be very open towards digital and digital
health; but, the region remains a challenge
because traditionally Scandinavians are
used to most of their healthcare being paid
for by the government. But this is changing. We are seeing a new trend, which is
positive, where people are taking out additional private insurance on top of public
insurances, because the public healthcare
system, as in the UK, is more or less half
bankrupt and is not able to cope with the
desires of the consumers. We therefore see a
lot of ‘out-of-the-pocket’ private insurance,
and that is, I think, a general trend that we
will begin to see more of in those markets.”
“Where we see certain ‘reluctance’
towards digital overall is in Germany,
interestingly enough, despite the fact
that we are still growing there. Both Germany and France seem to be reluctant
when it comes to what I call the ‘something-for-something economy’ whereby
you provide some of your personal data
and, in our case, you get a lifestyle-based
insurance policy.”
“Examples of fast-moving, forwardthinking digital insurance markets are
America and Japan.”
“Interestingly enough, I don’t believe that
America, for any application, is the number-one market.” states Ohnemus. “Many
people say America is all in one and you
can go everywhere. But, when you actually start to really understand the American healthcare market, you will see, for
example, that Kaiser Permanente is strong
on the West Coast, you will see that Aetna
is probably stronger on the East Coast;
and that the Blue Shield are stronger in
the south. So, number one, you need to
understand logistically: who do you go
with and where are they strong?”

In Ohnemus’ experience with dacadoo,
certain markets have been more receptive
to the company’s platform that others.

For dacadoo establishing relationships
with local players that have existing
infrastructure and customers has enabled
the company to rapidly deploy the solution in multiple markets simultaneously.
It has also helped ensure the quality of
service delivery and establish reputation
much more quickly than trying to enter
a new market without support.

“Interestingly enough, some markets are
very advanced on mobile communi-

“Our experience has been if you go business-to-consumer, you need to have a

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April/May 2016

Intersog Partner Profile

Intersog Inc. (www.intersog.com) is an international provider of premium custom software
development specializing in delivery of full-service, end-to-end solutions for eHealthcare, IoT, Smart Tech,
Big Data and Cloud.
Intersog helps SMEs and established brands become tech savvy and deliver disruptive innovation to b2b,
b2c and b2e by providing cost-effective Collaborative Software Development Teams and resources onshore
(within the United States) and offshore (via Ukraine-based R&D Centers).
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower, Intersog is a global company of 150+
people in multiple locations.
Intersog fits perfectly in any software development partnership and empowers innovation with our 5 A’s
strength:
serious amount of funding.” says Ohnemus. “It’s very expensive to build up local
markets from scratch.”
“If you go business-to-business, then you
have to choose your partners very carefully. There are many players out there,
and a lot of them do not understand digital. We spend a lot of time understanding
local markets, local players, choosing our
partners carefully and supporting them,
day and night, 24/7. When you are in the
business-to-business space, the consumer
obviously doesn’t see you, so your partner
is the digital gateway to the digital health
economy, and you’d better empower your
partner with all the possible options.”
Having adequate finance available to fund
expansion plans and develop the necessary
internal and external business infrastructure to support that expansion is equally
important. dacadoo is a privately funded
organisation and to get to the position
where they are now, in such a relatively
short period of time, has required significant investment. There are many costs
involved with entering a new market with
a digital product. Whilst in some circumstances these costs will be less than exporting physical products the finance necessary to support a digital health solution in
a new market remains significant. This is
why it is extremely important to identify
those markets that will be most receptive
and then develop strategies to enter those
locations in the most effective and efficient way for the business. n

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The Journal of mHealth

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