Tales of failure are lurid and compelling but never boring, even when the circumstances could have been avoided. In a panel at Health Datapalooza this week, Zeb Kimmel, CEO and Co-founder of remote monitoring startup, Atlas5D, sought to illustrate what can happen when a large company cannot shift gears and the cost of that intransigence.
It was in the early days of mobile health app adoption circa 2008. Kimmel was working with McKinsey & Co., and a drug company that had invested a sizeable amount in app development hired the firm to assess their app strategy. Over a period of time, through listening to focus groups and members of the group overseeing app development, it became increasingly clear that there was a disconnect between what the company thought consumers would be prepared to pay for the app and the reality. Although consumers liked the app and found it useful, they were not prepared to pay for it.
But when the time came to share that information with the company, the unit refused to change their strategy. The unit’s leader was committed to going down a certain path and it could not deviate and resisted efforts to shift its strategy.
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The pharma company had already moved so far ahead and had invested so much. They spent a fortune on this app and believed it would improve patients’ lives, Kimmell recounted. But they could not move the train further. The team leader was demoted and the entire team ultimately left because they were demoralized.
This is just a snapshot of what may very well be a much more complex situation than this description suggests. But the oft-repeated takeaway still holds. Don’t be afraid to fail, especially early in the process, and re-evaluate.
The pharmaceutical industry has come a long way since 2008 — most big pharma companies have digital health teams tasked with evaluating technology solutions, ideally not working in silos. They are not only developing pilots with digital health startups, and collaborating with technology partners such as Google, but they are also moving beyond pilots and supporting commercialization of apps and connected device technology. Some have applied for and received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Photo from Flickr user Craig Sunter – Thanx 2 Million ;-))
