Innovation. Convergence. Data Transparency.
Two articles caught my eye in the last couple of days. One from the Washington Postand the other from a blog posting. The first dealt with the need for data transparency and the second with convergence. Healthcare may be the one venue in which the combination of data transparency and convergence is greater than the sum of its parts.
Entrepreneur Yuri Milner believes that in any 48-hour period, there is more data created than the totality of humanity’s efforts in the past 30,000 year. His forecast is that by 2020, the same amount of data elements will be created in one hour. Data is often masked as proprietary data. One need not go any farther than the HIPPA regulations of 2012. They share nothing with the original intent and origins of healthcare privacy regulation and legislation.
Convergence is viewed as a subset of innovation. The brining together of disparate services, resources, programs, or parts into a single, unique and different product is the outcome of convergence. The authors dealing with convergence stated that convergence has “gone wild.” Citing a shirt that was laced with bug replant, convergence in our modern society as negative and without value.
“Convergence gone wild” is an oxymoron. If the objective of innovation is to provide a strategic benefit, the determination of a good or bad strategy will come with time and in consumer response. While the example you cite is a far stretch from the iPhone, iPad, or even Diet Coke Lime® or the ability to purchase only muffin tops – consumer demand will be the final determinant.
Convergence is deeper than consumer will or strategic proliferation. Implementation of convergence strategies is closely aligned with efficiency and effectiveness. Incorporating management theories de jour – Deming in the 70s to Lean in the 90s, convergence supports the notion of integration, collaboration, efficient investment of resources, and most importantly the opportunity to provide a new resource that the consumer didn’t realize was possible. In some cases, convergence is the operationalization of a vision or the what if conversation. Other times, convergence is the response to that’s simple…why didn’t I think of it.
Convergence is the result of new and/or disruptive technology applies to the status quo. The opportunity of millions of data elements for decision making coupled with the technology to mold those data elements into information that the human mind can comprehend, is amazing. Our ability to understand the value in this type of information and the rationale for investing in data warehouse to support transparent data integration, is either our hope for the future or our barrier to continued growth.
Convergence ultimately is an advance; bolding going where no person has gone before*. The value a convergence solution offers is measured in its change quotient as much as its financial impact.
*Homage to Gene Rodenberry, Star Trek.
Leave a Reply