The Bloor Perspective: Online healthcare, Lotus rebranding and Amex won over by the net

In 1999, a survey which was run by Dr Tom Ferguson in conjunction with the Sapient Health Network (now WebMD.com) indicated the internet was driving some major changes in the healthcare industry.

The survey posed 12 questions to just under 200 users of online medical support communities, each question representing a dimension of medical care and asking whether the patient (or should we say customer) found an online support group or a specialist MD or a primary care MD (which is American English for GP) to be the most useful resource.

The surprising outcome of the survey was that the patients surveyed preferred online groups over the primary care MD in 11 out of the 12 categories, and perhaps even more surprisingly, preferred online groups over a specialist MD in 10 out of the 12 categories. Only in help with diagnosis did both the primary care MD and the specialist MD come out ahead. The specialist MD also came out ahead in "best help and advice on management after diagnosis".

Apparently, 60 million people now use the web to find health information and a quiet revolution in healthcare seems to be occurring as a consequence. Support groups are highly prominent in this and many of them now sponsor research into the condition that they are there to support. There are even some that can claim to have taken a direct hand in improving treatments.

As a consequence, some doctors are now choosing to act as advisors to such groups - providing advice, often for free - in the hope of attracting patients. The next step could see patients prescribing their own drugs. The system in most countries insists that only a doctor is competent to do this but in reality an online support group is likely to have a more accurate knowledge of the pros and cons of relevant drugs and treatments.

The ultimate consequence of this is that the healthcare industry is gradually being turned upside down. You can think of it like this: Patients are deciding to take control of their own health 'transactions' and their own health 'data'. Healthcare organisations are becoming contractors for hire to assist in those transactions and in the provision of relevant data.

A certain kind of monopoly is being broken here. Other areas of human activity may well follow in the wake. Perhaps people will choose to take care of their own education and their investments in a similar manner.

*Re-branding iron*

There are some brands that feel as if they have been around forever. In the world of computing, the name Lotus certainly fits this mould. This month has seen a number of interesting developments, not least a decision to 'simplify' the names of many of the products within the Lotus portfolio.

IBM has announced that in future the majority of all Lotus technologies will be known by their functions rather than the current product names. This could be a bold move but the company has recognised some of the products do possess very high brand awareness while others may not be very recognisable. Thus, rather than throw the baby out with the bath water the company has decided the core Lotus Notes and Domino products will continue under their current names.

It is expected 2003 will witness a transition of existing product names to new identities in phases as new product releases are brought to market. IBM expects to release the new names throughout January until every product name meets the requirements of the planned brand structure. It is expected that over the year the old and new names will exist side by side with IBM eventually deciding when to do away with the old designations.

Some examples have been announced. IBM Lotus QuickPlace will be renamed IBM Lotus Team Workplace, Lotus Sametime (IM) will become IBM Lotus Instant Messaging while Lotus Sametime (e-meetings) will be rebranded IBM Lotus Web Conferencing.

It is interesting that last week also saw a number of senior personnel changes within Lotus. IBM software strategist Ambuj Goyal is taking over as head of Lotus from Al Zoller. Zoller is moving on to take over as general manager of the IBM eServer iSeries group. It is believed that Goyal is charged with increasing the Lotus market share in the SME space, a segment currently in the sway of Microsoft. Look out for IBM mounting a channel partner push.

While many attempts to rebrand products have been met with cynicism, any move that helps customers recognise what a product does and the areas in which it could deliver benefit should be a good thing. Overall, this should a useful change as long as Lotus concentrates on helping organisations focus on the tools and their suitability. Simplification is nearly always helpful. It's good to see a vendor recognise the fact.

*e-Amex*

Amex may be the commercial litmus test of the acceptability of the internet in 'corporate consumer' life. Amex has always been conservative in its adoption of new technologies. Recent remarks from its CEO, therefore, have a sound of authority and authenticity.

Amex has found the internet "has now transformed its business". Card payments are increasingly migrating online. Transaction and processing services, address changes, travel services and loyalty services are prime examples. Its CEO declared recently "we now have more interaction on the internet than by telephone".

Not wishing to make itself a hostage to the fortunes of the internet, Amex stresses old and traditional channels for sales, marketing and managing customer relationships should not be abandoned wholesale, especially in a world of rapidly changing technologies. Keep the technology portfolio balanced!

Amex still maintains a substantial call centre sales and technology promotion and distribution arm which produced over $150m in revenues in 2002. It uses centralised call centres on a continent by continent basis to answer calls and queries.

Perhaps most importantly for a company which, historically, believed it had to control all facets of its transactions and services, it has started to outsource some elements of its transaction processing and the attendant technology. For example, its data processing is now handled by IBM and it uses third parties for some of its logistics.

Amex has always moved cautiously and in a measured way, not losing its core competencies, services and ethos. So, when it starts to use technology to focus on its core competencies, one must assume the route is well trodden and relatively risk free.

**Bloor Research is a leading independent analyst organisation in Europe. You can find out more at http://www.bloor-research.com or by emailing mail@bloor-research.com .