By Colin Neale, principal business development manager, Wireless Logic
As Europe’s digital health market is set to more than double by 2030, the shift to connected care is accelerating rapidly.
Healthcare’s digital deployments are scaling, as is its dependence on IoT connectivity.
In IoT deployments, cost is often misunderstood and connectivity is frequently treated as a marginal expense.
Yet, understanding long-term total cost of ownership is critical to the success of healthcare’s IoT ventures.
Of all the sectors managing the shift from analogue to digital, healthcare must be vigilant to cost of ownership.
The IoT can help shorten care journeys, free up hospital capacity and provide advanced data insights for improved care, but if projects become too expensive for healthcare to maintain, they are liable to fail.
The IoT at work in healthcare
IoT can enable patients to monitor long-term conditions, such as diabetes, remotely in their own homes, clinical trial organisations can gather patient information efficiently and securely through cellular connected devices, whilst ambulances with tablet-based patient records can provide on-the-spot care management.
These solutions, and more, are practical applications of the digital vision we all share for healthcare’s future.
Efficient, convenient care; cost-effective, comfortable chronic condition management; joined-up data where it’s needed, when it’s needed that is simple to access, and deeper analysis of data collated from multiple sources.
The cost of IoT to healthcare
However, healthcare must manage the cost of IoT deployments carefully.
Many healthcare leaders may think this starts and ends with the initial purchase but there are actually several major sources of costs to consider, from data management and network infrastructure to hardware.
Organisations that choose to manage their own IoT connectivity relationships often underestimate the cost of managing multi-network deployments across regions, navigating roaming agreements, handling SIM lifecycles over multi-year device lifespans, and mitigating the impact of network sunsets such as 2G and 3G switch offs.
Additionally, there are potential unknown costs, such as those that can result from inadequate security or backup options, without which healthcare trusts and providers could find themselves dealing with unexpected outages.
In a healthcare setting, these failures carry more than just financial implications.
A loss of connectivity can disrupt care delivery, delay clinical decision-making and introduce regulatory and reputational risk.
How to calculate the cost of IoT
Colin Neale
How much each IoT project costs will vary enormously according to many factors, such as the number of connected devices, the geographical spread of the deployment, the complexity of the application and many more considerations.
There are estimates of average costs. One suggests an IoT application costs $30,000-$500,000+ to develop, but estimates might not include all cost elements.
What is clear is that many IoT projects overspend.
One report mentions research findings that large projects often run around 45 per cent over budget and deliver 56 per cent less value than anticipated.
The first pitfall to avoid when costing an IoT project is leaving costs out.
IoT total cost of ownership is all that matters, it is a complete measure of how much an IoT solution costs over its lifetime. That’s upfront spend, implementation and ongoing costs.
Project teams and leaders must therefore take a structured approach to calculating complete costs using a total cost of ownership framework.
This should include all major cost components including, but not limited to, hardware, software and platform, connectivity, network infrastructure, data management, scalability and security.
Connectivity should not be treated as a simple line item within this framework.
The choice of connectivity architecture and the ability to manage devices remotely can significantly influence both cost and resilience over time.
Early planning and architecture choices can reduce expenditure further down the line and prepare for deployments across multiple sites.
The IoT project team must understand the project’s objectives fully to avoid expensive redesigns later on.
Then, it should create a budget outline, using a framework that covers all cost elements, and then build on this by going into the detail of each of the cost factors.
At this point, the team must be clear on the solution’s specifics, as these affect total costs.
Factors such as device locations will impact logistics and resources, whilst growth plans over time will make a difference to data storage costs.
How to avoid IoT overspend
IoT overspend can happen at any time, not just before a solution is launched.
Costs could spiral after devices have been installed, or years down the line.
Unexpected costs, such as those caused by outages, security breaches or penalties resulting from regulatory non-compliance can damage overall costs catastrophically.
For example, devices that silently drop off the network can require costly manual intervention, increase support overheads and disrupt care delivery.
These costs quickly outweigh any initial savings from lower-cost connectivity choices.
To minimise the risk of this, healthcare providers and operators must build security, compliance and resilience into solutions.
Security breaches damage reputations, trust and finances. Costs come from making reparations and potentially paying damages.
There can be costs associated with contingency solutions delivered in haste to plug the gap created by the loss of the IoT service.
Comprehensive security, rigorous testing and predictive maintenance can therefore save costs over the lifetime of IoT installations.
Maximising resilience also means implementing firmware-over-the-air updates and monitoring for potential anomalies that could indicate a breach.
It extends to deploying software fixes and security patches diligently and interrogating analytics to identify emerging issues.
In more mature deployments, proactive monitoring and remote device management reduce the need for field interventions, helping control operational costs at scale.
Redundant systems and failover mechanisms are also good investments to provide continuity in the case of unplanned downtime, and automated incident response can accelerate recovery to get solutions back online as quickly as possible.
Plan for IoT success in healthcare
Healthcare trusts and providers must call on expert guidance for their IoT projects as they get to grips with their digital solutions.
They need the assurance that all IoT costs have been factored in and that factors such as security, compliance and resilience aren’t neglected.
If they are, they could lead to unwelcome costs further down the line, not to mention potentially devastating IoT outages that could impact organisational operations and patients.
Working with a connectivity solutions provider that understands the complexities of healthcare environments can play a critical role in controlling IoT total cost of ownership and ensuring reliable, continuous care delivery.
