One of the unique challenges of the healthcare industry is finding reliable data in a world of information overload. This is especially true for innovators looking to understand the market they’re entering. It can be challenging to know where to start and what type of information to search for.
Before you can make any decisions about your project you need to know what is going on with your competition and the healthcare market in general. Without that knowledge, you can miss out on vital opportunities, fall behind the competition, or overlook crucial insights about the best way to navigate the field.
However finding that information can be challenging. The journeys of healthcare innovations are notoriously difficult to track without the proper tools and many people do not know the type of information they should search for or the tools available to them. In this article we will cover why that is and what you should know to avoid this scenario.
Why is tracking health breakthroughs so difficult?
While progress in health can be slow compared to other industries, the ubiquitous need for better health and better health care systems creates an incredibly complex industry where important information can appear from anywhere in the world, at any moment. This is a cruel combination if you want to track the progress of technologies because any single innovation may not progress for 6 months at a time and the precious twice-a-year glimpse into its progress is easily missed and forgotten about.
As a result the industry generates a near endless amount of noise, especially considering the narrowness of any one professional’s expertise.
You only hear about breakthroughs every once in a while, and cannot follow the progress as it happens. Additionally, if a project hits a hurdle and gets stuck, it goes quiet and can slip off the radar. It is easy to lose track of a developing project when there are no new updates.
A quick search on Google will spit out literally millions of different results with no clear order to them. The main reason to do a Google search is not to read the news, that is a means to the end of understanding who is doing what then working out what it means for you.
It takes a great deal of time and energy to cut through the noise and extract anything useful about a project under development. It is hard enough to find updates on a technology that you know about let alone detect new technologies in other countries. And this isn’t a one-off problem. You need to repeat the process to maintain an up-to-date perspective of what’s happening.
What information should I look for?
One of the primary reasons that so many people find tracking healthcare projects difficult is that they tend to look for the wrong kind of information. There is a focus on quantitative data over qualitative in the industry, meaning people will overlook the soft narrative data that can still be helpful. Without knowing what type of data to even look for people can miss important information.
Qualitative data can be just as crucial as quantitative, especially when it comes to questions of business and commercialization strategy. Whether it is a press release or a social media post, this type of data can provide vital information. It is still evidence. Often, people misunderstand the term ‘evidence-led.’ It does not mean data-led but rather refers to finding the right, meaningful information that will give you a real insight into a project’s progress. Quantitative approaches attempt to use statistical rules to tease out evidence, but this isn’t always possible and many groups are hoodwinked into thinking numbers are more valuable than words.
How does Health Horizon help?
Not only does Health Horizon cut through the unnecessary data to deliver you with only the most crucial information, it also tracks projects in real-time. You will not experience a delay between the information coming out and you receiving it. Additionally, our system, once it begins monitoring a source, does not forget that source. It continues to track it even if it goes quiet, meaning that we will not miss technology that experiences a pause. We will be able to keep you up-to-date on even the most slowly developing projects.
We track the information clients want to know. Any available source they ask for, we check. Even if we have never monitored a source before, we will build it into the system and start studying it. This is just one more way that Health Horizon is more than a database. It is an ever-growing, adaptable data system that works to provide you the most crucial information you need. Our clients only need to give feedback about how useful the information is so that we can continue to cultivate a curated channel for them. We track updates in real-time and keep tabs on every project we have access to so that we can deliver the best array of information possible.
While researching the health industry comes with many hurdles, it does not have to be difficult. By using Health Horizon, you can simplify the process and have essential information delivered to you. If you are interested in trying out our platform, head over to our website. Create a channel for your project, and it will populate competitors for you to track from our curated database. Request a free demo for a deep dive into your competition.