Just as the rest of our society, the rate of change in the medical field service industry keeps accelerating. Field service leaders are tasked with identifying and implementing the latest strategies in the med-tech space. One place where leaders gather to learn about the latest industry trends and challenges is at the Field Service Medical conference. Field Service Medical is an interactive program incorporating workshops, roundtables and networking opportunities with top thought leaders in the medical device industry. Source Support was a sponsor at this years event in Huntington Beach.
Although there are many important topics and trends throughout the conference, some of my key takeaways are outlined below:
- The role of field services within many organizations has changed dramatically to reflect the changing demands of our own technology and our customers. With the healthcare industry putting a greater emphasis on outcomes, field service and customer success have become intrinsically tied together conceptually and functionally. For OEMs and service providers, our ability to scale our processes and service footprints while still maintaining a commitment to quality and customer satisfaction will be key to ensuring success.
- The medical technology and healthcare industry has seen massive changes in recent years but two of the most critical areas has to be the rise of IT/digitalization of medical devices and the concurrent changes to cybersecurity regulations as it relates to medical devices. The drive to imbed advanced technologies into medical devices has unquestionably been a benefit to all. It has led to numerous breakthroughs in improving patient outcomes, made delivering care much more efficient for medical personnel, and has even contributed to improving the bottom lines of many hospitals, labs, clinics, pharmacies, and doctors’ offices. On the flip side of this though is the looming specter of all technological advancements, cyber-threats. As cybertechnologies continue to become more intertwined into our medical care, so does implementing adequate protections to ensure patient safety from cyber-attacks. Governments around the world are emboldening their health and safety agencies to enforce strict cybersecurity guidelines on device manufacturers and hospital systems to ensure their equipment won’t endanger a patient’s physical safety or data privacy in the event of a cyber-attack.
- In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global workforce has undergone a serious transformation. Companies in all industries have experienced everything from the wave of resignations and retirements in the early days of the pandemic, difficulties hiring and balancing hybrid/WFH policies, to today where we see companies still struggling to hire but having even more issues keeping their workforce retained and engaged. Arguably, medical professionals and companies in the medical technology/healthcare space have borne the heaviest part of this burden as the demands on every aspect of the industry was strained to the max. As equipment manufacturers, software developers, and service providers, it is imperative that we figure out how to attract, train, and retain a new generation of field engineers. In a time where the complexity and capability of medical software and technology has never been higher, doctors, nurses and caregivers rely on all of us, especially in times such as COVID to help them save their patients’ lives.
We look forward to continuing the conversations and building relationships with the field service leaders in the medical technologies industry. Let us know your thoughts on the conference!
By Tom Bucinski, VP of Business Development, Source Support Services
For more information on Source’s outsourced service model, and how Source works with OEMs to augment their field service functions, please visit sourcesupport.com.
