Medical technology (MedTech) has paved the way for many innovations throughout the decades, saving and improving countless lives. Without MedTech technology, many diseases that have been eradicated would still exist and everyday medical devices and solutions we take for granted would not have been created. We’re currently witnessing this technology in action as COVID-19 vaccines were developed and rolled out in record time.
However, there is still more progress to be made and these technologies have yet to reach their full potential, with many modern diseases and illnesses out there that can be defeated or treated with MedTech. This is where agile transformation comes in. While it has become a buzzword in many industries lately, it can be particularly beneficial to the medical landscape to rapidly increase innovation and breakthroughs.
What Is Agile Transformation?
Agile transformation is defined as the process of transforming and improving an organization or industry’s nature for it to be more flexible, adaptive, and self-organizing against an ever-changing environment of demands and progression. The benefits of agile transformation can allow businesses to react faster, do more with less time and resources, and better serve their clients and customers. It is a fundamental change to the way a business operates, requiring the transformation to be both comprehensive and iterative. The transformation journey must affect every aspect of the business while keeping in mind that not everything can be planned upfront.
Does the MedTech Industry Need Agile Transformation?
Despite its many benefits and contributions to modern society, MedTech has yet to unlock an organizational structure to bring innovation and productivity to the next level. As medical projects become more complex, many different stakeholders are involved and release cycles get shorter. With the seemingly constant evolution of healthcare challenges, a change and improvement in structure could help the field react and innovate faster, giving humanity a better chance of staying ahead.
Agile transformation can also bring a different perspective to an industry that has not always stayed ahead of the curve with business best practices. It can offer an opportunity to examine what’s working, what needs improving and create more productive teams.
What are the Challenges?
Along with implementing change comes challenges. As stated earlier, the agile transformation has to happen at every level of an organization and in every area. This requires culture change, consistency, and time for learning. It can also necessitate the help of experts to teach the framework of agile transformation and guide implementation.
Currently, in the MedTech industry, product development and release cycles have gotten faster than ever before with constant updating needed to keep pace with the market and the latest bug fixes. This means that every quality check, every product deadline, every alignment, and every re-validation must be part of a consistent process. An agile approach can provide a framework for keeping every element of product development on track.
There is also the issue of experimentation versus experience. With agile transformation, teams will need to be open to trying new things and not only relying on past experience or what has worked for other industries. Teams will need to be on their toes when making changes and documenting what works and what doesn’t to make real improvements.
With these challenges, it can seem almost impossible to find ways to work faster and better and reduce the time to market. But, with these challenges do come some opportunities.
What are the Opportunities?
Despite the challenges, there is no denying the opportunities for positive change that agile transformation presents. Businesses in the MedTech industry are at the cutting edge of new products and solutions that can benefit lives so it’s important they have optimal processes in place to get products out the door as quickly as possible. If teams have a common goal – for example, reducing the time to market for a new product – an agile environment will allow for all disciplines to work closely together. Additionally, stakeholders can create a roadmap for products, from development to testing to QA to release.
Agile processes also allow for more transparency of the product pipeline, including deliverables, roadblocks, and achievements along the way. This can lead to quicker identification and solutions to problems, allow for course correction, and help manage risk. All while staying on schedule to create first-class, high-quality, safe, and effective products.
Conclusion
There are many ways in which the MedTech industry can benefit from the proper introduction and intervention of agile transformation. Not only can it enable the whole industry to improve and progress with the demands of society, but it can also help improve procedures and processes that get potentially life-saving health interventions out on the market. An improvement in culture can even usher in new ideas and upgrades that the industry had previously overlooked.
At AscentCore, we offer end-to-end product development services designed to transform, improve, and scale modern companies toward their full potential. Using an agile methodology for rapid, continuous delivery of useful software, we can help your business build stronger and better digital products. Contact us today to see how we can help your business.
