Could we change the way we think about, and provide, care in our towns and communities – away from today’s siloes and towards more joined up experiences? And redesign things around people rather than buildings, bureaucratic boundaries or profit centres? That was the question I posed to delegates of the British Columbia Seniors Living annual conference this week in Whistler, along with an overview of some recent trends that are changing the ageing agenda. My presentation is below, in which I take some of the lessons of Nokia’s downfall and proactively apply it to retirement living.
As you can see in the presentation, I outlined the Aging2.0 journey and then suggested that technology is changing ageing in fundamental ways, representing both a threat and an opportunity to incumbents (in this case, the ‘independent living’ / retirement homes industry).
My personal experience with Nokia – I worked there in various capacities in Finland, UK and USA 2003-2010 – was that it’s possible to be at the top of an industry, and for that industry to be growing strongly and sucking in millions of more users and yet to still quickly and dramatically fall from grace.
Many people in retirement living sector (main focus here is North America but parallels in UK / Europe) doubtless think they’re in a strong position, as retiring Baby Boomers represent a wave of potential new residents. I’m not suggesting the industry will collectively face the challenges Nokia did, but I think it’s worth learning some lessons. The industry is at the same time being transformed, in Nokia’s case, two factors were changing fast – expectations and ecosystems – and they can apply to retirement living.
Lessons from Nokia: Expectations and Ecosystems
In terms of expectations, the lessons that made Nokia succeed were steeped in its DNA – high quality physical products, simple to use, bullet-proof software and great battery life. When I brought in one of the designers of Apple’s iPod to give a Speaker Series talk in Helsinki, senior Nokia executives were dismissive: they discounted the idea of anyone wanting to have 1000 songs in a mobile device, they said people would not want a fragile device that could’t survive a 2m fall onto a concrete floor and did not believe an iPod could soon incorporate the necessary technology to become a cellphone. Of course, hindsight is 20:20. But there were plenty of voices at the time who did see the potential, however, they weren’t in positions of power.
What consumers wanted was changing – they loved big glossy screens, despite that it shifted battery life from a week to a day. They loved being able to personalise their phones, not just with physical adornments and cases but with easy to change wallpapers and sounds. And they liked the options inherent in a robust developer community (delivering them access to the brands and content they loved).
I was speaking to an Apple exec recently who said Steve Jobs didn’t want an app store initially; indeed it took 2 years after the launch of the iPhone for the App Store to launch. But he changed his mind and built a world class ecosystem of third party apps, content and services. Nokia didn’t think big enough – media channels, restaurants, event taxi and hotel companies were not seen as being part of their ecosystem, yet now it’s unthinkable that a decent size services company doesn’t have an app for iPhone or Android.
Building caring communities
Retirement living is facing fundamental transitions. As tech savvy baby boomers start to look at their retirement options they’ll be looking for places that meet them where they are, both literally and figuratively. Their expectations of service, connectivity and accessibility will be shaped by today’s consumer tech world, and wifi alone will not suffice. They will want retirement communities embedded in the fabric of their local communities, not cut off and isolated.
Similarly, I think there’s an opportunity for retirement living to play a leading role in their local communities – opening the walls and letting the community in. Not only is it likely to provide a more engaging experience, but it will allow operators to start building links to the community and exposing their brand and services to people before they start thinking about making the move.
A number of innovative projects are already blurring the lines between community and care (see deck) and I suggested three specific examples of ideas that forward thinking operators could explore:
- Beyond the Walls. Offer services to people within 10m of the building, for example having people come in for culture, connections and food. PACE programs in the US have shown the power of bringing people to upgraded community centres, and Senior Planet is building porous community hubs in almost 100 US locations.
- Snowbird Life. Collaborate with other providers to allow people to move around and spend time in different locations (e.g. to be close to family members or follow the sun). This would require collaboration with competitors and new business models.
- Plugging Health Gaps. While many retirement communities are nervous about health regulations and licenses, there are ways to be a partner to the local health system, with one simple example: luxury hotels in Australia that offer post-maternity stays more cheaply than hospitals.
These are just a few tangible examples of what it could mean to start meeting changed expectations and developing a new ecosystem.
I left the BCSLA audience with a few questions: Are they ready for digital transformation? What do local communities and their customers actually want? What data should they be collecting and curating? And could BCSLA – potentially in partnership with our excellent local Chapter – become a local ecosystem ‘orchestrator’?
The talk seemed to spark some conversations that will hopefully gather some momentum about an industry-wide desire to meet changed expectations and start to develop new local ecosystems. I’m looking forward to see what progress is made by next year’s event.
