Bridging Technology and Customer Perspectives - In Conversation with Nnamdi Njoku
MedTech has historically optimized its focus around how therapies are used in clinical settings. With the rising influence of consumers/patients, transitioning to a model that is optimized around the consumer/patient is a business imperative.
Today we are in conversation with Nnamdi Njoku — an agile leader passionate about healthcare equity. Having had a breadth of diverse experiences and the ability to develop healthcare technology strategy, Nnamdi is sharing his perspectives on balancing technology and consumer needs.
We talked about the importance of bridging different perspectives to achieve long-term and lasting success. In your case, you focus on matching the tech and consumer perspectives, two of the main pillars of the health care system. Can you explain to us how you approach this challenge? How do you manage to meet in the middle, or serve both perspectives?
“Having moved around in different cultures while growing up, I was grounded in the consumer side of things. Moving to new places ignited the anthropologist within me and allowed me to acutely evaluate situations from the outside. Being an outsider allowed me an objective perspective and to be sensitive to nuances that others may easily overlook. The ability to understand consumer perspective, team dynamics, motivations, and so on comes from this aspect of my life. I think my personal life drives my ability to connect consumer needs and the technology involved in healthcare. My professional side allows me to understand customer needs whilst also paying attention to unmet medical needs, patient outcomes, R&D, innovation and so on.
“I have a good example of an event that took place recently that showcases the need for bridging the perspectives of the consumer and the technology at play. I used to run a business that was completely U.S.-centric and dealt with extremely highly priced implantable therapy. We had struggled with globalizing this business for a while and here is why:
- The therapy was extremely expensive.
- The condition the therapy was treating was not considered ‘serious’ in other countries.
- The therapy was invasive, it required a surgical procedure to implant.
“Given these ‘unattractive’ conditions, it was difficult to globalize the business. These barriers made it extremely difficult to convince patients that this was something they needed. Given these conditions, my team and I worked towards creating a brand-new approach. A new therapy concept that was non-invasive and financially more accessible, and we simultaneously worked towards creating awareness of the condition. This allowed us to tackle all three barriers and started us on a path to globalizing the business. The understanding of the marketplace and what it is the customer wants, coupled with a deep understanding of the technology behind the therapy, helped us overcome this business challenge and make this treatment available to more patients outside of the U.S.”
Thank you for sharing, Nnamdi.
Connect with Nnamdi on LinkedIn.
