Transforming enterprise medical device lifecycle management with a digital first approach

Medical device organizations are at the forefront of enhancing quality of life, increasing access to care and saving lives of millions by delivering cutting-edge technologies. Beyond enabling accurate diagnoses and effective treatments, medical devices play a vital role in bridging the gap between envisioned and actual care processes.

Rapid technological advancements – such as personalized medicine, AI, robotics in surgery and connected devices – enable industry players to consistently deliver exceptional customer value and superior patient care. However, as hospitals face many challenges, managing the medical device post-market lifecycle is becoming increasingly difficult for medical technology organizations.

This is even more daunting for device manufacturers who often face their own issues, such as multiple IT system management, siloed business units and navigating convoluted processes. In addition, the organizations also must address regulatory reporting, operational inefficiencies and device security vulnerabilities. In this high-stakes environment, ineffective device lifecycle management can lead to serious disruptions in patient care delivery and compliance.

Medical device life cycle management

Medical device lifecycle management includes the programs and processes that medtech organizations have implemented to assure device safety, communication with stakeholders, product complaints investigation, traceability and resolution. The process also adds additional value by generating insights that can be utilized for enhancing product innovation. To ensure successful delivery, multiple cross-functional teams must work collaboratively.

This need to ensure traceability and regulatory compliance, optimize operational efficiency and safeguard sensitive data, sets the medical device life cycle management program up for success.

Building a medical device life cycle management system with a digital-first approach

The integrated system should be built on the following key foundations:

A proactive risk management capability should be in-built within every stage of the process. This element will allow the team to detect an issue before it occurs and help prioritize complaints based on criticality.

The life cycle management system should be designed to deliver an omni-channel experience for issue/complaints resolution and allow data collection and stakeholder communication tasks to remain consistent across multiple channels.

An interoperable system across the business units will ensure cross-functional teams align processes. One system-driven approach also acts as a single source of truth and eliminate the silos and challenges that come with data handoffs between teams.

A feature-rich system with advanced analytics and AI capabilities utilizes the diverse datasets received from multiple sources. These tools will be important in identifying problems and extract relevant insights.

Furthermore, AI-enabled functionality pulls data from disparate sources, correlates them and aids the teams in solving critical problems.

Leveraging NTT DATA’s platform built on ServiceNow for faster value realization

The NTT DATA Medical Device Management solution is built on ServiceNow and allows the medical devices industry to tackle immediate opportunities and position themselves to adapt to evolving business models and technological advancements in the medical device industry, ensuring sustainable growth and innovation.

Central to this approach is an enterprise platform that integrates various point solutions such as service management and regulatory compliance within a single data model, leading to streamlined workflows and reduced administrative work burden. Through automation and workflow optimization capabilities, tasks such as inventory management, compliance checks and incident resolution can be expedited, minimizing downtime and optimizing patient care.

The platform’s integration capabilities will enable seamless interoperability with existing systems and continuous sharing of critical data across the ecosystem, enhancing visibility and control over the entire device lifecycle. A transformative solution must encompass an end-to-end service set, integrate seamlessly across the medical device lifecycle, prioritize user experience, and adapt to the evolving value chain dynamic.

Getting Started

Step 1 – Discovery: Analyze the current product portfolio mix, customer feedback on complaint handling, device life cycle management processes and current workforce mix that manages these tasks, key performance indicators that are measured, cost metrics and gaps through the processes.

Step 2 – Internal alignment: Address the gaps and challenges and objectives that would enhance client value. Additionally, align capabilities required to ensure successful delivery of the life cycle management.

Step 3 – Solution evaluation: Identify the organization structure and solution requirements that will allow the organization to be successful. Then focus on evaluating the systems and tools available that meet the needs.

Contact us to learn how NTT DATA can leverage the power of our ServiceNow pre-built solution to digitally transform your medical device lifecycle management journey. To learn more, get in touch with us.