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Bringing A Next Generation EMR To The Marketplace

Prior to founding Edison Road, David Harris served as a Senior Marketing Manager for GE Healthcare, among other roles in his career.  This case study is from that time.

Background

GE’s Healthcare IT organization, a division of GE’s $19.0B Healthcare segment was in a partnership with Intermountain Healthcare, a not-for-profit health system based in Salt Lake City, Utah, to develop and introduce a "next generation" electronic medical record (EMR) platform. Their shared vision was to harmonize the data from a broad array of healthcare IT software solutions used across a healthcare system and establish a common technical language, creating a single record per patient while enabling best care scenarios to be identified and shared across healthcare systems.  With software development underway, the team was in need of a go-to-market strategy to introduce the platform to the marketplace. 

assess

David combined upstream market research and a collaborative relationship with the sales, IT and engineering teams to understand the competitive landscape and define competitive product differentiators.

  • Customer segmentation and lifetime value estimation
  • Competitive segmentation and value proposition analysis
  • Product feature/function review and portfolio positioning assessment

research

Review of consolidated insights enabled the creation of initial go-to-market messaging and a related marketing campaign strategy.

  • Identified a tiered customer segmentation with a focus on high value customer segments, both in terms of initial revenue potential and long-term lifetime value. 
  • Used insights to defined initial communications playbook and related product demonstration.

plan

Go-to-market strategy and related positioning was refined via customer focus groups and feedback from platform demonstrations.  Review of positioning also supported the development of the platform name.

  • Product brand book was defined
  • Established communications playbook and distribution channels
  • Developed the process to concept and ultimately define the go-to-market name, "Qualibria"
  • Established training plan to familiarize the commercial sales organization with the platform and related value proposition
  • Global PR campaign was developed with internal and external promotion tied to introduction at a global healthcare conference

execute

The Qualibria platform was launched at the HIMSS global healthcare conference, driving global PR attention and further positioning both GE and Intermountain Healthcare as progressive, forward-looking leaders in the healthcare space. 

  • Kicked off a cross-channel local and international PR campaign driving awareness of the new platform via traditional and digital media in addition to spokespersons including GE's CEO
  • Product demonstrations established in coordination with sales to create awareness of the initiative, provide and understanding of the future vision and drive leads/inquiries
  • Internal GE/Intermountain messaging campaign kicked off with the goal of driving a cohesive understanding of the product's value and the team involved in developing/evolving the initiative

extend and refine

Captured the momentum from a successful market introduction to drive inquiries and further brand both GE and Intermountain Healthcare as thought leaders

  • Extended PR drumbeat with regular story placements, interviews with influential business leaders and discussions with industry influencers such as KLAS
  • Adjusted marketing channels and reallocated budget in real-time to focus on effective marketing channels and creative
  • Updated product demonstrations and related sales support materials as the product evolved

Summary Results

A clearly defined brand and communications strategy supported the market introduction of the Qualibria platform.