Unlocking the Real Value of Digital Health: Insights from BCG, Alibaba, DXY, and Accenture

In every wave of technological innovation worldwide, the healthcare industry has always played a prominent role. In recent years, driven by the national development of the digital economy and impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the pace of digital transformation in healthcare has accelerated. From healthcare enterprises to hospitals and individuals, digitalization is permeating every level, profoundly influencing every stakeholder within the industry.

To better advance the implementation of China’s digital transformation in healthcare, the Digital Business Transformation Themed Forum of the 5th AstraZeneca Ecosystem Conference was successfully held in Wuxi on August 5, 2022. At the forum, 19 leading speakers from health venture capital and across industries, along with nearly one hundred professionals from the health sector, gathered to bridge the digital divide and explore the real-world value of digital applications in healthcare.

 Lai Minglong, General Manager of AstraZeneca China

“Digitalization” is not a novel concept, but how to effectively achieve digital transformation by aligning with contemporary trends remains a challenge faced by every stakeholder in the industry. In response to this issue,Chen Baiping, Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting GroupTwo strategic directions are proposed for building core competencies in digital transformation: first, externally upgrading customer service through digitalization; and second, internally enhancing enterprise operations via digital improvement. Currently, data generation, collection, and access are ubiquitous. As data grows exponentially, it is also driving the rapid development of AI. In Chen Baiping’s view, over time, humans can leverage data and digital tools to augment human capabilities and lead breakthroughs, making bionic enterprises characterized by “human-machine symbiosis” an inevitable trend. The key element for pharmaceutical companies’ transformation also lies in “human-machine symbiosis,” namely, promoting innovative development in the three major areas of medical R&D, operations, and commerce through intelligent technologies, thereby providing an effective pathway for the digital transformation of pharmaceutical enterprises.

Bai Ping Chen, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group

Zhen Rixin (Lie Wen), Vice President of Alibaba Lingyang Intelligence, from the perspective of enterprise digital operations, taking the “DaaS Support System” as an example, we provide a detailed analysis of approaches to resolving challenges encountered by enterprises during their digital transformation: upgrading previously fragmented systems by establishing a digital operations middle platform that delivers a comprehensive solution spanning internal and external data, thereby breaking through business growth bottlenecks and achieving service upgrades along with improvements in internal organizational efficiency and operational performance.

Zhen Rixin (Lie Wen), Vice President of Alibaba Lingyang Intelligence

At the level of digital healthcare services,Li Tiantian, Chairman of DXYData on physician behavior and case studies from DXY’s series of physician services demonstrate that proactive learning is an essential need for physicians today. In response to this critical demand, DXY leverages digital technologies to empower its physician services, continuously improve the quality of medical education, and optimize the digital experience for doctors. For physicians, DXY provides a systematic learning platform through online services such as the DXY app, DXY Open Courses, the clinical decision support tool “Yao” (Medication), and DXY Talent, offering simple and convenient support for their professional growth. For consumer-end (C-end) users, DXY focuses on out-of-hospital care, providing a health and lifestyle platform that integrates “content, products, and services,” thereby serving as a guide for healthy living among the general public. Meanwhile, DXY is making every effort to build an interactive channel between physicians and patients/the general public, establishing a B2D2C (Business-to-Doctor-to-Consumer) digital ecosystem.

Li Tiantian, Chairman of DXY

The healthcare industry has long been a favorite of the capital market. In recent years, driven by the rapid advancement of digitalization, investors have quickly positioned themselves in the internet healthcare market, funding numerous digital innovation platforms. However, as many new platforms have risen and subsequently fallen, nearly everyone now views this market with skepticism. How can we overcome the current winter in investment for the digital health sector? Where is it headed in the future? At the event, four corporate representatives and four leading investors engaged in intense discussions, offering many fresh perspectives.

CICC CapitalIt was stated that digitalization has currently extended to the entire ecosystem of the healthcare industry. For investors, greater emphasis is now placed on a company’s capabilities in R&D and diagnostic expertise. Regarding the digital transformation of pharmaceutical enterprises, as digitalization represents a new business model, companies must prioritize their digital strategy above all else.Yuan Yi CapitalCurrent investment priorities focus on whether companies can address medical needs, leverage digitalization to help hospitals transition toward data-driven decision-making, and support hospital information management. Meanwhile, cultivating cross-disciplinary digital talent is one of the key strategies for pharmaceutical companies to differentiate themselves in future competition.

Boyuan CapitalEmphasizing the digital transformation of pharmaceutical companies, focus can be placed on how to leverage intelligent technologies to advance diagnostic and therapeutic methods, and how to better assist hospitals and patients in managing chronic diseases.Sto CapitalIt emphasizes that the essence of digitalization for pharmaceutical companies remains R&D. One future direction is to leverage digital tools to facilitate drug development and diagnostic and therapeutic methods, while maintaining a patient-centric approach to address patients’ fundamental needs.

MedliveIt was stated that the core of digital marketing lies in providing quality services to physicians, guiding them to transition from offline to online interactions, thereby enhancing their stickiness to the platform. For enterprises, a key marketing priority should be how to precisely reach physicians.Huimei Digital TechnologyAs a decentralized platform, Huimei Digital focuses on providing digital capabilities to pharmaceutical companies, such as enterprise systems, talent management, and meeting communication services. Regarding the issue of practical adoption rates of digital platforms, Huimei Digital stated that its focus is on integrating digitalization with practical applications to provide convenient communication channels and learning platforms for medical representatives and physicians.

Roundtable Discussion

When it comes to technological innovation, the “metaverse” is indispensable. Over the past two years, various industries have successively made strategic moves in the metaverse space, causing significant repercussions.Jeffrey Luo, Managing Director of Accenture Greater ChinaDuring the conference, based on the new technological concept of the “metaverse,” an exploration of the commercial value of the metaverse in the healthcare industry was proposed, with a layer-by-layer analysis of how metaverse technologies fundamentally transform business models within the healthcare sector.

The metaverse focuses on the interaction layer, leveraging virtual extension technologies such as AR and VR to empower clinical solutions. For instance, physicians can utilize holographic imaging to observe patient lesions from a 360-degree perspective and employ XR to assist in surgical procedures. These innovative approaches create immersive, real-time interactive experiences for patients, physicians, hospitals, and medical enterprises, significantly promoting scenario-based applications of the medical metaverse.

Jeffrey Loo, Managing Director of Accenture Greater China

In addition to changes in industrial structure,Jiang Tianjiao, Dean of VCBeat InstituteFurthermore, by gaining insight into the essence and value of the digital technology revolution, we have developed a more comprehensive understanding of digital health technologies: The essence of digital technology lies in enhancing medical efficiency through digitization, unlocking medical value through connectivity, and improving healthcare quality through intelligence. The value of digital health is manifested across three dimensions—the supply side, the demand side, and the payment side—namely, increasing the volume of supply, comprehensively improving the efficiency and quality of the diagnosis and treatment process, and reducing time and economic costs for both physicians and patients.

Once the value of digital health is demonstrated, it can achieve commercial returns in the current Chinese market through the 2P (Pharma & Medtech) model, by capitalizing on business opportunities within the pharmaceutical and medical device value chain.

Finally, Jiang Tianjiao believes that the future trends in digital healthcare will focus on three high-value sectors: first, AI-driven drug development, which can reduce R&D costs, shorten development timelines, and mitigate risks; second, process and channel optimization, which creates value by enhancing internal management efficiency and external operational efficiency for pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders, providing alternative channels and tools; and third, upgrades to medical services, leveraging digital computing technologies to deliver more accurate diagnoses more efficiently and at lower cost, while effectively connecting medical service resources with the supply of new therapies.

Jiang Tianjiao, Dean of VCBeat Eggshell Research Institute

One of the core principles of digital transformation in healthcare is collaborative innovation. Industries across the board have recognized the immense potential of the healthcare sector and are actively positioning themselves to incubate innovative outcomes. AstraZeneca has long been committed to building a digital innovation ecosystem, extending its digital innovations beyond China’s borders to contribute to the development of a global healthcare innovation ecosystem.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca continues to strengthen its connections with innovative enterprises to jointly build a comprehensive life and health industry chain. At this forum, AstraZeneca signed collaboration agreements with the medical community and Maitian. In the future, it will engage in a series of collaborations with the medical community on innovative models for integrated digital marketing, and will partner with Maitian on projects focused on incubating innovative digital content. This represents another strategic initiative by AstraZeneca in its digital transformation, reflecting the company’s strategic planning and development goals to empower diagnostic and treatment processes, medical innovation, and doctor-patient services through digitalization.

AstraZeneca and the Medical Community

AstraZeneca and Wheat Field

The digitalization of healthcare underpins the quality of life for residents. With continuous technological innovation and development, the strategic growth phase of the broader health industry has arrived. Looking ahead, emerging digital technologies will further integrate with the healthcare sector, facilitating its digital transformation and accelerating the development of a patient-centric health ecosystem.