Bigu Elderly Care: Empowering Institutions with 'Internal Services, External Connections' Strategy

For service-oriented entrepreneurs, the transition from healthcare to elderly care resembles an “upgrade in service demand,” shifting from treatment to a holistic model encompassing care, companionship, rehabilitation, and recuperation. For technology-driven entrepreneurs, this shift is more akin to a “downstream application of technology,” moving from precision in drug dosages to precision in addressing diverse service needs.

“The medical field indeed imposes stricter requirements on professional backgrounds.” Duan Wenfeng couldn’t help but remark, recalling his experiences collaborating with West China Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, and other institutions. “I hold a Ph.D. in Medicine. When I returned to China to start my business, I assisted physicians in translating new technologies into clinical practice and validating prototypes. We encountered numerous setbacks along the way, but gradually managed to streamline this technological pathway.”

After collaborating with the West China Geriatrics Center to complete a project on evidence-based health management for the elderly, Duan Wenfeng identified business opportunities in the senior care market. Leveraging his accumulated resources, he partnered with Southwest Jiaotong University in 2016 to establish an Industry-Academia-Research Base for Smart Elderly Care. In the same year, he secured the Sichuan Province Smart Elderly Care Big Data Platform Construction Project.

Thus, Duan Wenfeng led his team into the care facilities of Jinxin Kangyang, a renowned elderly care brand in Sichuan. Through needs assessment, requirement analysis and consolidation, underlying architecture development, and product validation, they spent approximately one year refining the first generation of their internal management system for care institutions. By the end of 2017, during the trial promotion phase of the product, Duan Wenfeng established Sichuan Bigu Elderly Care Information Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Bigu Elderly Care”).

“To put it bluntly, no matter how good my product is, it’s useless if the staff can’t use it properly and the elderly don’t adopt it.” During the product promotion process, Duan Wenfeng identified widespread pain points in care institutions, including high vacancy rates, challenges in team building, complex procurement procedures, and significant management risks.

Pain points represent needs, and needs create markets. Bigu Elderly Care has further upgraded its information system to build a unique smart elderly care framework consisting of four “clouds” plus one “center,” namely:

Business Management Cloud ("Bigu Elderly Care Steward"): By leveraging the Internet and IoT technologies to connect personnel, financial resources, and materials within institutions, it helps optimize management costs and reduce security risks.

To enhance institutional risk prevention, Bigu Elderly Care has independently developed a range of smart monitoring devices. These devices can be integrated with the Bigu Elderly Care Butler System or used independently, significantly reducing the likelihood of risks such as elderly wandering, nighttime falls from bed, sudden death, and accidental falls.

Elderly Care Talent Cloud (“Bigu Elderly Care Academy”): Designed to connect high-quality talent resources with professional experts. Bigu Elderly Care has now established a hybrid training platform, delivering headquarters’ training courses from online instruction to offline settings.

Duan Wenfeng explained that while online training can reduce institutional training costs, given the drawbacks of purely online formats, Bigu Elderly Care has adopted a hybrid offline-plus-online model: institutions are required to designate one trainee to complete the training, and only after passing the assessment will they be granted access to the online course content.

Supply Chain Cloud (“Bigu Youpin”): Ensure that elderly care institutions can afford and effectively utilize services. Bigu Elderly Care collaborates with multiple selected manufacturers to provide cost-effective solutions for hard and soft furnishings, as well as the procurement of consumables and supplies for elderly care institutions.

Promotion Cloud ("Bigu Elderly Care Connect")Ordinary elderly care institutions often lack funding for brand development. Bigu Elderly Care can synchronize and upload institutional updates to websites, WeChat official accounts, in-facility terminals, print media, and other channels, thereby further assisting these institutions in promotion and traffic generation.

The Four “Clouds” Form the Core of Bigu Elderly Care’s Information System. Built on cloud technology and a SaaS architecture, the system significantly enhances iteration efficiency, response speed, and after-sales maintenance quality. Duan Wenfeng emphasized that all features are derived from the real-world needs of frontline elderly care workers, ensuring simplicity and ease of use. The system simultaneously supports various mainstream elderly care service models, including institutional care, home- and community-based care, and integrated medical and elderly care services.

In addition to providing services through technology, Bigu Elderly Care has also established a professionalElderly Care Service Assessment Center. This assessment center can evaluate the care needs of the elderly, the service quality of elderly care institutions, and elderly care products. Duan Wenfeng stated that these assessments can facilitate a more precise match between the supply and demand sides of elderly care services.

The development of the elderly care industry is highly unbalanced across regions, with many cities exhibiting unique characteristics. For instance, Beijing serves as the policy hub, while Shanghai is the center for new models. It is reported that Bigu Elderly Care is currently establishing an R&D center for smart elderly care full-industry-chain solutions at its Chengdu headquarters, building a supply chain center for elderly care products in Xiamen, setting up an R&D center for smart elderly care devices in Shenzhen, and creating a training base for elderly care professionals in Chongqing, leveraging the Qinggang Elderly Care Center affiliated with The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.

Bigu Elderly Care aims to extend its reach to the forefront of the industry, emphasizing the integration of best practices from various sources and tailoring them to the specific circumstances of service providers to deliver highly practical solutions. It is reported that Bigu Elderly Care is also actively strategizing to connect with overseas resources in countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan. “Aging is not unique to China; it is a global issue,” stated Duan Wenfeng.

Duan Wenfeng told reporters that most elderly care institutions are currently breaking even or even operating at a loss. Against this backdrop, Bigu Elderly Care has chosen to grow alongside the industry, adhering to a principle of slim profit margins in its pricing strategy. The company is focusing on the elderly care market five years from now, aiming to reap substantial profits as the industry matures.

Currently, Bigu Elderly Care’s service recipients are primarily concentrated in first-tier cities and provincial capitals, such as Chengdu, Xiamen, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. The company has served more than 200 elderly care institutions, with an average of over 3,000 eldercare professionals using its platform daily for routine work or training.

Regarding future plans, in addition to establishing distinctive service centers in major cities, Bigu Elderly Care aims to serve more than 10,000 elderly care institutions within five years.

For those interested in the company, please contact DongMai Investment Assistant Xiaoyun: DongMai_Investent