Community Engagement Market Map Update
A Bigger Picture
As LE3 Solutions continues to track all things engagement that directly impact residents and their families, we have discovered the need to shift our verbiage. Resident engagement is where we started. The initial focus of our business, and this market map. However, as we evolve further into the aging space, we recognize how much greater the conversation needs to be regarding engagement. Our vernacular has changed and we know that engagement is truly community wide, not just resident facing. How people spend their day doing things that are meaningful and enjoyable is absolutely community encompassing. Community extends far beyond the walls. Resident engagement as we call it undeniably spills over into the external community via accessibility, relationships and opportunity.
New Additions
From Q3 of 2021 to mid-January 2022 there are some new (or just found on my end) players to the map. SeniorBoulevardTV, DeleHealth, Quiltt, Senior By Design, Best Friends, PlayCore, Pocketbook Memory, Age-U-Cate, HCM2, Perkins Eastman, Music4Life, Birdsong and Reliant Rehab.
More excitement to share…we connected with a few design and architecture firms in the last 4 months. What thoughtful companies who understand how intricately related design and space is to engagement, programming and quality of life. There is significantly deeper mantra than “build or refurbish it and they will come.”
Competition and Dollars to Spend
While this map is by no means inclusive of every solution impacting community engagement. It is our attempt to help owners, operators and vendor/solutions recognize the numerous options. We speak with vendor/solutions who have created amazing products that could, and would transform community life for residents, families and staff. While that is certainly true and accurate, one goal of this map is to help companies realize who they are competing against for the same bucket of limited dollars. That competition also extends beyond who they see as direct competitors selling similar solution. We routinely state “arts, fitness or lifelong learning may be what you feel is most important to impact quality of life, but you may be selling to a community or organization who does not place similar value or emphasis on those same engagement tools.” Additionally, just because an organization is profitable does not mean there are unlimited dollars to spend on solutions. More importantly, every dollar you may save an organization must first be an expense or neutral exchange, regardless of the projected ROI.
Time for Consolidation?
There are a few acquisitions that have occurred, most notable is Touchtown acquiring Sagely in 2021. Another trend we are beginning to see is “single or point solutions” taking advantage of larger players who already have a foot in the door and user/resident adoption. Two players that have done well with this approach are Spiro100 and CoroHealth. You can access their content through many different engagement platforms. These type of partnerships are critical, and desperately need to be greater in number.
Individual Knowledge Drives Engagement
The best way to engage a person in any setting is to KNOW the PERSON!
It is that simple.
Knowledge gives us power, but accurate knowledge is far more useful. Why does this matter and what is the concern? If you have a solution that is capturing data about a person; think life story or biographies, pictures, music preferences, facial expressions, fall prediction, strength assessments, TV viewership, artistic interests, educational pursuits, (the list goes on and on), but not a way to share or integrate that information with other systems in use, then the community as a collective still does not fully “KNOW” the individual.
In that scenario, data in your system is far more useful for you and the one or two staff members that responsible for utilization, not the community at large. The need for collaboration, acquisition and integration is no longer a need, it is a priority. A must in order to help an already worn out and frustrated workforce stay the course and be the voice of innovation and adoption inside the walls. If you expect your solution to be successful without staff acceptance, interest and adoption, you are mistaken. Your customer support and success team members can only do so much. The magic happens when staff embrace your solutions and find value once it makes their job easier. Siloed data about one aspect of a person’s life can be more frustrating than beneficial, especially when it comes to how one should marry fragmented insights into daily operations.
Looking Ahead
While there is opportunity to create easier avenues for optimal reach and effectiveness of solutions, it is exciting and encouraging to watch this space grow. We applaud the brilliantly driven and excited minds who are using their passion and expertise to enhance the daily lives of aging adults. All this to say, STAY THE COURSE!
But if you are ever in need of feedback, please do not discount learning firsthand from the end users - staff and older adults. Their input is honest, invaluable, and readily available.