Breaking into Home Health Tech: How to Smart Small

Presto’s computer-free email system

Ever since we began to cover home health technology - especially solutions aimed at seniors and their caretakers - we've been asked by integrators how they can break into this market.

Normally, the discussion starts with personal emergency reporting systems (PERS) like alarm-call pendants, and then moves quickly into full-fledged home monitoring systems that help seniors live more independent lives.

Which solutions are the best? What are the liabilities? Is training required? How do you customize a system? Do fall detectors really work? What is the range of RF-based notification products? Should medications be locked in a pill dispenser?

Are we getting a little ahead of ourselves?

Full-blown solutions with sensors, blood-pressure cuffs, Internet portals, algorithms and alerts are wonderful options for seniors aging in place, not to mention their families. And such systems are becoming more plentiful from the likes of CloseBy Network, GrandCare, Healthsense, Ingenium Care, SimplyHome/CMI, Wellaware and others.

But you don't need to make that kind of commitment to begin your foray into the seniors market. While you're building a business model and a product line, why not start building a customer base? Get your name out there as a senior-friendly provider?

You can do this with virtually no investment by offering single-purpose products like "computer-less email" systems and elder-friendly computers. These are active products that can engage seniors every day — products they will recommend to friends at church, peers at the senior center, and care givers who touch countless other potential clients. On the other hand, they're probably not going to be bragging about their shiny new sensor network.

Peter Radsliff, a former executive at Monster Cable, is now CEO of Presto, which makes a machine, especially for the elder care market, that converts emails and attachments into electronic letters, and transmits them over a phone line to a loved one's residence. The product can be had for as little as $50 with monthly service fees that start at about $15.

At the recent Electronic House Expo, similarly appealing products from Celery (two-way computer-less email) and MyGait (senior-friendly computing) were demonstrated in the New Opportunities Pavilion.

Even at their modest price points, Radsliff believes such products provide great opportunities for CE pros. "Integrators can quickly seed the market - building a strong database of elderly clients and their caretakers, and offering additional services at a later time," he says.

It's not unlike the business model adopted by many Sonos dealers who sell simple, engaging multiroom audio systems today, in order to make happy customers who will buy more from them in the future.

Your business is built on referrals and relationships. Your success in the seniors market begins with a solid database of aging customers you can grow with.

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