How 2018 Became a Landmark Year for Big Tech’s Pursuit of Senior Living Dollars

Tech’s pursuit of Senior Living Dollars: Tech giants are waging a massive smart tech arms race and seniors are a prime target.

Big Tech Senior care purchases

In 2018  Amazon , Best Buy, and  Google Tech’s pursuit of Senior Living Dollars made moves to  capture the smart tech senior dollar. Their respective strategies revolve around creating and delivering smart technology  for seniors.   They also target large senior living facilities reaching 100’s of seniors at once  instead of  selling to them individually.   They are expanding their brands to reach the massive health care space.

Big senior tech’s impact on Senior living.

This work is already impacting seniors and senior living. In 2018, Amazon, Apple and Google advanced their efforts to use smart technology to turn everyday items  into health monitoring devices.  Amazon and Best Buy made high-profile acquisitions  that expand their ability to deliver health services  and smart tech. Senior living communities nationwide began their journeys into smart homes and tech such as Amazon Echo, Google Home and Samsung Smart Things Hub.

For example, Amazon describes  a three-year collaboration with AARP and purchasing Pill Pack.

As senior living operators embark on their smart tech journeys, they will be bombarded with opportunities to partner with tech giants. To succeed, they must understand both the goals of these companies and what their residents need from them.

Best Buy’s big senior tech bet

We  saw Tech’s pursuit of Senior Living Dollars execute a flurry of activity in the senior health care space.   For example, Best Buy turned itself into a power player with one purchase.

Best Buy spent $800 million to acquire GreatCall, that makes senior-friendly products, such as the Jitterbug smartphones and medical alert devices. GreatCall’s portfolio also includes passive remote monitoring systems is acquired when it purchased Healthsense.

GreatCall’s purchase of Healthsense gave it an expanded ability to monitor a senior’s activities of daily living, including eating, sleeping and moving. That purchase does more than just subsume a competitor — it gives Best Buy access to GreatCall’s business-to-business (B2B) relationships, specifically in independent living and assisted living.  That lets Best Buy tap into seniors on a community-wide scale rather than going consumer by consumer.

“More and more (companies) are realizing that their business plan has to be focused on the aging population”.   John Hopper, told SHN in October 2017  “I think it’s great that somebody like Best Buy is looking at that.”

Best Buy’s value for senior living includes its tech support team Geek Squad.   Senior living customers can take advantage of Geek Squad services and  tech support. 

Amazon’s senior health care efforts

Amazon’s journey into health care and senior smart tech has been a sight to behold. In July of 2017, Amazon  launched its own version of Geek Squad called Amazon Experts.  That is a team of smart home service providers that Amazon touts as “your technology-savvy best friend.”

Tech’s pursuit of Senior Care Dollars will not solve the problem

The TLCSR model of care will. All the high tech in the world cannot replace a well trained and compassionate staff under the direction of a Medical Doctor and Registered Nurse.  Continuity of Care is the key.

See how we’re different in providing this much needed brand of care