It becomes increasingly difficult to obtain attention from prospects and customers alike. Today, we are all swamped with an array of online TV and video channels, digital radio, blogs, 24/7 news, apps, emails, text messages, phone calls and a plethora of social media interactions etc.

Many organisations primarily focus on ‘what’ they do and provide for their customers. The best companies will often strive to continually improve the products and services they deliver. Yet, the simple truth is that, in today’s digital web enabled world, there is very little that a company can introduce that won’t be copied immediately by competitors, if it is deemed to be an intelligent development in attracting or retaining customers.

the vibrancy that the internet delivers is now under threat. Until now, the owners of the pipes through which the information travels, when we use the internet, have not been allowed to discriminate between the information that they deliver. So, companies such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T in the USA or BT, Virgin Media and Sky in the UK, have to give equal priority to a big business, media company or individual blogger.

Businesses’ use of social media reminds me a little of the beginnings of the mobile phone. While embraced as exciting by a few people, at the beginning, many found the idea of a mobile phone abhorrent. “Why would I want people to be able to contact me everywhere I go?” was a usual retort I often heard. Of course, over time usage grew and now most people would find it hard to live without their mobile phone.

As wearable technology starts to become mainstream, and as sensors start to make all sorts of gadgets ever more ‘intelligent’, the opportunities in healthcare are enormous.