THE UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE
BUSINESS SCHOOL
MBA PROJECT
An Exploratory Study of the Use of Mobile Apps and its Implications for
Internal Business Processes in Healthcare Organizations
in Dubai
Alaa Al Amiry
2016
An Exploratory Study of the Use of Mobile Apps and its Implications for
Internal Business Processes in Healthcare Organizations in Dubai
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement
of the degree of Masters of Business Administration
of the University of Strathclyde
THE UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE
BUSINESS SCHOOL
Alaa Al Amiry (201392564)
2016 (MacClure)
Mr. Bernard Sweeney
Special Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al
Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of
Dubai Executive Council, for his vital role in executing
Dubai’s vision to become the world’s smartest city
by 2021.
Dedication
To my Nuwar;
In hope that your Mama will bestow a good example
on thee,
On how a woman is capable of leading her own life!
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I would like to thank my husband, Dr. Sahel Al Rousan, for his persistent
encouragement and support throughout my MBA studies. It was because of his candid belief in my capabilities,
and his vision to move my career forward, that I took the challenge and enroll in this prestigious program.
This work couldn’t be possible without the dedicated supervision of my academic advisor, Mr.
Bernard Sweeney (aka Benny). His warm, friendly emails were the stream from which I gained confidence and
ease through the stressful and rough pathway of this thesis. His full understanding of my personal conditions
gave me a great energy to overcome the interruption occurred after my baby daughter, Nuwar, was born, and get
back on track.
It was Mr. Hisham Al Rousan, Senior IT Advisor, who made the technical aspect of this study
conceivable. I’m very grateful for his dedicated voluntary efforts to make the technical infrastructure of mobile
apps coherent and intelligible to my healthcare-wired brain. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the
managers and staff at healthcare establishments in Dubai, who delightfully volunteered to be part of this
study. Their insightful comments and feedback were especially valuable to me- personally and professionally.
Alaa Al Amiry
P a g e | 1
Statement of Academic Honesty
I declare that this dissertation is entirely my own original work.
I declare that, except where fully referenced direct quotations have been included, no aspect of this
dissertation has been copied from any other source.
I declare that all other works cited in this dissertation have been appropriately referenced.
I understand that any act of Academic Dishonesty such as plagiarism or collusion may result in the
non-award of a Master’s degree.
Signed:
Dated: 16th May, 2016
P a g e | 2
I.
Abstract
This is a qualitative study that aims to explore the use of mobile apps as an innovative
technology in the internal business processes of healthcare establishments in the emirate of Dubai,
UAE. This study is an attempt to fill a gap in literature in order to understand the local healthcare
industry and the uptake of mobile apps in Dubai. The study is quite relevant particularly in the
context of the Year of Innovation (2015) in UAE. The Year of Innovation has certainly paved the
way for UAE organizations to integrate mobile apps into business operations for smart solutions.
This study focuses on private healthcare organizations in Dubai operating under the
auspices of the regulation of DHA or DHCC, and having 30 employees or more. The study’s unit of
observations includes managers and key decision makers in those establishments.
Following the tradition of qualitative research, eight structured interviews were conducted. Analysis
was done via a simple form of constant comparative method (CCM) with a specific approach to
categorize data bits, connect them, and discover patterns which could provide an explanation and
understanding of the issues of interest.
This study concludes that mobile apps have become an unescapable ‘hard trend’ in
healthcare industry essential for businesses to acquire a competitive edge and excel, and that the use
of mobile apps can be considered to be the norm in healthcare industry as we are witnessing a major
shift in customers’ behavior.
This study assesses the technical infrastructure of selected establishments and the general
attitudes towards the adoption of mobile apps. Thus, predictors for the readiness of businesses to
adopt mobile apps into their internal operations were identified, from which recommendations for
decision making were drawn. Moreover, the study provides a glimpse at some examples of mobile
apps used in Dubai to facilitate internal business processes at a few healthcare businesses.
Key Words:
Dubai. Innovation. Mobile Apps. Healthcare Industry. Business Restructuring. Qualitative Study.
Word count: 15,947 (including Abstract)
P a g e | 3
Table of Contents
Statement of Academic Honesty
………………………………………………
1
I.
Abstract
……………………………………………………………………..
2
II.
Introduction …………………………………………………………………
8
Background
……………………………………………………………………………………… 8
Contextual Setting for the Study ………………………………………………………. 9
Dubai’s Healthcare Architecture
……………………………………………………..
12
III.
Literature Review
……………………………………………………….. 14
Conceptual Foundations
………………………………………………………………….
14
Why Do We Need Innovation in Healthcare? …………………………………..
14
Innovation in Healthcare
…………………………………………………………………
16
The Revolution of Mobile Apps in Healthcare
………………………………….
17
Marketing Perspective
…………………………………………………… 20
Operations Perspective
………………………………………………….. 21
Strategic Perspective
…………………………………………………….. 22
The Impact of Mobile Apps on Healthcare …………………………….. 23
Risks
………………………………………………………………………. 24
Challenges ……………………………………………………………….. 25
P a g e | 4
What is Needed?
……………………………………………………………………………..
26
Medical Apps in Action …………………………………………………………………..
29
Innovation and Mobile Apps on Business Restructuring ………………….
30
Healthcare in Dubai ………………………………………………………………………..
31
The Case of Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
……………………………..
32
Conceptual Model …………………………………………………………………………..
33
Research Questions …………………………………………………………………………
34
IV.
Methodology
…………………………………………………………….. 36
Study Design …………………………………………………………………………………..
36
Sampling
…………………………………………………………………………………………
36
Data Collection ……………………………………………………………………………….
37
The Survey ……………………………………………………………………………………..
39
Methods of Analysis ………………………………………………………………………..
39
The Approach …………………………………………………………………………………
40
Anticipated Challenges ……………………………………………………………………
40
V. Findings
…………………………………………………………………… 42
The Emerging Categories
………………………………………………………………..
42
The Final Sample ……………………………………………………………………………
42
Results ……………………………………………………………………………………………
43
Profile of Interviewees
…………………………………………………… 43
P a g e | 5
The ‘Yes’ Dyad
……………………………………………………………. 45
The ‘No’ Gang ……………………………………………………………. 47
On Business Restructuring
………………………………………………. 49
VI.
Discussion
……………………………………………………………….. 51
A Hard Trend …………………………………………………………………………………
51
A Common Ground ………………………………………………………………………..
53
Challenges ………………………………………………………………………………………
54
Infrastructure …………………………………………………………………………………
55
Business Restructuring ……………………………………………………………………
58
Sustainability of Mobile Apps
………………………………………………………….
59
Policy Implications ………………………………………………………………………….
60
Implications for Literature ……………………………………………………………..
61
Strengths of the Study
……………………………………………………………………..
61
Limitations ……………………………………………………………………………………..
62
Recommendations …………………………………………………………………………..
62
VII.
Conclusion
…………………………………………………………….. 65
VIII.
Reflective Learning
…………………………………………………… 67
Choosing the Topic
………………………………………………………………………….
67
Study Design …………………………………………………………………………………..
67
P a g e | 6
Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………….
68
On a Personal Level ………………………………………………………………………..
68
Application of knowledge ………………………………………………………………..
69
IX.
Bibliography
…………………………………………………………….. 70
X. Appendices
……………………………………………………………….. 77
Appendix A: Matched Survey Questions with Research Questions …..
77
Appendix B: Data Tabulation
………………………………………………………….
83
The ‘Yes’ Dyad
……………………………………………………………. 83
The ‘No’ Gang ……………………………………………………………. 88
P a g e | 7
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual Model of the Study…………………………………………………….. 34
Figure 2: Title of Interviewees (Unit of Observation)………………………………………. 44
Figure 3: Concerns of participants for the integration of mobile apps into the internal business
processes of their institutions……………………………………………………………………. 49
Table of Tables
Table 1: Categories Emerging from Survey…………………………………………..…….. 43
Table 2: Types of Institutions Surveyed (Unit of Analysis)………………………………… 44
P a g e | 8
II. Introduction
Background
The use of mobile apps becomes inevitable with the ubiquity of Smartphones (Krieger, 2013).
Nowadays, Smartphones have become the standard of communication, and their consumers are
increasing; with more utilization of their ‘smart’ functions and platforms than making calls
(Kaufman, 2011). It is due to this global uptake of mobile apps that this study seeks to assess their
utilization in certain models; particularly healthcare institutions.
Being aware of the vast number of patient-facing mobile apps that help inform the public about
certain diseases and track their health conditions, this paper aims to explore the utilization of mobile
apps in restructuring the internal operations within healthcare facilities. This exploration takes two
forms: exploring what is already known from literature, and surveying our target population- the
different types of healthcare settings in the emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This paper explores literature in three healthcare areas: innovation, mobile apps, and business
restructuring. The paper also suggests certain ideas of mobile apps to be realized in healthcare
settings, as well as using examples of mobile apps to illustrate the unseen opportunities that can be
seized and realized, because through examples critical thinking can be triggered (Bredican, et al.,
2013). For the purpose of this study, healthcare settings will include in-hospital (e.g. hospitals) and
out-patient (e.g. clinics).
This qualitative study tries to understand the utilization of mobile apps within the operations
and internal business processes of Dubai’s healthcare settings, which are defined herein by the
activities and key internal processes, sequential or parallel, that build core competencies of
healthcare settings which enable them to provide effective medical and non-medical services (and
products) that greatly impact their patients’ satisfaction (Paton, et al., 2011). It also provides a
P a g e | 9
coherent review of literature on what is expected and required from institutions, whether in
healthcare or other industries, in order to integrate mobile apps into their internal operations.
Other than press releases, literature review has identified a gap in scientific research on the case
of Dubai and innovation in its healthcare settings; therefore, the present study is believed to be the
first that examines mobile apps in Dubai’s healthcare operations.
Contextual Setting for the Study
Ranking 16th on the recently released Dubai Innovation Index (DII) of 2016, Dubai now has the
vision to be the smartest city in the world by 2021 (Emirates News Agency, 2016). Its vision to
become a sustainable smart city indicates the utilization of innovation in its governmental and social
services (Government of Dubai, 2015), and since this announcement, residents of Dubai started to
notice a surge in different government mobile applications (aka apps) to be used via Smartphones.
Dubai residents now can download one application ‘DubaiNow’ which is sponsored by the
government from Apple and Android stores. ‘DubaiNow’ is a comprehensive app where customers
can access 53 government services from 22 governmental entities.1 In fact, the year 2015 was
marked as the Year of Innovation in UAE (Masdar, 2015).
Once a historical hub for pearling industry, Dubai now is a strong emerging market which holds
a growing economic power, manifested by its strong infrastructure. Situated on the southeast cost of
the Arabian Gulf, Dubai is the second largest emirate of UAE, and also second in authority in terms
1 Source: a message received by the author from ‘DXBSmartGov’ on her personal smartphone. Dated:
December 13, 2015.
P a g e | 10
of political and economic high-level decisions in the country. Ranking 74th on the Mercer index2,
this metropolis promises to be a ‘happiest nation’ for its vastly diversified people of 200
nationalities.
The current population of Dubai reflects the huge growth it enjoyed over the last ten years, with
almost one million increase from 1,4 to 2,4 million, 85% as expatriates (Woodman, 2012; Dubai
Government, 2015), with a projected population of 3.5 million by 2020 (Colliers International,
2014). This growth is well reflected in an annual growth rate of its GDP of 3.9%. With a GPD of
US $24,155,563 as of 2015, foreign trade of 0.65 trillion, and an inflation rate of 2.8%, Dubai is set
to achieve great heights of socio-economic development (Dubai Government, 2015).
Dubai is reputed for its entrepreneurial spirit and an excellent environment to incubate a
diversified, expanding economy. While the majority of Dubai’s economic enterprises are within
non-oil industries; tourism, real estate, and global financial services are its top revenue-generators
(Woodman, 2012). This all due to its strong strategic infrastructure of a busy, modern and large-
scale operations international airport3, a major manmade port of over 120 shipping lines, a modern
and sophisticated transportation system, and clusters of free trade specialized zones hosting a wide
range of diversified industries- ranging from media to electronics, and including healthcare
(Sampler & Eigner, 2013; Krane, 2010).
2 Source: www.imercer.com (Accessed 20 Dec., 2015). This index measures the quality of living in
different cities around the world, with Vienna being number one for several years.
3 A second airport, The Al Maktoum International Airport, which is projected to be world’s largest airport
when fully operational, has already been established and opened to serve few airlines on its first stage.
P a g e | 11
Enjoying a global competitive purchasing power parity, almost half the consumption
expenditure of Dubai’s residents is on housing (43%), and only 1.08% on healthcare costs (Dubai
Statistics Center, 2015). Health insurance is optional up to the date of this study, but Dubai
Government has announced an initiative to be implemented in strategic phases that makes health
insurance mandatory for all its residents. This is expected to create a strong economies of scale and
increase the competition on rising premium prices (Sahoo, 2014).
Since 1930s Dubai had been an attraction for expatriates, but in modern times, it hosted around
8 million tourists in 2010 and by the end of 2015 this number is projected to reach 15 million4
(Woodman, 2012). Medical tourism has become recently a major revenue generator worldwide with
an effectively large market. Due to the relatively lower costs of key medical procedures in Dubai
compared to Europe and the US, Dubai has turned into an international destination for medical
tourism. Moreover, Dubai is a tourism magnet which makes it the perfect choice for those who are
willing to blend tourism with medical care (ibid).
Dubai’s strategic plan of 2021 has put its people first through six themes and corresponding
KPIs to accomplish. Two themes of importance to this study are enhancing the living experience,
and becoming “a smart and sustainable city”. In efforts to enhance the experience of living Dubai
Government is aiming to provide high quality education and healthcare services that are affordable
for all socioeconomic classes. The second theme aims to have a smart, fully integrated and
connected infrastructure that maximizes levels of efficiency and accessibility to services, and
4 No data is published yet, up to the date of this paper, for 2015 on Dubai Statistics Center, but official
data available for 2014 shows a total number of 9,322,419 guests at hotels in Dubai. Source:
www.dsc.gove.ae Accessed 24 December, 2015.
P a g e | 12
ensures sustainability and further growth (Dubai Government, 2015). This is yet to trigger more
innovative ideas to be fully realized.
Dubai’s Healthcare Architecture
Healthcare enterprises in Dubai are governed by three main entities: the federal Ministry of
Health (MoH), the local Dubai Health Authority (DHA), and the free zone of Dubai Healthcare City
(DHCC). With an estimated market of US $12 billion in 2015, DHCC is the largest medical hub in
the world and its first free trade zone dedicated for healthcare industry. The well-established free
zone has attracted half a million patients in 2011 from around the world, with top nationalities being
from the US, UK, India, France, and Philippines. Its implied vision is to excel in healthcare service
through recruiting highly qualified professionals and providing cutting-edge medical technologies.
This is manifested by the multi nationality medical community it incubates of around 2,500 licensed
professionals in different 80 medical specialties, speaking 40 languages (Sampler & Eigner, 2013;
Woodman, 2012; Krane, 2010).
The DHCC is viewed as a one-stop shop offering a wide range of medical services in several
hospitals, outpatient clinics and state-of-the-art diagnostic laboratories; among which they incubate
centers of excellence in complementary and alternative medicine, cosmetic treatment, dermal and
hair transplant, dentistry, orthopedics and sports medicine, endocrine and weight management, eye
care, and cardiology. Moreover, they established strategic partnerships with international research
and development companies in medical and pharmaceutical industries, which are believed to have
an impact on healthcare innovation (Woodman, 2012).
Attracting top international healthcare providers, the DHCC community is strictly regulated by
an independent oversight entity-The Center for Healthcare Planning and Quality (CPQ) that was
established jointly with Partners Harvard Medical International, in order to ensure quality of care
P a g e | 13
and patient safety. All DHCC members are obligated to adhere to stringent CPQ licensing criteria
and maintain international standards of best healthcare practice (ibid).
P a g e | 14
III. Literature Review
Conceptual Foundations
In efforts to build a conceptual framework for this study, we reviewed literature in three main
areas: innovation in healthcare, mobile apps, and business restructuring. Despite the fact that our
study will survey all types of healthcare facilities, this study finds that the focus of literature was
mainly on hospitals, since they reflect the most mature form of healthcare settings due to their scale
and operational size (Marceau & Basri, 2001). Although it is realized that prehospital settings and
emergency medical services (EMS) are a vital part of the wider continuum of healthcare, we did not
find any theoretical or empirical study on innovation in this field. We identify this as a gap in
literature.
While this study acknowledges that innovation can also be non-technological (Djellal &
Gallouj, 2007), its focus is solely on technological aspects of innovation; in particular, mobile apps.
This view of innovation is supported by the economic theory which favors technologist innovation
(ibid). Strategically, other industries have extensively utilized information technology (IT) as a tool
for innovation in their operations (Putzer & Park, 2010). Examples of such industries are banking
systems (Bredican, et al., 2013; Böhmer, et al., 2011), finance and commerce (Hu, et al., 2008),
hotels (Bredican, et al., 2013), education (Godwin-Jones, 2011), and healthcare technology
management (HTM) (Vasquez & Christopher, 2013).
Why Do We Need Innovation in Healthcare?
Innovation is critical for survival in any business. It allows companies to succeed as it provides
them with a full view of opportunities and new ideas to be exploited for further growth (Akenroye,
2012; Sawhney, et al., 2006). It is a way to outperform competitors as new technologies evolve in
societies and change consumers’ preferences (Sutton, 2004), and at an organizational level,
P a g e | 15
innovation can enhance employees’ capabilities, as it can include fundamental changes and
improvements in services provided and processes implemented (Bredican, et al., 2013; Akenroye,
2012). At a larger scale, innovation is the key for the thrift and growth of economies and the
development of nations in the new circumstances (Marceau & Basri, 2001).
Linear changes in business are progressive and happening over time as a result of constant
human innovations (Burrus, 2014). Burrus identifies two types of trends that happen over time: hard
trends, which are predictable cyclic changes that will happen and cannot be stopped; and soft trends
which may happen in the future and are subject to changes in the environment. The later can be
influenced and adjusted, but it is the former, i.e. hard trends, that needs to be observed in order to
identify linear changes as opportunities and capitalize on them. He argues that our world is entering
a “period of transformation” in relation to technological changes, pointing to the necessity to
anticipate change- through innovation- rather than just react to it in order for any business to survive
(Burrus, 2014).
It was projected as early as 2010 that mobile gadgets would be the main access to the internet
by 2014 (Kaufman, 2011), which is the practice by the date of writing this thesis, indicating a strong
shift on consumers’ preferences and their daily habits (Bredican, et al., 2013). This shift in
customers’ needs, along with increasing global competition, technology advancements and
shortening of product life cycle are identified as key drivers for innovation in private sector, while
in public sector it is the chronic, unattained problems that drive the need for innovation (Akenroye,
2012). This can be viewed as an opportunity to capitalize on in different fields, including healthcare
(Kaufman, 2011).
P a g e | 16
Innovation in Healthcare
The perception of hospitals as solely productive units, technical hubs, or information systems
predominates the perception of them as a complete service provider hub. The later provides a
holistic approach of what hospitals really are, and allows for exploiting abundant innovative
opportunities (Djellal & Gallouj, 2007).
Based on the impact of innovation on an organization, three levels have been identified:
incremental innovation (i.e. minor changes), radical innovation (i.e. major breakthrough), and
transformative innovation (i.e. with significant impact on the entire structure of organization)
(Akenroye, 2012; Paton, et al., 2011). Radical innovation in medicine has been witnessed through
myriad historical inventions and discoveries. Indeed, innovation in healthcare mainly comes from
clinical practice, but not much from organizational level, i.e. hospitals (Akenroye, 2012). In fact, it
is until this date that the main breakthroughs in healthcare are stemming from the disciplines of
medicine and clinical practice, as in the case of the emerging strategic technologies (EST), such as
nano- and biotechnologies, as well as the controversial cognitive enhancement technology (Al-
Roudhan, 2015).
Transformative innovation, on the other hand, is believed to be more at an organizational level.
While medical innovations are well known in history, it is necessary to distinguish them from
innovation in hospitals; a concept that is usually underestimated, but if taken into consideration it
includes a wider range of potential innovations as well as wider range of actors in the innovation
process in healthcare rather than just focusing on medical profession (Djellal & Gallouj, 2007). This
implementation of innovation at an organizational level requires systematic revisions by the
management team in order to be successful (Akenroye, 2012).
P a g e | 17
Innovation in healthcare can be influenced by non-medical factors such as funding policies,
budget organizing principle (Marceau & Basri, 2001), increasing costs, complexity of supply chain,
and sustainability concerns (Akenroye, 2012). While investing in healthcare technical innovation is
perceived as costly (Djellal & Gallouj, 2007; Coughlan, 2006), it can facilitate supply chain and
enhance healthcare efficiency (Akenroye, 2012; Marceau & Basri, 2001). In terms of sustainability,
some studies argued the life cycle of medical innovations to be of short lifespan, while others
suggest that medical innovations do not go obsolete, but rather they are built on previous
innovations and support their function (Djellal & Gallouj, 2007).
The NHS has identified innovation as a tool for improvement in healthcare (Akenroye, 2012).
Due to the huge size of operation the NHS has, service reliability and excellence are required to
effectively meet the constant shifts on demand and customers’ needs, which can be effectively
achieved through innovation (ibid). Meanwhile, the impact of this tool, i.e. innovation, on
healthcare improvement needs to be measured against technical effectiveness, which refers to
improvements in mortality and morbidity rates (Djellal & Gallouj, 2007).
The Revolution of Mobile Apps in Healthcare
Smartphones appeared in 2000 (Putzer & Park, 2010); nonetheless, the use of mobile apps in
healthcare started to appear in literature from 2008, with almost total absence before that year.
However, the term ‘telemedicine’ is well known in literature way before 2008, and one can presume
that we can classify Smartphones and their mobile apps into this category.
Among the driving forces of innovation are technological and customer changes (Akenroye,
2012). Smartphones, with their installed apps, nowadays have redefined our societies as they are not
just tools for voice communication anymore (Kaufman, 2011). It is the convenience Smartphone
apps provide to customers that is shifting the market towards this new business model (Bredican, et
P a g e | 18
al., 2013). Burrus suggested a new Golden rule in business in which companies must be
“transformation agents” that create the need for customers rather than reacting to their wants
(Burrus, 2014). This urges healthcare industry to utilize mobile apps in their services provided for
their ever-changing customers, as more consumers are adopting mobile apps into their daily
lifestyle (Kaufman, 2011).
Our conceptualization of Smartphones and their useable apps as tools for innovation is
consistent with the multiple definitions of innovation. Innovation is widely known as the
introduction of previously unknown tool, a new idea, concept, product, or service that helps in
changing the way a process, service, practice is used to be (Anthony, 2012; Paton, et al., 2011).
However, innovation can be a wider concept than just being the first to introduce a new product. It
can be the adoption of an already existing technology in a new context or environment (Paton, et al.,
2011; Sutton, 2004), by understanding its essential meaning and application possibilities, i.e.
“epiphany” (Verganti, 2011), in order to create a competitive edge through a meaningful solution
that satisfies customers (Anthony, 2012).
The majority of mobile apps in healthcare are focused on medical application with apps facing
patients (patient-facing apps) and those geared to clinicians which facilitate clinical decision
support (monitoring, diagnostic, communication with patients, etc.) (Bredican, et al., 2013; Vasquez
& Christopher, 2013; Akenroye, 2012; Putzer & Park, 2010). There is little literature; however, on
the application of mobile apps within operations and internal business processes of healthcare
settings that facilitate workflows. Even before the introduction of mobile apps into healthcare,
literature that focuses on organizational innovation in hospitals are relatively fewer than on medical
innovation (Djellal & Gallouj, 2007).
Generally, business managers in different industries are reluctant to integrate and utilize mobile
apps in their internal business processes, despite what is being called as “software revolution” in
P a g e | 19
which mobile apps are leading our lives through Smartphones and mobile devices, which predicts
an uptake of mobile apps within internal operations soon (i.e. hard trend) (Burrus, 2013). In
healthcare industry, there is an underutilization of new technologies as they are not maximized to
their fully potential gains in efficiency, and the processes of adopting new technologies are
considered relatively slow (Kerleau & Pelletier-Fleury, 2002)
While innovation in terms of medical software systems is already available, it is believed that
the use of mobile apps is superior to the traditional computer interfaces already installed at
hospitals. This is due to a general state of frustration of the current medical software systems that
results in the tendency to prefer Smartphones use in clinical decisions as a “quick fix” (Charani, et
al., 2014). This state of frustration is supported further by Krieger (2013), who indicates an
inefficient model of the current healthcare system that urges innovative technological solutions
(Krieger, 2013).
The big data generated from extensively changing data set forced medical professionals to be
dependent on technology to an extent they would feel their loss of control over the exchanged
information (Krieger, 2013). This prompts the necessity for more reliable and efficient exchange of
those complex input (Yurov, et al., 2007); allowing for data and pictures exchange between medical
professionals (Kerleau & Pelletier-Fleury, 2002).
Efficiency and reliability from users’ perspective can be achieved with the portability and
wireless accessibility features of Smartphones, as well as many other capabilities to be discussed
later. From strategic point of view, it was estimated that Smartphones will be the norm in healthcare
settings by which healthcare members can access and document patient information (Logan, 2012;
Putzer & Park, 2010), which is observed nowadays as more and more healthcare professionals are
adopting accessible mobile apps during their working hours (Burrus, 2013; Logan, 2012).
P a g e | 20
In order to justify the use of mobile apps in healthcare, literature review has evolved into three
major perspectives: marketing perspective, operations perspective, and strategic perspective.
Marketing Perspective
For a long term and sustainable revenue generation companies need to have new markets
penetration, targeting new segments, and master a competitive advantage over their rivals; by
anticipating unsatisfied needs customers may be unaware of (Fahy & Jobber, 2012; Sutton, 2004).
This is only possible by exploring new ideas; inventing and experimenting with new technologies
and products (Sutton, 2004). When healthcare facilities adopt more innovative technologies, not
only they attract more clients, but also they can attract good physicians (Djellal & Gallouj, 2007);
thus creating a vicious cycle by recurrently attracting more clients.
End users have been identified as the major source, or ‘push’, of innovation in medical devices
(Logan, 2012; Marceau & Basri, 2001). With the increasing awareness and utilization of
Smartphones in their daily living, customers’ wants and needs are drastically changing, and the
demand for patient-focused healthcare plan has been increased (Akenroye, 2012; Logan, 2012).
Remote patients’ engagement in their healthcare plans is the new need for many, and the nowadays
mobile platforms, social media and apps are significantly improving this engagement (Logan, 2012;
Kaufman, 2011), and enhancing the sense of ownership and control over their interactions
(Bredican, et al., 2013). In UK, it was recognized that a market-driven approach has improved NHS
by making it more responsive to customers’ needs (Akenroye, 2012). In fact, it is believed that
adopting market-based practices is required for an effective healthcare management (Coughlan,
2006), where the end user is considered right from the beginning of the design of the application in
order to make it meaningful and usable, thus widely accepted and easily adopted (Logan, 2012).
