The Connected Care Solution that Offers Both Safety and Freedom

Digital healthcare solutions for elderly users

As connected healthcare continues its rapid growth, a lot of new players with new and more refined solutions are entering the market. Sensorem is one of those players, bringing a vision to enable seniors in society to feel free in their everyday lives and to enable that through the use of technology. Sensorem has both a B2B and a B2C offering, and both are based on a service that they have built from the ground up – and that service is a very user-friendly device that looks similar to a smart watch.

“You don’t need any technical knowledge to use our devices,” explains Bobo Delemark, CEO, Sensorem. “Our service is built from scratch and adapted for this segment. If a person has fallen or left a pre-defined area, alerts are set up and notifications ensure a swift response and enhanced user safety – it’s simple and easy to use. And we’ve made sure to make it attractive because too many products of this kind on the market really aren’t great looking and even our older citizens want to be fashionable and not look like they’re sick or in need of care.”

Device functionality & use cases

One functionality in the watch has been built to address user needs, and is both reactive and proactive. A standard function is that you can press the alarm button and get help from relatives or caretakers if you need assistance. Once the alarm button is pressed, it automatically calls up pre-defined numbers/persons in an order that’s been previously decided. Information is provided to the person who gets the call as far as what has happened, and they also get a GPS location, and information on if there are any other needs.

Beyond that, there are other functionalities that are more preventative, such as inactivity warnings, meaning if the patient is inactive for a certain amount of time or if their activity is out of the norm, in combination with other markers, such as pulse, an alert will be sent that something could be wrong.

You get all of these preventative functions that are designed to respond before something bad happens or to be rapidly responsive if there are problems.

Bobo Delemark CEO

“The Sensorem solutions can be used in both home settings and care settings,” says Bobo Delemark. “The typical B2C customer would buy our smart care watch for elderly relatives to make sure they are in good shape and to get alerts if something happens.

The B2B side of things includes both municipalities and other types of B2B customers, such as care homes, which could be run either by the state or in private ownership. In these settings, the smart watch could be for elderly who need increased care or for people with other vulnerabilities.”

Seniors with dementia is a growing segment for Sensorem – the company’s solution allows relatives or care workers to receive alerts if a senior has, for example, left a building. Receiving a notification quickly when this happens means an equally quick response and that the patient is brought back to safety.

IoT, SIM cards & connectivity

The Sensorem watch is a stand-alone device, so connectivity and a SIM card are required to make it operational, because the device needs both voice and data. And because this is a mission critical application, reliability is extremely important.

“We chose Tele2 IoT for several reasons. There was of course a good offer that fit our needs, but we also had a very helpful salesperson,” says Bobo Delemark. “Tele2 IoT also has a good reputation – it is already working with a quite substantial and heavyweight list of customers and is a rapidly growing company.

Managing connectivity is always important when it comes to IoT. Sensorem uses Cisco IoT Control Center (2CONTROL).

“This is another reason why we’ve chosen to work with Tele2 IoT. With Control Center we have full access to our SIM cards, and if anything happens, we can address it quickly. For example, we can prevent fraud, which is very important.

“IoT is also much more flexible in terms of data. We don’t use huge amounts of data, but our devices need access to data, and we need to be able to adjust what we use, which Control Center makes easy.”

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Cisco IoT Control Center gives us full transparency and control over our set up – our deployment and SIMs and connectivity. And the more we grow the more important it gets, because the more SIMs we have the more of an overview we’re going to need.

Bobo Delemark

Roaming is also very important because the devices must work no matter where the user is located. A senior may be on a trip outside of their home country and they will still need to be monitored, so roaming is crucial to ensure their safety.

Security & privacy

In terms of security, Sensorem has built in a lot of security, because they are dealing with a very sensitive and important area that is mission critical. They have built a lot of safety systems in terms of getting alerts when things aren’t working or if there is another problem. Data is encrypted in a robust way, and they also use a private APN.

Challenges

Connected care is a huge and growing sector and it isn’t without its challenges. One big challenge faced by Sensorem and other players is to focus on the core business, as the size of the entire connected health care market is huge, and entails many different solutions.

“We need to focus. We are growing fast now but we are a startup and as a startup we have to really narrow in our focus and which area of expertise we choose to work in and then be really good at what we do.”

Getting this area of connected care right is job one. After that, we can discuss collaborating with other, complimentary solutions that would work well alongside our solution.

Another challenge was developing a device that didn’t look like a medical device. Even today, people can feel stigmatized by wearing a medical device.

“Our device looks just like a smart watch and is very stylish, which is a big differentiator in this segment, because some of our competitors offer devices that look like a medical device. Users don’t like this because it sends a signal that they are sick and/or old – or at least that is their perception,” says Bobo Delemark. “We have also developed a second version, which is slimmer and more streamlined – it looks like a Fitbit. It has a bigger screen, which is designed to help those with weaker eyesight. And because we want people to feel good wearing it, we offer interchangeable wristbands, which come in different colors, materials, and styles. People, no matter what their age or health, want to feel stylish and fashionable, so we make sure they can do that.

The future

At the moment, Sensorem operates mainly in Sweden, but is starting to grow in the other Nordic markets. This is a natural growth pattern, because the other Nordic countries operate in similar ways to Sweden in terms of the municipalities or healthcare systems in general.

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