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Technosens offers a range of equipment and services that digitally transform living environments to support seniors in ageing well. The private software company designs, develops and installs solutions that gear homes and facilities for improved and optimal care, making living environments “senior ready”. Technosens was founded in 2007 and is based in Grenoble, France, where the team today comprises 23 people.
e-lio is the name of Technosens’ digital service platform that simplifies technology for seniors and thereby enables them to benefit from Internet of Things (IoT) empowered services while ageing. The solution further aims to strengthen human interaction within senior living environments and beyond by maintaining connections and increasing information sharing between residents, their families and care providers.
Technosens’ service platform is being deployed mainly in France, Spain, England and Canada. While applicable both in private and professional settings, the services respond to a broad demand posed by various user segments. The solution is therefore offered as facility assistance to healthcare facilities, nursing homes, senior hospitality housing and as in-home support to elderly people in private residences. Technosens offers the solution with one vision: digital can be another kind of medication, beyond the chemical.
The incentive of Technosens to develop their IoT solution derives from the global concern of rapidly ageing populations. The shifting demographics are a challenge because our current institutional and social arrangements are unsuited for ageing populations, and it generates a worldwide demand for solutions that can support people in ageing well.
Technosens responds to this demand by offering e-lio as a platform to digitally support seniors as they lose autonomy, physical ability and mental capacity. This is effectuated in a solution that relies on technology to simplify usage and facilitate access to services of care, support, socialisation and entertainment
“For the elderly, it is providing a possibility to interact with new technologies of the internet. These kinds of technologies can be a bit complicated for them, so what we are providing is something that is easy to use.”
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
Founder of Technosens, Thierry Chevalier, draw his inspiration from a near family relation in childhood. Seeing his own grandfather suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, isolated and with communication difficulties due to distant living, he became determined to make it his professional livelihood to enable enhanced life quality while ageing. In 2007, Technosens developed the most robust and reliable senior-focused videoconferencing system on the market: e-lio. Since then, ageism and its unprecedented set of challenges have continued to evolve:
Technology innovation has evolved along with these growing demands, and since the launch in 2007, Technosens has advanced the solution technologically through many iterations, based on feedback continuously collected from the market. Throughout this journey, Technosens has been able to earn the trust of large investors, enabling them to expand their offering over the years.
Having equipped hundreds of facilities and deployed thousands of e-lio boxes, Technosens has grown to be a recognised technology provider for nursing homes and senior hospitality housing. No solutions offer the exact same functionalities (foremost data sharing between care professionals and frequent social contact between seniors and their relatives), and Technosens has therefore acquired a rather unique position on the market. With the integration of a complete range of user personalised services, the solution supports autonomy through technology simplicity – and makes it accessible through the television.
“Most elderly do know how to use a television. So what we are doing for them is to add functionality to the television.”
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
We age gradually, and it should be a joyful time of life. Technosens anticipates e-lio to be able to facilitate this. The company strives towards bringing the solution further into international markets over the next decade, making e-lio a global offering, for accelerating the spreading of “senior ready” living environments.
e-lio is essentially a platform designed for senior housing facilities that covers a complete range of digital services for elderly people, their families and care providers. The physical components of the solution include a box, a camera, a remote controller and the cables needed to connect the components. The box is plugged behind the television (or another type of screen) and thereby provides it with smart functionality. Through this box, the television connects to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet and is then able to communicate with the Technosens software. The software runs from a central server, which enabled all communication data to be stored partly on the box, partly in the cloud.
The Technosens software processes the input data and, based on this, filters relevant information into a variety of services. Hence, the software generates tailor-made output data and transmits it both back to the box and to external receiver devices. The output data is made available for users through the e-lio platform, which is accessed via the box-connected television and/or the dedicated application e-lioPro.
Depending on the specific user and user settings, different information and services are available. All the digital services are run from the centralised e-lio platform, and from there, administrators can control all information and manage all services “à la carte”. A list of the available services includes:
When deployed in private settings (typically the home of an elderly or disabled person), the services facilitate:
When deployed in professional settings (such as senior housing facilities, nursing homes and healthcare facilities), the services facilitate:
Technosens handles the installation of the solution and collaborates in the process with facility employees, software publishers, equipment and service providers in order to adapt installations to the individual needs and wishes of facilities, residents and families.
The development of Technosens’ IoT solution is a direct response to the global concern of accelerating changes in our demographics and a contribution to configuring more future-proof and robust societies to cope with this. By leveraging technology in ageism, Technosens has designed an intelligent, and yet simple, platform that serves as a central component in “senior ready” living environments. By providing a range of vital services, the e-lio solution supports residents to age well and professionals to provide care well. Digital services are more than ever a factor in the quality of life for vulnerable ageing people and their families and in the comfort of work for care providers.
“The objective is of course not to replace human visits – it is to help keep the link. …It is good support for physical and real-life connection.”
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
The beneficial outcomes of being able to interact digitally – or rather, the experience of not being able to interact at all – has become highly noticeable during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Concurrently with a general acceleration in the digitalisation trend and a heavy increase in the number of online users and services, the many lockdowns effectuated widespread isolations where all physical communication was made impossible. The elderly, being a particularly vulnerable group in all populations, and typically not digitally connected, suffered from long periods of isolation with no or very limited contact with other people. Hence, the pandemic has been an eye-opener, leading both the seniors, their relatives and care professionals to really understand and recognise the value of what the e-lio solution offers.
The increasing demand for Technosens’ solution is manifested as outcome in terms of reshaping the original value proposition, transforming the company from being a telecommunication system provider to being a SaaS [2] provider. This transformation has enabled the company to add services, generating company growth as an outcome. Technosens generates profit from a recurring revenue mechanism, where customers are charged via subscription, and this is complemented by one-time sales derived from optional extra service offerings.
For users of the solution, the direct outcome is the enablement of seniors to benefit from technology-empowered services while ageing. This facilitates a strengthening in connections and an increase in information sharing between seniors, their families and care providers. The general consumer of Technosens’ solution is senior living environments both in the public and private sector. The users of e-lio are elderly people and their families, as well as care providers and administrators at assisted living facilities, nursing homes and senior hospitality housing. This variety in users causes varying needs and demands, which effectuate also varying outcomes to be gained from the solution. The key valuable outcomes for users are listed below.
Seniors and families – Private outcomes:
“If you ask a senior about what he wants in a solution, he will not be able to answer very precisely.”
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
Although the direct user may not be able to put his desires into words, Technosens is indeed able to convey outcomes that provide value in senior living environments.
Care providers and administrators – Professional outcomes:
Furthermore, e-lio supports assisted living facilities as they embark on their digital transformation, allowing them to go paper-free while maintaining control and cohesion in their services, saving time and reducing costs.
Technosens strives to help bring out the best of all technologies by simplifying usability and compatibility to increase usage and automation. The e-lio platform is designed to connect to external devices and services (e.g., fall detectors, medical sensors and alarms, smart applications and furniture and any user interface), as well as to link up and centralise data split across multiple platforms. The compatibility abilities effect that the solution at present is acclaimed by many players in the senior market who use it for its simplicity, interactivity and adaptability.
The solution offered by Technosens may not seem as egregiously novel or complex IoT technology. However, when directly targeting a user segment that was not born in the digital age, the available solution and its services are an abstraction that seniors are often reluctant towards adopting. Reluctance may also characterise the assisted living facilities as they are often governed by public authorities which means budget constraints and bureaucratic processes. On top of this, Technosens needs to put great effort into assuring users that the solution neither monitors their every move nor intrudes on privacy. In the development and composition of e-lio, these were some of the many considerations that had to be taken into account.
“We are really targeting a market which is very far from technology! …We know that the market is not mature yet, and we have to stay quite pragmatic.”
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
Hence, many factors influence the development of an IoT solution, especially when the targeted users are represented by segments whose capabilities to navigate the digital world are very limited, either directly or institutionally. In the composition of e-lio, Technosens found that successful development was achieved when balancing these many factors. This is a matter of being agile and remaining open to external market forces.
Technosens considers a number of points to be vital for the success of the e-lio solution. Taking departure in the development and commercialisation of the platform and the services it makes available, these points are compiled into a list of recommendations below.
1. Merge market feedback with vision
“We have a process where we try to integrate the demands of our customers on a regular basis. But still, we have our own vision on what we want to do as the market is not consolidated yet.”
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
Market interaction is key and should guide any company. However, Technosens finds that an independent vision is just as essential to nurturing the long-term evolvement of the business. The market may not always be fully aware of the service potential that digital products hold, and to redeem this, visionary proactivity is inevitable.
2. Sell results rather than products
Formulate the results that your solution generates – the value proposition – and sell this as your offering rather than the stand-alone product. Being able to do this requires insight and partaking in one’s market and ecosystem. Technosens pursues frequent contact with the various players in the senior ecosystem in order to build solid partnerships that increase synergies in the development of technologies that meet the needs of the users.
“What we see is that we are providing something that they are not used to having, but they want to have.”
Jorge Rider, Senior Developer at Technosens
3. Educate and involve users
“One of the keys to success is the installation itself and the first steps in involvement of the management and the usage of the solution.“
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
Making sure that users are in fact able to use one’s solution is significant for its value creation. Technosens finds that keeping close ties with the users, and supporting them in becoming experts in management and use of it, is a self-sustained investment. These exchanges further help Technosens improve their solution and offer the most relevant services for the seniors, their families and the professionals that work with them.
4. Disciplined technology development
Technosens recommends innovators to validate that there is a market for the solution that you intend to offer – and that the market is ready for it. Although technology development is crucial for IoT value propositions to remain relevant, do not only think solutions of the future but think solutions of the present as well. Simplicity and discipline shall guide development.
“Stick with the market and the reality, and do not go into crazy ideas. We can do very technologically interesting solutions but usage and sales are what makes things real and concrete at the end.”
Benjamin Bouilliez, Operations Manager at Technosens
Technosens assumes a high level of digital maturity with an overall score of 4.09. The score indicates that the digital capabilities of the company are vastly mature, and that they perform above average for the service sector.
The Digital Maturity Assessment Tool is copyrighted by Associate Professor and PhD Annabeth Aagaard, Director at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Business Development, Aarhus University. To get the digital maturity of your company mapped out, click here.
[1] https://devotedguardians.com/at-what-age-do-seniors-usually-need-daily-assistance/
[2] SaaS: Software as a Service
Copyright notice: © 2020 – 2023 EU-IoT Consortium.
This material was produced as part of the EU-IoT project, grant ID 956671, and is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme under topic ID ICT-56-2020.
EU-IoT is the European IoT Hub. The EU-IoT project works towards growing a sustainable and comprehensive ecosystem for Next Generation Internet of Things.
Source of origin: Information to document this use case originates from the H2020 call: IoT-01-2016 Large Scale Pilots (IA); Project ACTIVAGE 732679; Period: 01-01-2017 to 30-09-2020; EC contribution 20 mil. EUR.