16 February 2014 By Ralf-Gordon Jahns http://research2guidance.com/health-scores-the-business-of-apps-that-aggregates-health-and-fitnessdata-into-one-score-interview-with-peter-ohnemus-ceo-and-founder-of-dacadoo/
Health scores: The business of apps that aggregates health and fitness data into one score. Interview with Peter Ohnemus, CEO and founder of Dacadoo. Health and fitness tracking apps became one of the most talked app categories in the app economy. They track steps, the consumed or burnt calories, glucose level, blood pressure and anything else that can be measured by sensors or connected to an app. Health scoring apps aggregate health and fitness tracking data into one score, i.e. they use an algorithms to calculate e.g. activities, body information and personal moods into one number (see graph). Dacadoo has been one of the first companies that offered a health scoring system. Peter Ohnemus is the CEO and founder of Dacadoo. In the following interview Peter Ohnemus explains the concept and business model behind Dacadoo and shares his view on the main drivers and barriers of the mHealth app market.
Interview research2guidance (r2g): Mr. Ohnemus, can you please exp- To ease data input our users are able to automatically connect lain what Dacodoo does? with more than 30 sensors to platform like Fitbit, Withings, Jawbone, Polar, etc. Peter Ohnemus, Dacadoo: We basically provide a health score in real-time on your smartphone on a scale between 1 (bad) The data is encrypted with a 256 key and we also run our own and 1,000 (good). This health score is based on how you feel, social network platform to prevent security issues coming from the activities you do and other medical factors. By monitoring public social networks. your health score over time you can see what impact it has to e.g. walk more, eat healthier or just to be more positive. You r2g: When did you start your business? can compare and share your score with others if you like. Eventually you’ll find out what is good for you and what brings you Peter Ohnemus: Dacadoo AG was founded in 2010. In the closer to your health goals. beginning we put a lot of effort in developing the Health Score algorithm. All together we spend over 3.5 years in research and We did a lot of research for our Health Score algorithm. It is development. In 2012 we started to license our product to our backed by 80 million man years of clinical data. first customer a British healthcare operator. The next deal was made with a German health insurance company at the end of Our complete platform service offering combines mobile tech- 2012. We are now also working together with a German mobinologies, social networking and gamification elements to ease le operator and started to partner with companies in the USA, daily usage. The reporting views of Dacadoo show a detailed Australia, Russia and Japan. overview of the user’s health score and helps to understand the key influencers that affect it. r2g: What is your business model? Page 1
16 February 2014 By Ralf-Gordon Jahns http://research2guidance.com/health-scores-the-business-of-apps-that-aggregates-health-and-fitnessdata-into-one-score-interview-with-peter-ohnemus-ceo-and-founder-of-dacadoo/
Peter Ohnemus: We sell our platform to our business customers (B2B licence model). We don’t sell directly to consumers. We offer two different licences. The first licence allows our business customers to make use of our algorithm as a white label solution. The second licence type additionally grants access to our full social media channels and other services that Dacadoo is providing in the digital prevention and lifestyle navigation space. r2g: How many subscribers do you have?
Big pharma companies will enter the market. Due to increasing cost pressure in healthcare, they will have to prove the success of their treatments, products and medical solutions. Enterprise companies will start to put more effort behind maintaining and improving the overall health condition of their employees. With companies paying money for health services they will want to see a return on investment. With that, healthcare will become much more efficient.
The current “all you can eat” system will not be able to pay for Peter Ohnemus: At the moment we have 100,000 paying the increasing healthcare costs in the future. In the USA health subscribers. At the end of 2014 we want to have 300,000 to is already accounting for 17% of the GDP. 400,000 subscribers. Privatization and increased transparency will be the main drir2g: Which trends do you see in the health score area over the ver for efficiency in the healthcare market and a driver for the next five years? mHealth market as well. Peter Ohnemus: We see that the data collection for health r2g: Where do you see the main barriers for the mHealth marscores will be totally automated. The end-user will not have ket in the next five years? anything to do with the data collection. This will be achieved with passive sensors such as the M7 chip of the iPhone. Peter Ohnemus: There will be a lot of resistance from the traditional healthcare players. We think that people will adopt to health score concept – i.e. one cumulated number that everybody understands and which For example doctors and hospitals have not been used to be expresses the health status of the user. benchmarked in the past (no health outcome). A concept like the Health Score balance sheet for private and public organiHealth scores will also allow a new kind of benchmarking. zations or a country is a totally new idea which will cause reFor example a company could compare the health score of its sistance early on, just like digital movies, books, newspapers, employees over several years. We can also envision that com- etc. panies have a health score balance sheet just like they have a financial balance sheet. r2g: Do you see countries which are ahead of the curve? r2g: There are many health score businesses opening up. What Peter Ohnemus: I definitely see Denmark as a leading country. does a company have to do in order to get the upper hand? They introduced the digital health card already a few years ago. Singapore is also very active in the mHealth space. I believe Peter Ohnemus: We think that those companies will win the that Obama Care with its public and private health exchanges race which are best able to seamlessly integrate the health, fit- will be a big push for the efficiency of the US health insurance ness, food, lifestyle and “feeling” data. Also privacy and se- system, technology and mHealth will play a major role going curity is a major issue. The company which offers the highest forward. security standards will have a big advantage in the future. r2g: What are your favorite apps? r2g: Which drivers will shape the mHealth market in the next five years? Peter Ohnemus: I’m using Dacadoo and Moves for tracking. I also love Sonos for digital music streaming entertainment at Peter Ohnemus: mHealth will become mission-critical. Over home. the last few years the mHealth market was a “pilot only” market. This will change in the next years as very large players are Thank you for the interview. moving into the industry (disruptive change).
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