Rising in the ICT Healthcare Market

Hungary is the home of the Deutsche Telekom Healthcare Competence Center (HCC CEE). Director Viktor Zala offers his insights into how the organization helps Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries in the Central Eastern Europe (CEE) region to provide ICT healthcare solutions to their markets.

Viktor, why did Deutsche Telekom select Budapest to be its European headquarters for ICT healthcare solutions?

This has an historical background. T-Systems Hungary, a subsidiary of Magyar Telekom, has executed an accentuated merger and acquisition policy in recent years. One result has been the acquisition of ISH Informatika, a Hungarian company specialized in healthcare ICT solutions and services for healthcare institutions and authorities. Thanks to this newly bundled power, expertise and market leading position in Hungary on the ICT Healthcare market, Deutsche Telekom decided to create the Healthcare Competence Center in Hungary.

What is the basic idea of the HCC CEE?

We support Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiaries in the Central Eastern Europe market in providing ICT solutions for local healthcare markets – mainly in our focus countries Greece, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia. But we are also transferring healthcare-related sales and presales knowledge. The healthcare sector is very attractive for Deutsche Telekom because it requires information and data available at the right time and at the right place – whether on fixed or on mobile devices. Data protection and stable data transmission are extremely important. And this is exactly what we offer with our highly secure cloud-based services.

Also, this market is growing rapidly and there is a strong demand for innovative solutions for hospital information systems, inter-hospital communication platforms, mobile applications and telemedicine solutions etc. We aim to provide a Deutsche Telekom healthcare product and solution portfolio with offerings for a wide demand in the healthcare ICT market. So, at the HCC CEE we help building up the necessary competencies of our CEE subsidiaries to enter this market and continue to grow in it.

How do you do that? Please tell us a little bit about the activities of the HCC CEE.

We prepare country reports about the healthcare ICT market. In analysing the markets we gain solid knowledge about their opportunities and risks, competitors and the potential target groups. Based on this, we focus suggestions and recommendations for action in order to create specific market strategies. Also, we consult the Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries on portfolio and bid management and we accompany them to client meetings if required. Another important part of our activities are on-site and remote trainings that we prepare and conduct for presales and sales staff.

So exchange of information is a core part of your work?

Exactly. We maintain an intensive dialogue with all subsidiaries globally, not only in the CEE region, but also with our other colleagues in Europe and from overseas. Every half year, colleagues from all over the world dealing with healthcare ICT business opportunities meet at the Healthcare Community Meeting. Last time, this summit took place in London. Such events are about knowledge and information-sharing, discussing opportunities, exchanging best practices and learning about new portfolio products and marketing opportunities. It is a good environment to engage with each other personally.

So let’s talk about first successes …

Thanks to the close cooperation between the HCC CEE and Deutsche Telekom subsidiaries in Greece, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia, we were able to identify various healthcare-related business opportunities and have successfully managed some projects together. OTE for example has already generated significant revenue from healthcare ICT businesses. Slovak Telekom and Telekom Romania are also on the way to become important players on their local healthcare ICT market.

Last question: What about partnering and partner management?

We are focusing on strong partnerships with local vendors. This is best mirrored in our unified Deutsche Telekom healthcare solution portfolio that we are creating as we speak. The majority of the solutions is provided by local partners. By involving local vendors’ solutions into the unified DT healthcare solution portfolio we aim at creating an ecosystem where the collaboration of our subsidiaries and local partners give proper answers to challenges of the rapidly changing market needs in terms of novelty, quality, complexity and simplicity.

Learn more about the HCC CEE: https://www.t-systems.hu/healthcare/general-information/about-hcc-cee

See examples of some success stories from ICT Healthcare segment:

• Medical treatment without borders (Hungary and Romania): http://www.t-systems.hu/healthcare/success-stories/medical-treatments-without-borders
• Public Health Institutions ( Bosnia-Herzegovina): http://www.t-systems.hu/healthcare/success-stories/public-health-institution-university-clinical-center-tuzla
• Sarajevo Canton Project (Bosnia-Herzegovina): http://www.t-systems.hu/healthcare/success-stories/sarajevo-canton-project
• Semmelweis University (Hungary): http://www.t-systems.hu/healthcare/success-stories/semmelweis-university
• Gottsegen György Hungarian Institute of Cardiology (Hungary): http://www.t-systems.hu/healthcare/success-stories/success-of-hismobile
• University Hospital Pécs (Hungary): http://www.t-systems.hu/healthcare/success-stories/university-hospital-pecs-hungary-perinatal-intensive-care