In agreement with the project proposal, the feasibility study consisted of two stages: the first one aimed to make a value proposition for our business innovation idea; the second one targeted the development of several potential business models.
The first stage of our feasibility analysis consisted in assessing the technological and economic viability of the FOX® prototype in terms of the business opportunities presented by the steadily growing market of cochlear implantation. An important outcome of consisted in the identification of the market needs and the unique values offered by FOX® within the market of individualized and highly specialized hearing care. This resulted in a Value Proposition, visualized as one of the segments of a business canvas model. The outcomes of the analysis showed that the main advantage of this clinical product is that it will require little to no intervention by human expert-audiologists while it is nevertheless able to guarantee that hearing outcomes are within the highest standards. In-depth interviews with expert CI-fitters and potential new users of FOX® within specialized audiological centres revealed that they highly appreciate the fact that this new fitting software will reduce unwanted variability amongst individual expert fitters and amongst fitting centres world-wide. Also, they feel that FOX® will create confidence amongst CI-fitters with respect to the obtained hearing outcomes. As fitting towards measurable targets is one of the core principles behind the proposed automated fitting method, it is also expected to play a key role in patient satisfaction.
Importantly, the interviews also enabled us to identify potential pitfalls towards the successful introduction of FOX® into the market. These pains include e.g. the expected loss of prestige or ‘ego-pain’ of which expert audiologists and CI fitting centres may suffer when discovering that the computer is able to do an important part of the fitting task faster and with better hearing outcomes than when it is done manually. Also, (potential) users expressed the fear to be confronted with interface problems, bugs, errors of all kinds that they are no longer able to handle on their own due to the high technological level of the product.
During stage 2 of the feasibility study several business models were developed, based on in-depth interviews with representatives from potential customers. As a starting point, two potential business 'routes' were identified: a direct one, consisting in selling the product to CI centres and their end-users (audiologists) directly, and an indirect one in which the sales channel would pass through the CI manufacturers.
The different business workshops held with CI end users and two of the market leading CI manufacturers (Cochlear, Advanced Bionics) revealed that the existing FOX prototype is an interesting solution for end-users represented by experienced fitting audiologists who are typically working in audiological centres specialized in cochlear implantation hearing services.
The outcomes of the business model development sessions indicate that for FOX®, new marketing activities ideally consist of co-marketing with one or more cochlear implant companies, who may consider the new fitting software as a competitive advantage in a challenged market. Reaching the market through CI manufacturers has a number of important advantages over a direct marketing strategy that would target the ca. 2000 CI centres directly. Firstly, recurrent revenues can be expressed in terms of the number of cochlear implant speech processors that need to be fine-tuned world-wide each year. The fine-tuning of cochlear implants does not only involve the switch-on and follow-up procedures of new implantees, but also the yearly check-up and the optimization of the cochlear implant settings to the changes in the individual patient profiles. Secondly, by targeting the market segment of CI manufacturers, Otoconsult NV can concentrate on familiar competences such as innovation, R&D, (Train-the-Trainer) training of audiologists/CI fitters, and providing helpdesk support. Activities in which the company has less in-house experience (regulatory affairs, marketing, sales) could be taken care of by its key partners, i.e. the CI manufacturers.
