According to Telus' research, 55 per cent of Canadians track their medical history on paper, one third electronically and one in four by memory.
This survey findings explain why Telus Corp. announced today that it will invest $100 million over three years to develop a new health technology division to build and service networks to share medical records and other information.
The move by Telus's business solutions unit comes in the wake of the telecom company's purchase of Montreal-based electronic commerce firm Emergis Inc. early this year. Emergis is a major provider of software used to manage health care records, drug bills and other information in the pharmacy and broader health care industry. It's also a big player in financial services technology.
With its $763 million purchase of Emergis, Telus is moving aggressively to become a bigger player in health care technology and sees this as a major growth area for the company as provincial governments try to get health care costs under control and look for new ways to handle health services.
Like other phone companies, Telus faces stiffer competition from new wireless rivals in Canada and continued decline of traditional businesses. As part of its new investment in healthcare technology, Telus launched a new brand, Telus Health Solutions, a unit with about 1,500 employees.
Technology is a key enabler for TELUS and our customers, providing advantage and differentiation in the marketplace. By managing the life cycle of... [more]
If you didn't have time to read the 600 page report from the National Academy of Science titled "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" this great article from the Knowledge @ Wharton webiste is a great summary of how the economic turmoil taking place around the Globe could be a boon for creative destruction.
The article starts off by stating that US dominance isn't just slipping in manufacturing, energy and finance...it is slipping in "Good old American Ingenuity". I'd argue that here in Canada this slide isn't as significant, but you can't argue with the fact that China, Singapore and Finland are blowing us out of the water when it comes to fostering innovation within their borders.
The good news, as this article postulates, is that companies in North America will be forced to re-evaluate their business plans in order to first "stop the bleeding" and then begin the process of re-alignment. This will provide a platform where innovation can thrive.
The article moves on to discuss some of the ways companies can take advantage of this opportunity...my personal favorite is the analogy of innovating to firing a shotgun, not a rifle. Since we're talking innovation, what about microwaves or laser beams?
Nicolas Carlson of Silicon Alley Insider points out that as tech stocks plummet, workers employed by Silicon Valley's finest find themselves holding worthless options - the kind that would allow them to buy company stock at higher prices than they are currently being publicly traded. Hence, the term "underwater."
As of October 24, more than 80% of Silicon Valley's 150 largest publicly traded companies have employees holding underwater options, according to executive compensation research firm Equilar. CEOs at 90% of those companies also held options worth less than their strike price.
At Google, fully a third of the company's 20,000 employees hold underwater options. Last month, Google (GOOG) sought to soothe anxious employees with an internal employee-compensation presentation, reminding them that their Transferable Stock Options are worth more than regular options.
Why is this a problem?
Some companies will ask shareholders for permission to lower the strike price of a portion of their outstanding options. But when stock prices drop, investors typically balk at allowing companies to reprice employee options. That's where the problem lies - in Silicon Valley (and elsewhere) options are a key part of employee compensation.
Valleywag's Paul Boutin points out what could happen if these options at companies like Google aren't repriced:
Mountain View's biggest advertising company went on a hiring binge, backed by what seemed like an unlimited money supply. Now, thousands of shoulda-been millionaires have only their salaries as compensation. A surprising majority of GOOG employees I know don't really like their jobs. Will they stick around for the free snacks?
Will this be a problem in Vancouver? Hard to say but if I worked for Business Objects or EA was holding options with a $40 strike price, I certainly wouldn't be feeling great about my company losing 40% of its market cap (charts: Business Objects parent SAP & Electronic Arts) since September 19th. That being said, I'd be pretty happy to still have a job.
Last week Winnipeg-headquartered Canwest announced a partnership with classifieds aggregator Oodle that may help them slow the flow of newspaper classified listings to competitors online.
Consumers will discover a more comprehensive neighbourhood marketplace. One that seamlessly brings together trusted brands like their local Canwest newspaper, niche websites like driving.ca and househunting.ca and local business listings from GoLocal directories. A visitor to one of Canwest’s newspaper web sites or canada.com need only click on “classifieds” to launch into the depth of listings from their own neighbourhood with only the freshest listings populating the top spots.
Together, Oodle and Canwest should be able to deliver a pretty good local classified search experience through Canada.com but the marketshare already lost to Craigslist and Kijiji will likely never return.
Canwest is Canada's leading international media company. Representing a portfolio of world-class brands, the Company creates and distributes some... [more]
Hi everyone! Hopefully your blog day is going just as well as mine. I am writing from a sunny hotel room in Vancouver and my view of the pier could not be better! To go along with my great view and relaxing vacation, I thought I would share some of my favorite blogs with you:
1. Got Cheeks! - This artist focuses a lot on cartoon and comic inspired art, which happens to appeal to me. I love how he draws and creates images. I am hoping to pick up a few prints from him soon!
2. Michael Brooks - Michael has a great blog with very concise posts about topics ranging from modern design to web applications. Michael also happens to be from Regina, Saskatchewan and is one of my best friends! Check out his site to see a perfect example of how the blogging platform Tumblr can be used.
3. Mercury Grove - Mercury Grove's tagline is "Naked Development". I hope that is a reference to their ideas about how development should be simple and not a reference to their dress code, haha. This group from Ottawa have great insights into software design and business decisions. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have.
4. Patrick Lor - Patrick Lor became a big name in Calgary after the success of iStockphoto. Now his blog talks about investment advice as well as upcoming events in Calgary. Patrick is a part of STIRR Calgary and BarCampCalgary.
5. Post Secret and IFoundYourCamera - These last two entries are just for fun. Post Secret is a site where people can anonymously write postcards with secrets on them. The postcards are then published for everyone to read. There are some very intense entries along with some very humorous ones. A must read.
I found your camera is a blog where people can post the pictures from digital cameras that they find anywhere in the world. The idea is that the owner of the camera can claim the photos and get their camera back. Cool idea and a fun site.
Well, I hope that some of my favorite blogs have been interesting. Happy Blog Day!
Toronto's Social Media Group (SMG) has signed a letter of intent to purchase Washington, DC-based Livingston Communications, a highly respected social PR firm. Former CEO Geoff Livingston, author of Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs, will continue to head the DC office and join SMG's global team as Executive Vice President, Americas. The acquisition will bring SMG's collective staff to 20, making them the world’s largest independent social media marketing and communications firm.
SMG's collective client list is impressive - Ford, SAP, Network Solutions, Yamaha, Harlequin Publishing - and Founder Maggie Fox is ready to go toe-to-toe with any traditional agency’s social media practice.
In the process, SMG will acquire the popular Buzz Bin blog (if you're wondering why Livingston sold out, of course he's blogged his Top 10 Reasons Why I Sold Out) and Blog Potomac conference. Add this all to Fox's blog (named one of the Top 10 technology bloggers in Canada) and we've got a serious Canadian powerhouse in our midst.
Matt Hartley of the Globe and Mail was first in line to sit down with the new General Manager of MySpace Canada and had a chance to chat about it's ongoing battle with Facebook for members and ad dollars.
Fresh from a stint at CanWest, Dave Stevens joins a social network in flux. Although MySpace still lays claim to the crown as the world's largest online social network (with nearly 120 million users) it is ceding ground to rival Facebook and losing the battle for new members in key international markets - including Canada.
Even more alarming for MySpace was the revelation that in April, Facebook's unique monthly visitors equalled MySpace's totals for the first time, with each site drawing about 115 million uniques.
MySpace is the sixth most visited website in the world, according to data compiled by Web tracker Alexa Internet Inc., and the bulk of its users reside in the U.S. - still the biggest market for online advertising dollars - where it has twice the footprint of Facebook. However, it has trailed Facebook in signing up new members in international markets and is ramping up efforts to draw in users in Korea, India and China.
In Canada, MySpace doesn't crack the Top 10 most visited websites. With so many Canadians embracing social networking - Facebook has more than 13 million Canadian users, compared with about four million for MySpace - Canada represents a potential gold mine of advertising dollars if Mr. Stevens and his team can get them to ditch the F-word and come to MySpace. Online advertising spending in Canada surged past $1.2-billion in 2007, according to a recent Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada report.
It sounds like the plan for MySpace is to move to more of a portal-based model which will allow them to attract new advertising dollars. One of the ways MySpace is expanding its ad offerings is through the use of takeovers - which allow marketers to create a themed main page for MySpace, complete with video ads and games. Likely a path that Facebook won't ever take as they continue to move in the opposite direction and clean up their overall design.
Stevens called Canada a priority for MySpace International - "The surge of Facebook has taken over some of the buzz from social networking, but I don't see that lasting long. ... Canadians just need to be further educated about MySpace, and we're in the process of doing that."
Mesh '08 , Canada's largest web conference, wrapped up in Toronto yesterday.
Highlight of the final day was the keynote by Garrett Camp (a founder of StumbleUpon ) and couple of presentations on angel/VC funding in Canada (covered here previously ). We covered the opening day's events previously over here .
Garrett and 3 of his friends founded StumbleUpon in Calgary, when he was still a university student. StumbleUpon lets users discover interesting new websites and typically works with a firefox extension. Their first year wasn't up to the mark. They received initial angel funding from one of their users, but things starting picking up once they moved to Silicon Valley and setup their ad network. They explored getting VC funding but eventually ended up getting acquired by eBay for $75 million instead, which was a 15x ROI for their investors. They get 10-15 million stumbles a day and earn revenue through advertising. Garrett was glad that he moved to the Valley from Calgary and thought his biggest mistake was not being aggressive enough in the first year, when they took it as more of a 'project'.
Various other founders shared some tidbits from their experiences as well, and it included Paul Kedrosky (blogger and VC), Leah Culver (Pownce), Ryan Carson (Carson Systems, DropSend) and Julia Johnston (mEgo), among others.
The following startups got their '15 minutes of fame' at Mesh on Day 2:
Mesh was buzzing with a lot of excitement and activity. Some whiteboards were setup where employers advertised their startup-related job opportunities. MaRS Centre in downtown Toronto was a great venue (though The Carlu, which hosted ICE and CIX earlier this year seems to be better suited for such events). Wifi was a disappointment though and most folks struggled to get online, which was surprising for Canada's 'largest web event'. Regardless, it was still a very useful event and thanks to the organizers, volunteers, sponsors and the attendees for making it all happen. Just one more year to go for the next Mesh!
Victoria-based E-commerce research and analytics leader Advanced Economic Research Systems Inc. (AERS), announced last week the appointment of Alex A. Campbell to the company's board of directors. Campbell is the founder and former chair of Vancouver Island success story Thrifty Foods. Campbell is widely respected and will bring to the company experience in adapting business processes to facilitate continued growth and success. Campbell sold Thrifty Foods to Sobeys Inc. in 2007 and continues to be involved in an advisory capacity. This appointment sheds some light on their $1 Million private equity funding a couple weeks ago.
Advanced E-commerce Research Systems (AERS) is a Canadian company currently operating out of the Vancouver Island Tech Park located in Victoria,... [more]
Varun Mathur did a great job of wrapping up Day One of the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) last night and the event organizers have done the same with a video summary of the day's events. Check out both to get an idea of what Day One was all about.
