We look at the recent strategic announcement by Hal Wolf CEO of HIMSS, and ask; why are HIMSS letting go of their brand expertise?
For those of you who are unaware – the HIMSS Organisation in Chicago is the most valuable and recognised force for healthcare, anywhere. They bring expertise via their Membership and coterie of thousands of Vendors who use their events to launch and promote healthcare solutions, across the globe. Steve Lieber, former CEO, used to regularly pop up all over the place, to talk about and communicate the b enemies of what they do.
So, the decision to outsource the development of their International business – (see the attached Link here; https://www.himss.org/news/informa-markets-and-himss-join-forces-expand-himss-global-health-conference-exhibition-leading?mkt_tok=NDIwLVlOQS0yOTIAAAGNVj-QAFBbLrRlBuo2yKcSXLXpqRA-7tbGA-TwWKRLP7bg95FADf6bWwY0qG7ktm9AO2Q-cXRd1RRxKwO4BFnU_d4i4h9zYx5hZwR2ZccKizk) – is a major change of direction, even though it is couched in terms of international growth.
But this change of ways of doing things, of outsourcing some key elements, needs a deeper look by vendors, who will be most affected by this , for two reasons.
First – there is an acceptance that “international”, and a global perspective, is the way to go. For so long, healthcare professionals would make the pilgrimage across the Atlantic, to the annual HIMSS event, in some large easily connectable venue, because there was just more benefit in being where it is at, so to say. Vendors particularly from Scandinavia, would frequently be US centric before being visible on their local events.
But that too misses the point. The key element is that HIMSS is focussing on what it does best – and letting others do what they can do better.
In clinical terms, it is a sort of FAHR approach, get the best of breed, to get the best results.
There has long been a treading of water at HIMSS, particularly in Europe, and this new announcement could be a major move to see HIMSS be the alternative to the other more regional and separate event companies. It will be interesting to see how others respond.