Commercial Telemedicine Platform vs Custom Telemedicine Platform

The adoption of telemedicine has soared. Patients and healthcare professionals alike are depending more and more on virtual consultations.

Consumer acceptance of telemedicine increased from 11% in 2019 to 49% in 2020. In 2020, it is anticipated that spending on healthcare would top $250 billion. Even after the epidemic has ended, telemedicine technology has finally entered the mainstream.

 

The custom vs commercial telemedicine platform argument is prevalent when it comes to incorporating telemedicine into the workflow of healthcare delivery.

 

What option should you pick? An already built, commercial telemedicine platform or a custom-made telemedicine platform?

Time To Market

Commercial telemedicine platforms are ready for the market. Due to the absence of a design and development process, time is only spent evaluating the many possibilities and selecting the one that best meets your demands.

The time to market is much longer if you go with a custom telemedicine platform. Every stage of the development process—from gathering requirements to doing a competitive analysis and finally choosing the features to be included in your software—requires time for planning and implementation.

Control Over the Features

Market ready/ Commercial telemedicine platform has a set of functionality that is rather inflexible and general. The majority of suppliers only offer a little amount of customization, and when it is possible, it is quite expensive to add specific features.

 

On the other hand, developing custom telemedicine software gives you total control over the features that will be present in your final product. You get to choose whether a certain feature will be included at the MVP stage or at a later point in the development cycle depending on how necessary it is.

Budget Requirements

Budgetary restrictions should be taken into account when determining whether to construct or purchase a commercial telemedicine platform.

Although a commercial telemedicine platform has a shorter time to market and cheaper upfront expenses, the recurring subscription prices increase expenditures throughout the course of the telemedicine firm.

 

On the other side, custom development appears to have substantial up-front development expenditures. However, the flexibility it provides and the lifetime value of the self-owned software product make up for the development costs.

Flexibility & Scalability

Software for telemedicine that is available off the market has a formulaic approach. The user experience they offer and the features they include are the same regardless of the vendor. It is less flexible and scalable to purchase commercial telemedicine platforms.

On the other side, a custom telemedicine platform gives more flexibility and adaptability. It may offer distinctive and interesting healthcare experiences and can respond to the special requirements of both patients and doctors.

Ownership

The product ownership in the case of a commercial telemedicine platform stays with the developers of the application. They still have full control over the intellectual property, and they still decide how the program will turn out and whether or not it will incorporate new features in the future.

You have total control over the software being built when you build a custom telemedicine platform. You maintain ownership of the program regardless of whether you hire an internal development team or an outside contractor.