2024 Tech Trends in Healthcare: Insights to Attract and Retain Software Buyers

Insight No. 1: Staffing challenges are a big concern for healthcare organizations

Looking into the year ahead, over a third of healthcare professionals anticipate training and upskilling of employees as the No. 1 challenge when planning investments in new software.

The availability of qualified healthcare workers is the main external factor shaping 2024 business goals for 36% of organizations. Supply and general costs (35%) and competition in the medical industry (32%) are two other important concerns. 

→ Why this matters to software providers: 

If you are looking to engage software decision makers in the healthcare industry, start by illustrating how your software will help them meet their overall goals and overcome main challenges. Use customer success stories to show how you’ve helped similar clients in the healthcare industry to build trust with prospects. Also, highlight customer support resources and training materials to improve users’ learning curve during the new software adoption.

Insight No. 2: Most healthcare organizations take 3 to 6 months to purchase new software — and reviews play a key role

Sixty-seven percent of software buyers from healthcare organizations take between 3 and 6 months to complete the entire software research and selection process. In fact, our survey finds that the probability of organizations regretting their software purchase increases for those who take more than 3 months to make their selection.

Ninety-two percent of buyers begin the process by creating a shortlist of vendors, and for most respondents, this shortlist has three to five vendor names.

The top 5 important sources of information buyers use to put together the initial software vendor list are customer reviews (36%), product trials (32%), consultations with industry experts (30%), previous experience with the product (30%), and product demonstration (29%).

In the decision-making stage, six in every 10 buyers (59%) end up selecting a vendor on their initial shortlist most of the time.

→ Why this matters to software providers:

Understand the list of features and requirements healthcare buyers are looking for when shortlisting vendors and make sure you fulfill those needs to make it to the initial list. Additionally, collect reviews to validate your marketing claims and build buyer confidence.

Insight No. 3: Security is a top priority for healthcare organizations

The growing adoption of telemedicine and remote patient monitoring tools have raised security concerns amid cyberattacks and data privacy issues.

For these reasons, security is a huge consideration for healthcare organizations looking to purchase new software of any kind. Most respondents selected IT security as the No. 1 priority tool for software investment in 2024.

→ Why this matters to software providers: 

Software providers looking to sell to medical facilities have to withstand an additional layer of scrutiny when it comes to data security. Make sure your product is listed on key healthcare software categories and highlight security features on your profile to capture the demand of security-conscious buyers. 

Understand your market to accelerate growth

Attracting and retaining the right customer is the surest way to scale efficient growth. But engaging software buyers in your target industry requires a deep understanding of what they need and how they behave. 

Our data highlights key buying behavior trends tech providers should watch out for to effectively navigate change in the healthcare industry. From top business challenges and priority investments, to information sources and product expectations — use these insights to level up your acquisition strategy and prevent churn. 

Methodology

Gartner Digital Markets’ 2024 Tech Trends Survey was designed to understand the timeline, organizational challenges, adoption and budget, vendor research behaviors, ROI expectations, and satisfaction levels for software buyers.

The survey was conducted online in July 2023 among 3,484 respondents from the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, France, India, Germany, Brazil, and Japan, with businesses across multiple industries and company sizes (5 or more employees). Respondents were screened to ensure their involvement in software purchasing decisions.

This report includes responses from the marketing industry only — a subset of 1,038 professionals.