INNOVATION AT OPTUM

Optum hosted the most recent Product Management and Development Association (PDMA) meeting. The event was well attended by product development and management practitioners, academics and service providers in a variety of industries and knowledge areas, including new product process, strategy innovation, market research, tools & metrics, organizational issues and portfolio management.

The evening began with a tour of the impressive Optum® Experience Center in Eden Prairie.  The high-tech space is used to highlighted the changing health care landscape while demonstrating new partner and customer-focused products and services. Some of the Center’s features included: (1)  a media wall using multi-touchscreen technology, (2) the Showcase, featuring 270-degree projected imagery and video, (3) an Optum Operations Center providing real-time access to Optum activity worldwide, and (4) a range of collaboration spaces.

Next, a panel of product development professionals shared the essential need for the convergence of product development and data analytics in order to improve the customer experience, and in turn, the acceptance and profitability of a new product in the marketplace.

The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) is a community of more than 2,000 members whose skills, expertise and experience power the most recognized and respected innovative companies in the world.  It specifically focuses on the unique set of integrated activities involved in the full lifecycle of product development and management, including innovation.