Erik Larsen of McKinsey & Co. was a morning session speaker for June 13’s Healthcare track at GS1 Connect 2013 in San Antonio, and he came armed with hard numbers.
Larsen led the research that culminated in a recent McKinsey study that estimates the potential value of adopting a single global standard in healthcare. In short, McKinsey research has put dollar values—and value in human lives saved—of a single standard.
Conducted with the participation of more than 80 healthcare industry leaders around the world, the report is the first of its kind to quantify the investments needed to adopt global standards, the business benefits each player in the supply chain would reap, and perhaps most importantly, the public health benefits for patients worldwide.
An executive summary of the longer study is available, as is the full report.
Mozilla’s Kovacs: digital privacy is an American right
Meanwhile, June 12’s Keynote Session at GS1 Connect 2013 featured Mozilla’s CEO, Gary Kovacs. Head of the not-for-profit company that launched the Firefox browser, Kovacs has traveled the world, particularly to developing countries, to see firsthand how digital technology affects the daily lives of people.
He is an outspoken advocate for the Internet as an open public resource, and for digital privacy, and made the case for the right of digital consumers in the near future to be able to choose what level of personal information they divulge to online companies, and the privacy consequences of those choices. In answer to an audience question after his main remarks, he described the recent leak of NSA alleged consumer data-mining as “egregious” and declared it should make Americans angry (only he didn’t use the word angry).
