Digitalization in omnichannel healthcare supply chain businesses: The role of smart wearable devices

Abstract

The advancement in technology has fostered the prevalence of the Internet of Things (IoT), which enhances healthcare business quality, offers a seamless customer experience, and maximizes turnovers and profits. Consequently, omnichannel services have emerged by integrating online and offline channels and providing customers with more real-time information and services to increase their engagement. Healthcare wearable devices appear as a salient tool to connect healthcare providers and patients and thus become an essential part of the omnichannel environment. Along with this trend, the ethical concerns while using these devices have increasingly intensified and are significant barriers to market expansion. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies discussing the role of wearables in omnichannel hospital supply chain management and examining the influence of those above concerns on healthcare wearables adoption. Therefore, this study explores these gaps through an integrated approach. Furthermore, we proposed a framework integrating the traditional statistical and machine learning-based approach to analyze a large amount of data; and thereby facilitate a data-driven analytic model to manage omnichannel healthcare supply chain businesses.