Novanta’s Sarah Betadam on transforming the IT model status quo

Over the next five years, the healthcare industry is expected to go through dramatic changes as service providers expand value-based care models and equipment manufacturers strive to keep pace in a digital-first world. One factor driving global transformation is the push to bring healthcare services, as well as responsibilities and control, closer to consumers.

By 2027, 70% of healthcare organizations will rely on digital-first strategies to empower patients to take a more active role in health responsibilities and experiences, notes IDC in its FutureScape Worldwide Healthcare Industry 2023 Predictions report. Spending on digital patient engagement and experience technologies that target such areas as mental health, telehealth, clinical trials, digital therapeutics, and ‘care anywhere’ solutions is expected to rise, according to the report.

Bedford, Mass.-based Novanta is a trusted technology partner to medical and advanced industrial OEMs, with deep proprietary expertise in photonics, vision, and precision motion technologies. Novanta engineers mission-critical components and subsystems that deliver extreme precision and performance, enabling customers to improve productivity, achieve breakthrough performance, and enhance people’s lives.

Leading the technology strategy at Novanta is Dr. Sarah Betadam, an experienced digital executive who, as presently the company’s CIO and CISO, is charged with delivering transformational solutions that scale operations and improve business agility, but she also helps drive business strategies and global objectives. Betadam is well-suited for the task, given the range of her experience prior to joining Novanta more than four years ago, and holds a doctorate in engineering and engineering management, as well as degrees in computer science from noted universities.

A self-confessed data analytics and research junkie, Betadam wrote a thesis presented to George Washington University a few years ago that outlines a contemporary model for IT program management that challenges many existing models, which she calls ‘overly subjective’ and less viable in today’s world.

“Everybody wants to have a business impact and business outcome,” she explains. “But business value is what is important for a particular business, which stems from the business capabilities rolled up from the business strategy. There’s revenue generation, the compliance aspect, operational efficiency, and legal. If you total all of this up it gives you a spectrum,” Betadam says, noting that this model was used at a previous organization and resulted in a more focused and successfully executed strategy.