Ziegler CFO Hotline, with the support of LeadingAge CAST, recently published its biannual technology spending report. A private investment bank, Ziegler has conducted this survey every two years since 2012.

The 2024 report reflects the responses of CFOs, financial managers, CTOs, and CIOs—representing single-site organizations (61%) and multi-site organizations (39%). Here are some highlights:

The most popular senior living technology spend remains ICT 

Respondents were asked to report their top tech investments over the past year. A resounding 58% invested in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. This includes a broad range of technology, like computer and network hardware, software, and various types of communications networks.

Other significant areas of investment included electronic medical/health records (51%), workforce/staffing scheduling systems (48%), electronic point of care/point of service documentation systems (47%), and access control/wander management systems (44%).

Organizations were least likely to have invested in Shared Care Planning and Care Coordination Tools (14%), Health Information Exchange Solutions (14%), and Robotic Process Automation (9%).

Analytics, Access control/wander management top the anticipated spend list

The survey also asked respondents about technology investments they expect to make over the next 12 months. The most anticipated investments include data analytics tools (40%), access control/wander management systems (30%), and electronic medical/health record systems (29%).

Increased investment in automation and AI is expected to continue

Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) continued to grow in popularity—from 28% reporting an anticipated spend in 2020 to 38% in 2024. 13% of respondents reported currently using AI Robotics. Those who do most commonly use it for dining services such as serving food and bussing tables. Of those not currently using AI Robotics 46% said they planned to use it in the future, and 54% said they had no plans to do so.

Read the full report here.