A new LeadingAge CAST case study demonstrates how a partnership between Asbury Methodist Village and LeadingAge CAST Supporter Connected Living led to 70 new innovations, reduced staff time by 40%, and inspired 100% of residents to read community event information.
 
The Asbury Group is a LeadingAge CAST Patron. Asbury Methodist Village is part of Asbury Communities and Asbury Integrated Technologies and is a continuing care retirement community based in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Using Innovative Voice and Smart Home Technologies to Enhance Resident Engagement and Staff Efficiencies explains how Asbury Methodist Village partnered with Connected Living to achieve the following:
Connect Asbury staff, residents, and families with “best in class” resident and family technologies.

• Deploy custom product development and innovation.
• Increase staff efficiency and resident engagement.
• Introduce the latest innovations in voice and smart home technologies.
• Create new revenue streams and personalization. 

Connected Living’s technology portfolio includes a content management system (CMS), web-based social network, native iOS and Android applications, smart room integration with Alexa-enabled devices, calendar management, multi restaurant / dining integration, community resource / document sharing, email, photo sharing, and an in-house TV channel. Connected Living’s digital sign offerings are unique in the industry and provide signage on interactive screens, non-interactive screens, tablet-sized screens, horizontal screens, vertical screens, media walls, etc.
 
Upgrade Functions and Capabilities with Innovation: Asbury and Connected Living came together to implement a premiere suite of “smart home and voice” technology. First, they updated functionality and brought increased capabilities and efficiency to the staff by replacing disparate technologies in the community with the unified Connected Living technology ecosystem. Staff now can enter information in a single administrator panel and have that information available on Digital Sign, TV, Mobile App, and Alexa for staff, residents, families and prospects. 
 
Joint Development and Creation of Efficiency/Cost Savings: This partnership brought residents and staff more than 70 new functional enhancements. 
 
Innovation & Leadership Technology integration, Voice, and Robotics: Connected Living, Asbury, and Amazon also launched smart living experiences in the community. They installed wireless connectivity, introduced smart room devices, and used Connected Living’s voice suite.
 
Amazon said that Connected Living is months ahead of anyone else in the industry. Asbury believes that the simplified design, ease of use, and ample support that Connected Living provides are the keys to improving socialization through technology.
 
Outcomes:

• Connected Living’s new Content Management System saw 99.9% usage and visibility; the community events provided through it received 100% readership from residents.
• Staff reduced the time they spent posting information by 40%, thanks to streamlining multiple systems and providing a single point of entry.
• With Connected Living and its signature rapid technology development at the helm, 70 new features were designed, developed, and released.
• Cutting-edge voice and smart home capabilities were launched in partnership with Asbury, Amazon, and Sodexo.
• Asbury Methodist Village installed wireless connectivity and introduced smart living experiences.
• Communication increased between residents, community, and families.

 In addition, Asbury Methodist Village was able to easily provide updated community information to residents, regardless of the residents’ technological competencies or skills. Having this information increased residents’ independence and control over their lives.
 
The study results have helped inform the teams at Asbury Methodist Village and Connected Living about how today’s residents want to access, consume, and interact with content and information. Perhaps most importantly, Asbury Methodist Village learned that seniors are excited about voice technologies.
 
Read the full case study.