Challenges of integrating new technology into elderly care services - perspectives of service provider companies in Japan

The global challenge of aging population brings pressure for the development of elderly care to support the increasing need for services. Japan faces a significant challenge due to the lack of required workforce and the rapidly increasing amount of elderly people needing services to support their daily life. Technology is expected to bring solutions to the challenge; however, integrating the technology into service processes is not simple. This paper discusses the challenges of integrating new technology, such as robotics and ICT into the elderly care service processes in the context of Japanese long-term elderly care facilities. The results are based on a case study conducted in Japan by interviewing the managers of different types of elderly care service provider companies. As a framework for analysing the results, a service system approach has been utilized to present the challenges from the perspective of different resource groups within the system.