When will vendors ever learn that radiologists don't use stethoscopes and that pictures of someone's barium enema on the cover of promotional literature don't cut it? I continue to see the same faux pas made at trade shows: Is "pure" (as in "pure DICOM") different from impure? Is "pure Java" the real thing as opposed to decaf? Boring booths and nebulous messages still abound, with few vendors able to differentiate their product from others. Everyone has an ASP solution, yet few were able to tell me how their ASP was different from others, let alone segment financially based ASPs from technology-based ASPs.
The systems have all begun to blend together, with one workstation looking, acting, and feeling just like the others. The small size of the booths causes the subtleties of operation to be lost and limits the vendors' opportunities to show off their wares.
On the plus side, the competitive aspect among systems is missing, and subsystem vendors -- with the exception of film digitizer firms and a few archive providers -- are all but absent. On the minus side, vendors have little opportunity to show off what's new, except on a display panel.
I continue to be amazed at the "David" attitude of the smaller vendors, which, despite all odds, continue to take on the Goliaths of the world -- and win. One might have thought that eMed would have gone under after pulling its second initial public offering, but the company seems relieved to be free of the restraints of the SEC-mandated quiet period. It announced product innovations and could seek placements of private equity into the company.
The same can be said for many of the smaller firms that continue to sell in spite of the daily challenges posed by larger competitors. The adage that the big get bigger and the small die used to hold true, but in PACS the small continue to hold their own. And although the big are getting bigger, through mergers and acquisitions, some of the partnerships may swallow up a few of the smaller entities.
PACS is changing and so is the depth of knowledge of potential end users. They've become smarter, better equipped, and more familiar with how to use and promote PACS. And that knowledge is important, because even though ASPs may make PACS somewhat safer, the risks are still there.
Michael Cannavo is president of Image Management Consultants
