Medsynaptic, an Emerge 50 company in the Products category, offers a range of medical imaging products that enhance doctors’ productivity and facilitate better patient care. NASSCOM spoke to Dr. Ashish Dhawad, CEO and Co-Founder of the company to understand what keeps the company competitive and able to take on the GEs and Siemens of the world.
Growth Path
Medsynaptic was founded in 2004 by two doctors who had specialized in bioinformatics and were aware of technology’s role in making patient care more productive and efficient. Medsynaptic offers a comprehensive range of medical imaging solutions, with around 9 to 10 different products catering to different areas in imaging technology. Not only do the products facilitate management of information and images, but they also offer highly useful services, like teleradiology for instance, where images are sent to a radiologist at a remote location, allowing him to generate a report even if he is not at the patient’s bedside.
“Medsynaptic products enhance a doctor’s productivity and also offer demonstrable ROI,” details Dr. Ashish Dhawad, CEO and Co-Founder of the company.
Headquartered in Pune, the company has a presence across 25 cities in India, comprising sales and marketing people, besides software developers in Pune. Medsynaptic caters to different categories of customers – OEMs, small, medium and large hospitals and individual practitioners, both within and outside the country. The company also partners with large software vendors like Wipro who offer Hospital Information Systems. Typically, Medsynaptic’s PACS would integrate with the software vendor’s HIS, allowing both companies to offer the end customer a complete solution.
“With more than 6000 installation in more than 35 countries, the company has been profitable and debt-free from the first year of its operation,” says Dr. Dhawad.
Winning Post
Medsynaptic is one of the winners in the NASSCOM Emerge 50 Product category. “I think we won thanks to our innovative and useful products,” remarks Dr. Dhawad. “Our products serve multiple purposes – they not only help clients improve productivity and manage data, but also help them recover the investments they make, as well as improve patient care.”
The Success Ladder
- An end-to-end product range for medical imaging, with each product featuring innovative features
- “Since we have a strong local presence in many major and smaller cities in India, we are able to provide our clients with immediate and customized support,” explains Dr. Dhawad. “This is a huge advantage for us, when compared to larger organizations in the same space like GE.”
- “Our partnerships with large vendors have helped us gain traction,” he continues. “Partnering with a large organization like Wipro adds brand value to our product and also allows us to penetrate a larger market.”
The X Factor
Medsynaptic focuses on innovation. “We are continuously in touch with our clients and use feedback from the market when developing our products,” says Dr. Dhawad. “This keeps us ahead of the competition by allowing us to launch products that are tuned to market need. Additionally, this process is a continuous and relentless one that allows us to launch products faster. Consequently, we are more agile and flexible than larger peer companies like Siemens, GE and Fujifilm.”
Obstacle Course
- “Capital is a constraint,” admits Dr. Dhawad. “International markets are showing an interest in our offerings, but to scale up quickly outside India we will need more capital.”
- A second challenge that Medsynaptic faces is a common one – the ability to find and attract the right kind of talent. “Being a small company, we find it difficult to attract talent – we have to offer prospective employees something more than just salary.”
Voice of Experience
“There are many factors that go into making a company successful,” advises Dr. Dhawad. “Having the right team is definitely important but at the same time you need to have a vision as well. Don’t be discouraged if you fail – just listen to your customers – stay customer-focused – and you will find success is not all that far off.”
Contributed by Kritika Srinivasan, Prayag Consulting for the NASSCOM Emerge newsletter
