We discussed “partnering with your competition” in a post a few months ago and thought it made sense to follow up on the topic after moving further down this path ourselves.
We (Pathagility) serve pathology laboratories and their healthcare partners (referring physicians, hospitals, etc.) with our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. A lot is going on in this market. As our population ages and baby boomers need more medical attention, the workload for pathologist and labs is increasing dramatically. At the same time with the new health reform, it appears that their reimbursement is actually on the decline. Combine that with the movement of their clients (referring physicians, hospitals, etc.) to EMR systems – a lot is expected of them. By the way, at least 70% of patient data in an EMR originates in the lab. These are all drivers for increased efficiencies through technology in this market and THERE IS A TON OF WORK TO DO!
To move the needle, it is going to take a lot of players including a multitude of vendors working together. It is going to take partnerships – some of which are unconventional. In recent weeks we’ve been working with another vendor that has a competing product with one of our offerings. What brought us to the table is…yes…taking care of a client need. Believe it or not, it turns out that the integration of one of our products with one of theirs is just what this client is looking for. We are still fairly early in this relationship, but all signs point to a WIN-WIN-WIN for everyone involved. Don’t get me wrong, we will continue to differentiate our products/service/technology from our competitors, but there is a lot of opportunity to serve clients in our market as I’m sure there is in other markets. It’s been interesting to see how enemies can become friends when serving the needs of others.
Have you seen a similar environment shaping in your market? Do you believe enemies can REALLY be friends and work in a win-win-win scenario? Share some of your experience with unconventional vendor partnerships.