2013 – a year of transition Change and improve - After the success of the changes we made half way through 2012 we need to continue to implement in 2013. These changes included improving our approach to bids and selling by investing in the necessary resources and tools to support. We also changed our pricing strategy and worked smarter, not harder, by not chasing everything. We now have a twelve month campaign against all the upcoming tenders with a comprehensive contact plan to support. After the success of key strategic partnerships in 2012 we will continue to leverage opportunities alongside companies such as Orion and HSS as well as remaining in continued dialogue with our development organisation on any technology gaps identified. Creating our own market – In recent years Agfa HealthCare has at times taken a ‘me too’ approach to the imaging market and in particular our VNA proposition. This does not maximise our strength and experience so we are now re-positioning what we sell and how we sell it, moving away from the VNA story to the VNA ‘so what’ story – what about the bigger picture, what about ICIS? This activity requires the correct positioning, lobby, visibility and networking and to support this, the organisation has identified new roles and will be investing to support.
18 months. This is a significant achievement and credit goes to the all involved. We should also remember to use this key statistic during our sales and promotional activity. Our Enterprise IT go-to-market campaign also continues, with excellent feedback in the market from the demonstration and tender activity. We are now well on track for our first ORBIS pilot order and this is expected in the first half of 2013. 2012 came to a close with a fantastic win at University Hospitals Birmingham. This is a new customer and credit goes to the significant team effort across Agfa to win the tender against tough competition. Most importantly the Trust said that it was the quality of our products and positive feedback from the clinicians that was part of the deciding factor, not the lowest price. In summary, 2012 was a ‘game of two halves’ with a slow start follow by big improvements in the second half of the year. Revenue at our close was at the very top end based on ‘where we were’ at the end of H1 and there was very strong bottom line growth under very difficult market conditions. Well done to all our staff and please continue to keep up the good work.
Telling the story – Doing the hard work is one thing but we must continue to tell everyone about the good news and significant achievements. We have some key differentiators that we sometimes forget about or assume that people already know. Tell it and tell it again. The end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 have seen a number of examples of Agfa HealthCare winning new deals. Please remember that winning is one thing – delivering is another. The euphoria of a win is short lived but the reputation of the business after a successful deployment last for years. Service and support also then play a crucial role in this relationship and therefore future opportunities. We have demonstrated that when we work together as a united team, we achieve our greatest success and we must continue to do this. Maximising the significant opportunities in our market is now harder than it has ever been, we must accept this and work together to address the challenges. Market expectation will not change to make life convenient for us. Let us also not forget how interesting and rewarding it can be to be in such a dynamic and growing market – so remember to enjoy it! In 2013 let’s build on the successful end to 2012 becoming wiser from what we have learned, whilst adapting and leading in the creation of new markets.