Platform Strategy – The Application Developer Perspective

For software application developers, deploying an AI algorithm or imaging application via a platform provider presents a compelling new market opportunity.

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For software application developers, deploying an AI algorithm or imaging application via a platform provider presents a compelling new market opportunity. A software vendor may choose to leverage a platform strategy to complement both direct and channel sales initiatives.

A platform approach has the potential to simplify and even eliminate a number of challenges that the application developer might otherwise be responsible for. For example:
  • Reducing the need for a large and costly sales and customer integration and implementation team
  • Increasing access to new prospects through co-marketing with the platform provider
  • Reducing the support burden, with Tier 1 support being handled by the platform provider
  • Enabling new pricing models not available via other sales channels
Testing software applications can be a laborious process for both the software vendor and the customer. A platform strategy simplifies the process as the software provider integrates their application with the platform to make sure all interoperability and workflow requirements are met. As all testing has been done in advance, the application can be rolled out quickly and easily, with little effort required from the healthcare organization. Breast imaging application developer, Densitas, leverages a platform approach to manage its resources effectively and enabling the company to bring its innovations to market more quickly. “A platform approach improves our ability to rapidly and efficiently scale up our commercialization efforts. It enables us to focus our resources on algorithm and software development and leverage our platform partner’s established marketing and sales channels as well as their experience integrating with hospital and clinic IT systems. We want to stay true to our strengths, and that is developing core IP. We’re not seen as yet another vendor to deal with in terms of procurement, billing and deployment and support. We can leverage the infrastructure established by the platform, so it’s logical on so many levels.” - Mo Abdolell, CEO of Densitas Resonance Health is the developer of FerriSmart – an application for measuring liver iron concentration. The company knows what it takes to build a customer base from scratch as it has been selling directly to healthcare organizations for more than 10 years. “In order to get a hospital to sign a contract to use our service, we need radiology approval, and procurement approval. Then, of course, we have to get individual contracts through individual hospitals. Obviously, there are issues with that technique, including scalability. Selling a product, especially to a large hospital, is not straight forward, and it’s a long, slow process. It can take a year from when a hospital first says yes, to contract execution.” - Alison Laws, Resonance Health CEO Offering its applications on a platform means that Resonance Health benefits from faster entry into new and expanding markets and provides exposure to the platform’s established customer base. Via the platform, Resonance Health benefits from a physical sales presence in additional territories, removing the need to hire overseas sales staff and reducing the cost of sales. Using a platform also allows Resonance Health to maximize the sales potential of its product, FerriSmart. “It’s a cost-effective way for us to promote FerriSmart. If the platform technology is already used by radiologists, they can see it as one of their choices when they’re deciding which analysis tools to use. Hopefully, that will increase the initial uptake of the technology.” Alison Laws, Resonance Health CEO Do you have an imaging AI application that you’d like to offer via a platform? Contact us.