I don’t need to tell you how fierce EMR/EHR competition is. You’ve all felt the pressure. Most vendors I speak with have come to the conclusion that it is becoming a ‘Commodity’
Commodity spells disaster, price wars, compromises in quality of product, services and support. Most vendors now ‘offshore’ one of the most critical elements – support.
There are two strategies
- Classic Marketing Strategy – differentiate, be a king of your own hill, and own that space.
- Orthodox – Find and Invite competition.
If you can figure out the first strategy, obviously that is the best. There is a big problem for EMR and EHR software systems vendors. It is extremely difficult to execute that strategy unless you pick a very small niche. Even there unfortunately, you will find lots of competition. For example, if you focus on EMR for Oncology, or any other specialty or sub-specialty, you will find someone already there.
The second strategy is one I would urge you to look at. It takes guts, patience and effort. But, definitely well worth in the long run.
Amazon is a classic example of this – they invited and went head-on with competition. What was the differentiation? Customer service and support. Easy to say we’re the best, but takes time for the market to accept it and believe in it.
There are several benefits of this strategy.
- Prevents your customers from defecting and leaving because you ‘delight’ them.
- Then, they become your evangelists, and help promote you.
- Finally, market accepts your leadership in customer service and support – there’s no stopping your juggernaut.