Enterprise Imaging 2021
Are Any Solutions Ready for Broad Market Adoption?

Track Records of Agfa, Fujifilm, Hyland, IBM Indicate They Are Most Ready for Future EI Adopters—but Not without Caveats

As the EI market continues to develop, four vendors—Agfa HealthCare, Fujifilm, Hyland, and IBM Watson Health—stand out with more proven track records, meaning KLAS was able to interview 10+ customers and validate strong proof points of success. These four vendors have widely different strengths, and all have progress yet to make (see table below).

The prevalence of newly live customers (live <24 months) and the satisfaction of these customers are key indicators as to whether a solution is ready for broad adoption. KLAS validated the most go-lives for Agfa HealthCare, and these customers (who include some migrations from legacy Agfa solutions) describe well-coordinated go-lives and excellent technology. Conversely, IBM Watson Health customers report significant go-live struggles, including lack of organization and lack of some functionality promised in the sales demo.

KLAS validated one new go-live for Mach7 Technologies and none for Philips or NTT DATA. While many Sectra PACS customers are new to the Sectra VNA, these organizations do not consider themselves net-new go-lives since they view the VNA as an add-on to their existing Sectra PACS technology.

Regardless of the vendor in use, 53% of respondents report a positive return from their EI investment; the specifics tend to be soft (not fully quantified) and usually center on improved clinician satisfaction with imaging workflows and accessibility. Respondents with more concrete ROIs usually talk about being able to discontinue displaced systems and increase physician productivity, in radiology and beyond.

Larger organizations, which leverage their solutions far more than traditional department solutions, face more complex implementations and a longer ramp-up to value. While IBM Watson Health is average to below average in the percent of customers reporting an ROI, many of their largest customers indicate they are a standout for scalability. This includes several very large health systems who report good response times with a single instance of the IBM solution. Smaller organizations are far more likely to report an ROI from their EI investment, possibly in part because leaders at these organizations might be better positioned to observe the soft ROIs achieved or because, requiring less lift, EI projects at these organizations progress faster. Philips customers, who are on average the smallest interviewed in this report, overwhelmingly report a positive ROI, though on a much smaller scale; customers say they have been able to consolidate solutions by adding cardiology images to their traditional archive.

Strategic guidance is not easy to deliver—especially in large, complex settings—but it is critical for EI success; this is true for organizations new to EI and those expanding existing capabilities. What qualifies as strategic guidance varies among organizations, with larger organizations often needing greater help with governance, change management, and long-term vision. Agfa HealthCare, Philips, GE Healthcare, and IBM Watson Health customers say their vendors try to help strategically. Conversely, Fujifilm customers—who are usually only using Fujifilm’s VNA—describe their vendor as focused mostly on the technology. Hyland customers are nervous about the vendor’s ability to provide strong guidance and a hands-on approach. Some customers feel supported by Hyland’s imaging team but do not feel the vendor has given the solutions (acquired by Hyland) the full attention they need.

Depending on an organization’s overall goals, referential viewing can provide great value and improve physician productivity. While most vendors have some customers who report strong adoption of this capability, only 50% of interviewed GE Healthcare customers use GE’s universal viewer for referential viewing, with some using third-party viewers instead.