2014 North American Computed Tomography (CT) Imaging 2013 … · 2014. 8. 25. · The all-in-one mobile intraoperative CT solution is designed for use in existing OR suites or even

2013

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2013 North American SSL Certificate Product Leadership Award

2014

2014 North American Computed Tomography (CT) Imaging New Product Innovation Leadership Award

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

Background and Company Performance

Industry Challenges

Most of the computed tomography (CT) scanners that were available in the market during the 20th century were huge, occupied entire rooms, and required the transportation of

patients every time to the CT room. Later, to avoid these difficulties, mobile CT scanners were introduced in the market. Currently, there is an increasing need for the development

of imaging devices that cater to the diverse requirements of patients. While manufacturers are looking at developing systems that can perform faster and produce images of high

resolution at a reduced dose of radiation, demands from end users are greater for systems

that would provide comfort and convenience to patients. Hence, a mobile CT scanner that would address these requirements is essential so that it can be wheeled to the patient’s

bedside to offer immediate treatment.

With the introduction of portable scanners, the industry witnessed a huge shift to patient- focused care with a fast rate of adoption. However, the costs associated with these scanners

are high, restraining physicians and hospitals from embracing this technology. Many of the intensive care unit (ICU) patients are fragile and unstable, requiring intense monitoring.

Hence, transporting these patients to radiology rooms creates huge risks. In addition, there

is a high risk of morbidity and mortality during the transportation of critically ill patients. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it is estimated that each year

over 3 million patients who undergo CT scans in the United States are exposed to radiation and have high risks of developing cancer. Apart from the higher price point, there are a

number of additional variables a potential customer must consider when investing in the newer CT scanners. One such example is the necessity of building modifications to the CT

room, which requires different cooling requirements. There can be hundreds or even thousands of new building specifications associated with adopting a new portable CT

scanner. In addition, it is also necessary to ensure that structures currently under

construction will be able to accommodate the next generation of scanners.

Visionary Innovation and Product Excellence of Mobius Imaging

Critical Unmet Needs

Mobius Imaging, a Massachusetts-based company established in 2008, develops, designs,

and manufactures imaging systems that seamlessly integrate advanced imaging technologies into medical workflows, augmenting the clinician’s ability to collect high-quality

images wherever required. The Airo Mobile Intraoperative CT system (Airo), a mobile X-ray

CT scanner (for intra-operative tomography) developed by Mobius Imaging from 2009 to 2014 provides easy patient positioning. It is a surgical navigation solution that not only is

tailor-made to meet the patients’ needs but also provides benefits to surgeons or operating room (OR) staff. The all-in-one mobile intraoperative CT solution is designed for use in

existing OR suites or even at patients’ bedsides in ICU rooms. This highly versatile imaging system is ideal for cranial, spine, trauma, and other surgical procedures. The high-quality

diagnostic imaging provided by Airo helps increase the surgeon’s confidence level.It also supports advanced minimally invasive surgery. Airo is a cost-effective solution and is digital

imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) compatible with most of the hospital

picture archiving and communication systems (PACS).

Mobius Imaging’s aim in developing the Airo CT scanner was to make high-quality imaging

readily available and affordable to all hospitals and physicians. As per the company’s literature, the scanner itself has a small footprint and can be brought to a patient’s bedside,



in any hospital room or clinic bay. The AIRO produced by Mobius Imaging is manufactured

using the highest level of quality control. The product is also optimized, for use in the ICU, OR and emergency care departments.

Matches to Market and Customer Needs

Airo incorporates valuable insights from practioners and has been designed to address the end-user needs that remain unaddressed so far by other competing products in the market.

Airo is a game-changing technological solution facilitating a new workflow in terms of size, access, and mobility in intraoperative imaging, making it a valuable extension for numerous

challenging environments in everyday clinical practices. This compact system has been designed by compressing the power supply and cooling system so that it would require

smaller tubes for emitting X-rays.

A series of technology advances led to the miniaturization of the device, hosting an extra-slim patented gantry design (30.5 x 38 cm). Although the size of the product has been

reduced vastly, it still provides the same resolution as that of other large CT systems and performs the same tasks in a reduced time. Airo is truly a remarkable development in the

CT field. The Airo can easily be driven to the patient’s bedside, thus helping to bring point-of-care to the patient. This carefully designed device has the potential to help in improving

the workflow within ICUs, ORs, and emergency divisions (ED).Neuro ICUs have patients on life support and vents who may benefit from this development, as the device can be used

for scanning the patients.

Product Reliability and Quality

Frost & Sullivan has identified Mobius Imaging’s new flagship product, Airo, as a breakthrough imaging technology that seamlessly integrates into the existing medical

workflows within a hospital. Mobius Imaging is European Conformity (CE) marked and cleared by the FDA for its innovative Airo system. The company and Brainlab also plan to

obtain other approvals from markets such as Canada, China, and Japan over the coming years. The company started commercially deploying its imaging system in the US and

European markets in 2014 respectively, under an established distribution agreement with Brainlab. These clearances and commercial launches mark a significant milestone for Mobius

Imaging. Brainlab, a leading software technology company, is a leading developer,

manufacturer, and marketer of software-driven medical technologies.

In addition to being an FDA-cleared medical-imaging solutions provider, Mobius Imaging

ensures that all of its product and service processes comply with the US FDA Quality System Regulation (QSR) 21 CFR Part 820 and with the International Organization for

Standardization (ISO) 13485 certification for quality management. This high level of certification shows the company’s continuous commitment toward achieving excellence in

terms of quality. Delivering a high quality of service and achieving ISO certification has been a part of Mobius Imaging’s DNA since its inception in 2008. The company is audited on

a regular basis by ISO TUV auditors, and also by its internal audit team to ensure that the

highest quality of services is provided to its customers. The products undergo verification/validation testing at every stage of the development process, and the incoming

parts inspections are augmented at all levels to ensure the production of high-quality and highly reliable products.

Product/Service Value

Each product or feature revision consideration at Mobius Imaging begins with market trend analysis and end-user need assessment. This establishes a commitment from the

management toward achieving high quality throughout the product development lifecycle as well as across the product’s lifespan after it has been purchased by the customer. The

company is aiming to establish a place in the advanced medical imaging market in order to



meet the growing demand for real-time imaging in the OR. This helps to improve and

accelerate the workflow and the clinical decision-making that may be beneficial to both patients and the surgical teams.. The target application areas for Mobius Imaging’s products

include general surgeries, such as spine and neuro surgeries, ICU, trauma treatment, and emergency rooms that require a quick scan.

Positioning in the Market Place

The management team at Mobius Imaging constantly seeks new and innovative procedures to sustain quality and apply best practices in order to improve day-to-day operations. The

aforementioned best practices followed by the company are the key to Mobius Imaging’s ability to refine products and provide unique solutions. The company’s goal was not only to

comply with the industry guidelines and regulations, but also to take a step beyond. The

company’s openness to end-user needs, its participation in international channel discussions, , as well as its approach to collecting and utilizing healthcare professional input,

are strategic in meeting the demand and ensuring the development of its products and services. Innovation at Mobius Imaging is iterative, as the company incorporates end-user

suggestions throughout the product development lifecycle, which has been a key to its success. The company uses intelligent imaging technologies to develop novel products that

are engineered specifically to acclimatize into different care environments, which further enables quality care.

Product Design elements

The 32-slice Airo CT scanner manufactured by Mobius Imaging houses the industry’s largest

gantry opening of 107 cm, which allows for scanning the patient in the treatment position. This innovative design elegantly combines a highly flexible detector with an extra-slim

patented gantry (30.5 x 38 cm) that leads to a significantly smaller product footprint (1.5 m2). The fully integrated high-end Trumpf TruSystem 7500 surgical OR table column offers

fixed correlation between patient and scanner, resulting in reproducible imaging. The compact Airo system operates on a standard power connection at one-phase 100-240V.

Suspension-controlled, the Airo electrical drive system offers flexibility in terms of mobility and can be driven through standard doors and into industrial elevators. The front-view

camera helps ensure stress-free portability during transportation of the system. The Airo

handheld system pendant that offers hassle-free movement and maintenance including room-to-room transport, daily calibration, laser alignment, and system maintenance during

surgical procedures. The communication between Airo and CurveTM allows automatic image transferto Brainlab image-guided surgery (IGS) systems along with synchronization of

PACS.

Conclusion The 2014 North American Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Leadership Award in the field of Computed Tomography (CT) Imaging is awarded to Mobius Imaging, a

Massachusetts-based imaging company. The award is presented in recognition of the

company’s efforts to develop the one-of-a-kind mobile 32-slice CT scanner with the industry’s largest gantry opening, the Airo Mobile Intraoperative CT. This portable scanner is

a breakthrough technology in the healthcare imaging industry. Driven by its distinct advantages and functionalities, it is rapidly penetrating the CT industry and gaining

popularity in the overall healthcare community. This innovation helps in scanning patients at their bedsides, which could help save time and may increase patient comfort. Mobius

Imaging has provided the healthcare imaging industry with a unique and innovative product that has features which were previously unavailable or perhaps impossible in the CT

marketplace.



Significance of New Product Innovation Leadership Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon continually introducing new products

to the market, and commercializing those products to the greatest extent possible. For

these dual goals to occur, a company must be best-in-class in three key areas:

understanding demand, nurturing the brand, differentiating from the competition. This

three-fold approach to delivering New Product Innovation Leadership is explored further

below.



Understanding New Product Innovation Leadership Ultimately, innovation is about finding a productive outlet for creativity – for translating

ideas into things people want to buy, and doing it over and over again. Even a very good

idea – or even a series of very good ideas –will amount to nothing without successful

implementation at each stage of development and commercialization. Creativity and

implementation are therefore two sides of the same coin, as explored further below.



Frost & Sullivan’s Global Research Platform Frost & Sullivan maintains more than 50 years in business and is a global research

organization of 1,800 analysts and consultants who monitor more than 300 industries and

250,000 companies. The Company’s research philosophy originates with the CEO’s 360

Degree Perspective, a holistic research methodology that encourages us to consider

growth challenges, and the solutions companies employ to solve them, from every angle.

This unique approach enables us to determine how best-in-class companies worldwide

manage growth, innovation and leadership. Based on the results of our research in new

product innovation leadership, Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the 2014 North

American New Product Innovation Award in the field of Computed Tomography (CT)

Imaging is awarded to Mobius Imaging.

Key Benchmarking Criteria

For the New Product Innovation Leadership Award, we evaluated the total client

experience and strategy implementation excellence according to the criteria detailed

below.

Visionary Innovation

Criterion 1: Unmet Needs

Criterion 2: Use of Mega Trends

Criterion 3: Pioneering Best Practices

Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy

Criterion 5: Aspirational Ideals

Product Excellence

Criterion 1: Match to Needs

Criterion 2: Reliability and Quality

Criterion 3: Product/Service Value

Criterion 4: Positioning

Criterion 5: Design



The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best

Practices Awards

Research Methodology

Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research

methodology represents the analytical

rigor of our research process. It offers a

360-degree-view of industry challenges,

trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of

Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.

Too often, companies make important

growth decisions based on a narrow

understanding of their environment,

leading to errors of both omission and

commission. Successful growth strategies

are founded on a thorough understanding

of market, technical, economic, financial,

customer, best practices, and demographic

analyses. The integration of these research

disciplines into the 360-degree research

methodology provides an evaluation

platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-

in-class levels.

Decision Support Scorecard and Matrix

To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance

categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard and Matrix.

This analytical tool compares companies’ performance relative to each other. It features

criteria unique to each award category and ranks importance by assigning weights to each

criterion. The relative weighting reflects current market conditions and illustrates the

associated importance of each criterion according to Frost & Sullivan. This tool allows our

research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to each

criterion, and to assign ratings on that basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows

for nuances in performance evaluation; ratings guidelines are illustrated below.

360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN

THE CHAOS



Best Practice Award Analysis for Mobius Imaging

Decision Support Scorecard: Visionary Innovation

The Decision Support Scorecard, shown below, includes all performance criteria and

illustrates the relative importance of each criterion and the ratings for each company

under evaluation for the New Product Innovation Leadership Award. The research team

confirms the veracity of the model by ensuring that small changes to the ratings for a

specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the overall relative rankings of the

companies.

Finally, to remain unbiased and to protect the interests of all organizations reviewed, we

have chosen to refer to the other key players in as Company 2 and Company 3.

DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION LEADERSHIP AWARD

(ILLUSTRATIVE): VISIONARY INNOVATION

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor;

10 = excellent) Award Criteria

Visionary Innovation Unm

et

Needs

Use o

f M

ega

Tre

nds

Pio

neering B

est

Pra

ctices

Blu

e O

cean

Str

ate

gy

Aspirational Id

eals

Weig

hte

d R

ati

ng

Relative Weight (%) 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 100%

Mobius Imaging 10.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 10.0 9.4

Company 2 8.0 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.2

Company 3 8.5 8.5 7.5 7.0 8.5 8.0

Criterion 1: Unmet Needs

Requirement: A clear understanding of customers’ desired outcomes, the products that

currently help them achieve those outcomes, and where key gaps may exist

Criterion 2: Use of Mega Trends

Requirement: Ability to incorporate long-range, macro-level scenarios into strategic plans,

thereby anticipating and preparing for multiple futures that could occur

Criterion 3: Pioneering Best Practices

Requirement: A nothing-ventured-nothing-gained approach to strategy implementation

that results in processes, tools, or activities that generate a consistent and repeatable

level of success.

Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy

Requirement: Proven track record of creating new demand in an uncontested market

space, rendering the competition obsolete



Criterion 5: Aspirational Ideals

Requirement: A willingness to look beyond the simple goal of generating a profit to embrace

a more powerful ideal of bringing greater value to customers or the planet

Decision Support Scorecard: Product Excellence

DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR PRODUCT LEADERSHIP AWARD (ILLUSTRATIVE): PRODUCT EXCELLENCE

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor;

10 = excellent) Award Criteria

Product Excellence Matc

h t

o N

eeds

Reliability a

nd

Quality

Pro

duct/

Serv

ice

Valu

e

Positio

nin

g

Desig

n

Weig

hte

d R

ati

ng

Relative Weight (%) 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 100%

Mobius Imaging 10.0 10.0 10.0 8.0 10.0 9.6

Company 2 10.0 8.0 9.0 8.0 9.0 8.8

Company 3 8.0 9.0 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.4

Criterion 1: Match to Needs

Requirement: Customer needs directly influence and inspire a product’s design and

positioning

Criterion 2: Reliability and Quality

Requirement: The product consistently meets or exceeds customer expectations for

performance and length of service

Criterion 3: Product/Service Value

Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar

offerings in the market

Criterion 4: Positioning

Requirement: The product or service delivers a unique, unmet need that competitors

cannot easily replicate or replace

Criterion 5: Design

Requirement: The product’s visual presentation makes it easy to use, and makes

customers happy to use it



Decision Support Matrix

Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,

analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to

visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which are not yet operating at best-

in-class levels.



Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching,

Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices Our awards team follows a team 10-step process (illustrated below) to evaluate award

candidates and assess their fit with our best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity

of our awards process are based on close adherence to this process.

STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT

1 Monitor,

target, and

screen

Identify award recipient

candidates from around the

globe

Conduct in-depth industry

research

Identify emerging sectors

Scan multiple geographies

Pipeline of candidates who

potentially meet all best-

practice criteria

2 Perform

360-degree

research

Perform comprehensive,

360-degree research on all

candidates in the pipeline

Interview thought leaders

and industry practitioners

Assess candidates’ fit with

best-practice criteria

Rank all candidates

Matrix positioning all

candidates’ performance

relative to one another

3

Invite

thought

leadership in

best

practices

Perform in-depth

examination of all candidates

Confirm best-practice criteria

Examine eligibility of all

candidates

Identify any information gaps

Detailed profiles of all

ranked candidates

4

Initiate

research

director

review

Conduct an unbiased

evaluation of all candidate

profiles

Brainstorm ranking options

Invite multiple perspectives

on candidates’ performance

Update candidate profiles

Final prioritization of all

eligible candidates and

companion best-practice

positioning paper

5

Assemble

panel of

industry

experts

Present findings to an expert

panel of industry thought

leaders

Share findings

Strengthen cases for

candidate eligibility

Prioritize candidates

Refined list of prioritized

award candidates

6

Conduct

global

industry

review

Build consensus on award

candidates’ eligibility

Hold global team meeting to

review all candidates

Pressure-test fit with criteria

Confirm inclusion of all

eligible candidates

Final list of eligible award

candidates, representing

success stories worldwide

7 Perform

quality check

Develop official award

consideration materials

Perform final performance

benchmarking activities

Write nominations

Perform quality review

High-quality, accurate, and

creative presentation of

nominees’ successes

8 Assemble

board of

advisors

Finalize the selection of the

best-practice award recipient

Present candidates to a

Board of Advisors

Build consensus

Select winner

Decision on which company

performs best against all

best-practice criteria

9 Communicate

recognition

Inform award recipient of

award recognition

Present award to the CEO

Inspire the organization for

continued success

Celebrate the recipient’s

performance

Announcement of award

and plan for how recipient

can use the award to

enhance the brand

10 Take

strategic

action

Share award news with

stakeholders and customers

Coordinate media outreach

Design a marketing plan

Assess award’s role in future

strategic planning

Widespread awareness of

recipient’s award status

among investors, media

personnel, and employees



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and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's

Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined

research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation

of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages almost 50 years of experience in

partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment

community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit

http://www.frost.com.

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Documents

2014 North American Computed Tomography (CT) Imaging 2013 … · 2014. 8. 25. · The all-in-one mobile intraoperative CT solution is designed for use in existing OR suites or even