Service Lifecycle Management For Medical Devices: The Strategic Role Of Service

Ask an outsider about what makes servicing medical devices challenging. They will probably tell you that — beyond all of the regular challenges in servicing equipment — you probably have to face a lot of extra red tape and regulatory complications. Of course, they will have guessed right. But outsiders don’t service medical devices, and managing regulatory requirements is not the whole story about servicing medical equipment.

Servicing medical devices is not the same as servicing a consumer item like a television, a computer, or an entertainment system. Manufacturers in consumer industries can sell their products and then move on to the next piece of business. This is also true for industrial equipment, although often to a lesser extent. Manufacturers in those industries can draw a hard line between manufacturing and service, or even choose to leave service to third parties that they have no relationship with. Although many of these companies are trying to capture the revenue potential available from servicing their own equipment, it is generally a decision that is based on growing the top line. Service in the medical devices industry, however, is not optional. Service is integral to the relationship with the customer and very tightly tied with the success or failure of the company. In the medical devices industry, services are strategic and manufacturers of equipment used in the medical field are held to a higher level of responsibility by their customers.

There are advantages and disadvantages of the closer relationship between medical device vendors and customers.