Expansion of a global medtech firm into the APAC technological operating room solutions market
Background
Operating room solutions bring together technology to improve different parts of surgical procedures, from planning and execution to post-operative care and training. It essentially integrates computer interfaces and digital tools into the surgical process, with the goal of improving outcomes and reducing harm.
Opportunity.
This is a high growth sector in APAC estimated at 17% pre-COVID. A global medtech planned to enter the APAC sector but lacked local resources, knowledge of country-by-country market structures, nor APAC expertise or skills for rapid product roll-out and sales escalation.
Strategy
To deliver quick and sustainable results we delivered a strategic plan and marketing plan. The key focus of the strategic plan was to make our client a trusted APAC partner: local teams, channel partners, reference sties and leverage of global parent.
Each country in the region was ranked by market opportunity from; “Not a target” to “First Priority”
Initially we planned to launch in countries where surgical robotics, surgical recording and analytics are the most advanced: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
These countries shared the following:
These countries have a large installation base and direct team for Intuitive Surgical (ex ANZ)
Presence of local Surgical Robotics manufacturers including Medicaroid, Riverfield and Meere Company
Adoption of operating room integration is the highest in APAC and surgical recording is important
Presence of local operating room integration manufacturers such as Sony, EIZO, Advantech and FSN who have recording capability
Strategic plan
The plan focussed on the creation of a trusted APAC partner: local teams, channel partners, reference sites and leverage of global parent.
The key strategic initiatives were:
Build the “operating room solutions” team in Japan, Korea and ANZ and upskill global teams on digital surgery
Develop “operating room solutions” as trusted local partner and complete operating room packages for target customers geared towards their needs
Run a pilot scheme to build reference sites and evidence to support the value proposition
Onboard channel partners to ramp up coverage in Japan, Korea and SEA
Collaborate within global parent to create co-marketing plans of operating room solutions
Investments required to ensure growth is achieved are:
Japan, Korea and ANZ sales leaders
Sales incentives for global parent colleagues to pursue operating room solutions opportunities
Marketing budget to ensure the development of KOLs in the region and comarketing with other global parent solutions
R&D support for an on-premise digital Surgery option
