Dobco Medical Systems is turbocharging domestic and foreign growth

Various contracts signed in France, Germany and their homeland of Belgium

Zele, Belgium - March 2021 - Dobco Medical Systems, a Belgian technology company specializing in medical imaging, is turbocharging its growth at home and abroad. The company - which has seen average revenue growth of 42% over the past seven years, with average annual recurring revenue growth of 26.5% from its PACSonWEB platform - has signed a dozen contracts with hospitals and private practices in both France and Germany. Its ambition is to become one of the market leaders there, a position it has held for several years in Belgium and Norway. Also in its own country, where 80% of hospitals are customers, the company signs contracts with its latest innovation.

Innovators in radiology

Dobco Medical Systems is an innovator within the world of radiology and medical imaging. With their PACSonWEB platform, which gives radiologists, referring physicians, hospitals and patients access to medical imaging studies such as CT scans or MRIs, they quickly became one of the market leaders in Belgium. Among other things, they have ensured that medical images can be easily exchanged digitally between the various healthcare actors, or that examinations from different hospitals can be compared over time. Diagnosis from the platform - also easily from a distance - has been among the possibilities since 2020. A blessing in times of COVID-19.

With the expansion of PACSonWEB to include PACSonWEB Diagnostic, or full PACS (Picture Archiving Communication System) for short in specialist terms, a system used within medical imaging by the radiologist for reporting, the company is taking an important next step. "80% of Belgian hospitals are already customers of ours, and in Flanders even nine out of ten. However, there is still a lot of potential to grow, abroad, but also in Belgium. On the one hand by scaling up and on the other by continuing to innovate whereby we improve the processes and services for and through medical imaging," explains Jan Dobbenie, CEO of Dobco Medical Systems.

Jan Dobbenie adds, "We have now become a one-stop shop. Customers can come to us not only for the external consultation, exchange and archiving of medical images, but also for the support of the radiologist. In doing so, we put the patient first, which also offers advantages for the referring physician, and ultimately for the patient in his care pathway across hospitals. The response to our latest solution has already been very positive and the first contracts have been signed."

Shaking up France and Germany

Things are also going fast for Dobco Medical Systems in France and Germany. In both countries, the technology player signed contracts with about ten hospitals and private practices. "The response from the hospitals, radiologists, referring physicians and patients is promising," continues Jan Dobbenie. "We want to grow into one of the market leaders in Germany with the strategy we have adopted in Belgium. By reducing costs on the one hand by replacing CDs, and on the other hand by serving our customers' customers, namely the patients and referring physicians. They have been our main ambassadors because they refer to different hospitals and became demanders themselves. By convincing a critical mass of referrers in a given region, we can more easily convince hospitals to connect to PACSonWEB."

"In France, a completely different context, we are focusing on PACSonWEB Diagnostic platform, because we notice that the current PACS systems often no longer meet the requirements and service provision. There, too, we see enormous potential," Dobbenie concludes.

Difference with major players

Competition in the world of medical imaging is cut-throat. "But while most PACS systems have evolved greatly in recent years with new functionality, their architecture has not changed," explains Kristof Coucke, CTO at Dobco Medical Systems. "And that's where the shoe pinches for them. They still focus on the 'single enterprise', are not cloud or web-based and cannot work across hospitals. This type of architecture still has the same problems as ten years ago, and the changed context has even added some. Especially in patient-centered healthcare, when there is a need to collaborate in a network, or simply when radiologists want to work remotely or access or review studies from other hospitals. They don't have a solution for that, and Dobco does."

Dobco Medical Systems built its own platform, from scratch. With technology that had already proven its worth in other sectors: fully in the cloud, web-based, multi-tenant and secure. Without having to perform endless onsite upgrades. "We connect hospitals to our platform, which is always up to date and enables hospitals to collaborate, radiologists to work from any location and provide a better service to their patients and referring physicians. On top of that, this architecture is also more cost effective," concludes Coucke.

Two years ago Fortino Capital, owned by Ducko Sickinghe and others, invested 2.2 million euros in Dobco Medical Systems, to boost its expansion abroad and the further development of its technology. The technology player from Zele is now delivering on these plans.

About Dobco Medical Systems

Dobco Medical Systems is an international software company specializing in cloud, web-based solutions for medical imaging. The company was founded in January 2011 by Jan Dobbenie and Kristof Coucke. Dobco is advised by progressive physicians, specialists and experts in various professional fields. The company has managed to record spectacular growth since its inception and with its PACSonWEB platform is one of the market leaders in Belgium for making medical images available externally. Dobco Medical Systems also offers a web-based information system for radiology and nuclear medicine, RISonWEB, in Belgium. Their innovative software is used in eight countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Norway, Cyprus, Switzerland, and Slovenia. Dobco Medical Systems runs a turnover of more than 4 million euros and has 40 employees. In 2019, they were awarded the Trends Gazelles.