DOTmed News recently interviewed Robert Dakessian, president and CEO of Genesis Medical Imaging, a CT and MR service specialist headquartered in Huntley, Ill.

DOTmed News (DM): You recently added some high-powered senior staff members. Where are you going with this?

Robert Dakessian (RD): For the last year or two, we were beginning to see trends in the market shifting. We got ready for these changes by bringing in several executives to get our processes, infrastructure and offerings in line to meet those market shifts. Because of market and broad economic pressures, our customers have to cut costs and get better product. There's no way of delivering those cost savings and product quality improvements unless you look internally to streamline your own processes and lower your costs. That's where it all started and it's been building since then.
DM: It sounds like you knew this economic downturn was coming.

RD: I could see this coming for two years but didn't think it would happen this quickly. It wasn't a prediction so much as being in the business for so long--you see cyclical trends over the last 30 years. It's history repeating itself. I knew it was time to adjust and be nimble to stay a leader in the industry with innovative services, products, cost savings and programs that customers are looking for.

DM: If history repeats itself, then where are we headed in the next two years?

RD: There is probably going to be an accelerated trend of consolidations -- private equity coming in, buying companies and consolidating them. You will see mergers and acquisitions, with one or two or three strong independent service companies emerging in the next two years.

DM: That may well be underway already given some of the recent news like the triple play merger of Echoserve, Barrington and Sonora.

RD: Exactly. Cost pressures are pushing the market into consolidations because companies of all sizes need to provide programs and cost savings to customers. To compete in a changing marketplace, smaller companies sometimes need to merge with other companies, combining efficiencies to be more cost effective.

DM: The flipside of cost savings is the demand for quality to compete against OEMs. By "quality" I mean in the engineering sense of quality management and quality control. That has got to be a driver.

RD: The ISOs that will succeed are the ones that provide national coverage. We invested heavily into our infrastructure to be able to provide not only the rapid and personalized service of a small company but also the substantial programs and proprietary test equipment and tools needed to go head to head with the manufacturers. That is where the trend is right now.

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