The highly competitive picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) market in Southeast Asia (SEA) is both lucrative and complex. The extreme range and requirements of customer segments, where large private hospitals are in their second or third generation of PACS while mid- to small-sized hospitals are only now planning budgets for their first PACS investments, compel vendors to create distinct penetration strategies for each segment. Local and international vendors are vying for a share of the region's booming imaging informatics market through a combination of direct sales and partnerships with distributors. Technological sophistication, in terms of data management and analytics, will offer a strong competitive advantage.

"The Asia-Pacific PACS market is at an interesting stage, where vendors have the opportunity to harness business from both traditional PACS and more advanced vendor-neutral solutions," said Connected Health Industry Analyst Natasha Gulati. "There is plenty of room for revenue growth, market penetration, and technological advances."

End-user and Decision-maker Survey of Southeast Asian PACS Market, Forecast to 2021, new research from Frost & Sullivan's Connected Health Growth Partnership Service program, is based on a survey of over 70 radiology decision makers across SEA. The study covers standalone, integrated radiological information system (RIS) PACS and mini PACS, and presents valuable insights on specific customer segments and countries. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have the highest opportunity potential. In the Philippines, healthcare is undergoing modernization, but the country is a level-2 priority for most multinational vendors.

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The total PACS market in Southeast Asia is expected to be worth US$329.3 million in 2021. However, constrained budgets limit the full potential of PACS implementations in the region. The dominance of incremental workflow improvements in previous deployments, coupled with little understanding of upcoming technologies like cloud and Big Data analytics, hinder investments. While the industry is moving toward interoperability, providers still see the shift as a PACS replacement rather than the migration to vendor-neutral archives (VNAs). These factors make it crucial for vendors to partner with hospitals to help them evolve through their PACS journey.

"There is a fine barrier between a PACS and a vendor-agnostic data management platform that can be easily overcome with technology," noted Gulati. "The imaging informatics space has a strong tendency to favor horizontal IT vendors that offer greater solution flexibility, modularity and interoperability. Already evident in developed markets, this industry power shift is now taking shape in SEA."

Key players in the market currently include GE Healthcare, Philips, Siemens, Merge Healthcare, IBM, Hitachi Data Systems, Toshiba Medical, Hitachi Aloka, Carestream, and Infinitt Healthcare. Vendors must continue to invest in technological advancements and be creative with their product mix and value proposition. Keeping up with evolving customer needs and competitive strategies is crucial because a significant proportion of business will depend on customer relations, company branding and word of mouth.

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