MLO: Congratulations on SCC Soft Computer's (SCC's) 25th anniversary. Aside from taking the company's worth from zero to $60 million, what do you consider SCC's greatest achievement to date?
Hakim: We have built this company on the belief that computer technology can be applied creatively and innovatively to provide powerful and flexible tools to end-users. We are dedicated to staying ahead of the curve, adapting our products to leverage new technology as it comes to market, and empowering users to customize applications to best suit their business environment. We have embraced the laboratory community in this journey.
Our initial entry into the hospital market was in 1985, as we realized we could provide a cost-effective and innovative solution to compete against hospital mainframes. Our small computer boxes worked together in parallel to give the mainframes a run for their money. We were able to offer multiple connection points for instruments and terminals. With the use of parallel-processing technology, our systems provided timely data backup while the processors in the different boxes could work concurrently on different tasks. One box was dedicated to instrument interfacing, another to test-result queries, and another could be used to generate cumulative reports in the middle of the day. This was quite an accomplishment at that point in time. SCC responded to CLIA '88 through a major overhaul of the platform on which the software was built. Moving from Basic to the more robust C programming language and introducing a separate database to act as a unique repository for patient information, SCC exhibited the corporate foundation that exists to this day, which is our commitment to staying ahead of the curve in our product innovation to best meet the needs of the laboratory community.
Throughout the early 1990s, SCC continued to meet the needs of the laboratory community with the introduction of SoftBank II, SoftPath, and SoftA/R. In addition, toward the end of the decade, SCC expanded to offer additional clinical modules for hospital pharmacies and imaging departments with SoftRx and SoftRad, respectively. Since 2000, SCC has continued its laboratory-product expansion with the release of its SoftDonor and SoftWeb products.
MLO: What achievement are you working toward for SCC's next 25 years?
Hakim: SCC's goal is to continue to supply innovative technologies to meet the diverse needs and strictest demands of each and every client. We hold our clients in the highest regard; without them, SCC could not have attained its position. SCC shares the same goals as our laboratory customers: increased productivity and return on investment, effective information distribution, and a higher level of patient care. Through collaboration, communication, and cooperation, SCC will continue to deliver best-of-breed solutions to its customers worldwide.
MLO: Your recent contract with Continuum in New York illustrates SCC's ability to handle the needs of large and diversified entities. Why does SCC "shine" in developing solutions for the more complex laboratory environments?
Hakim: These types of installations are aligned with SCC's core competencies of robust product functionality and technical expertise. Our product has been designed to accommodate the current trend in laboratory consolidation, where several laboratories can be supported on a single platform/database. This design will support the most complex, hybrid outpatient and inpatient lab environments and will facilitate core-lab integration. It will also provide mandatory features, such as master patient index, robotics-ready connectivity to leading robotics systems, rules-based technology, specimen tracking from collection through disposal, automated medical-necessity checking for Medicare and managed-care billing compliance, point-of-care testing integration, and rich outreach functionality.
MLO: What key industry and market trends will drive SCC in the next few years? How has the Internet changed the way SCC conducts its business?
Hakim: As hospitals look to gain efficiencies in their processes and as outpatient services continue to increase, we expect to see a continued push toward core-lab consolidation and increased demand for lab-outreach capabilities. Our SoftLab and SoftWeb Outreach products have been designed to specifically meet these laboratory needs.
The Internet has certainly given us an effective tool to facilitate collaboration between our offices and remote employees. We depend heavily on videoconferencing and Web portals to facilitate remote communication with our customers and SCC offices. This parallels what we are seeing regarding our customers' needs as our clients extend lab services beyond the walls of the hospital.
MLO: How does SCC address the importance of continuing education in laboratory medicine? Do you offer any programs or online training for the laboratorian
