With over 19 years of experience, aycan Digitalsysteme GmbH is a pioneer in DICOM paper printing using high quality laser printers. The German and US based company also develops and markets solutions for PACS and Advanced Visualisation. The image of aycan is associated with the figure of Stephan Popp, CEO of the company since 1996, who agreed to give us an insight into aycan's success.
What are the main areas of interest for aycan?
It’s PACS. We say PACS for people, because we believe that personal service is very important. You go with the big companies, you get a hotline, you get service tickets, and someone may call you back or not. When you call our office, you get a call back from a qualified technician within one hour. That is the big difference. With big companies it may take days until somebody calls back and then he/she may not even understand the problem. We have a close-knit relationship with our customers. We are based in Germany and we have the same strategy in United States. We run the office and people love it. They cannot believe that if they call, they are not connected to a telephone network, but to a real person.
What is the key to aycan’s success?
Our service is the key. Also because we are a small company we are very innovative. Nowadays technologies are coming so fast. We are very on top of technology. Wayne Gretzky, the famous ice hockey player, said a very intelligent sentence, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” This is how aycan acts. We are looking to the future and trying to put our product in the pipeline before the mainstream.
How many aycan PACS installations are there?
Worldwide there are 2500. Our focus is Germany and North America. We also serve 30 other countries including UK, Turkey, Italy and w China.
What challenges do you anticipate in the next few years?
The challenges are always that we have enough innovative vision, that we have effective products and continue to provide personal service to a high level. It is very important to have a team that can provide excellent service and do a brilliant job.
How important are management and leadership in healthcare organisations?
When I enter a hospital or imaging centre and I get to reception, I can see and feel how the management is by the way they welcome me. If the management is not living the values of an imaging centre or a company then it is not good. If the people are friendly it means they have good management, if they are not friendly then there is something wrong.
Had you not chosen this career path what other career did you have in mind?
I was trained and worked as a registered nurse. After that I studied engineering and mathematics because I was so curious about how these images come out of the units. I am happy with what I am doing and I love it. Computers and medicine are my life!
Do you have a favourite quote?
See the quote from Wayne Gretzky above - that’s my favourite quote.
