Implementing medical imaging Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an efficient way to boost the competitiveness of your practice, improve the work environment and ensure better patient care. However, this may incur excessive costs, if not managed judiciously. Choosing the right payment model can make a big difference. Here is an overview of two licensing models: CapEx (perpetual license) vs OpEx (SaaS).

CapEx (capital expenditures) are long-term expenses used for purchases of physical assets, e.g. technologies and equipment. Imaging software acquired on a perpetual license basis lends itself to capital expenditures. A perpetual license allows the holder to pay once and use the specific version of the program indefinitely.

The upfront cost of a perpetual license requires a heavy investment, which can represent a financial risk for the organization. Furthermore, it triggers additional, sometimes hidden, costs. Thus, customer support, maintenance, software upgrades are either not included at all in the price or are included for a limited time period.

The perceptual license pros and cons are the following:

Pros:

  • May cost less over a long time (over 5 years typically)
  • Software can be used indefinitely (although most require one license per user)
  • Software is hosted on the customer’s servers, which gives more control of IT infrastructure but imposes the cost of maintaining it

Cons:

  • Initial heavy investment
  • Software will become obsolete and vulnerable to security risks within few years if not updated
  • Software implementation might be tricky and time-consuming
  • Might require additional expenses (e.g. maintenance, customer support)
  • The user should be capable to ensure a sufficient level of security to protect data against cyber threats

OpEx (operating expenses) represent the day-to-day operations of a company. The subscription-based software model falls into this category. SaaS (software as a service) is a software licensing model where it is accessed online, is cloud-based and centrally hosted. SaaS is usually priced on a monthly or an annual basis via recurring payments and in most cases includes updates, upgrades, on-going technical support.

SaaS cons and pros:

Cons:

  • If a subscription fee is not paid, the practice cannot use the service
  • Might cost more than the perceptual license-based software over a long period of time (over 5 years)
  • The customer has no control if the service goes down, although this can be arranged through Service Level Agreements

Pros:

    • No upfront investment price; low acquisition initial expenses
    • Ongoing support included without additional costs
    • No burden of software and hardware maintenance; everything is managed by professional providers
    • Scalable solution with volume and number of users
    • Software is always the latest version, less downtime for upgrades installation
    • Offers the flexibility to change software provider
  • Data protection is fully managed by the vendor

Which licensing model is better? There is no universal answer to this question, it depends on your practice size, budget, your IT infrastructure, the importance of updates. SaaS subscriptions open another option to possibly facilitate adoption of new technology. Contact us to discover more about MammoScreen’s SaaS subscription model.

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