Percepta: So, as the Editor of the Life Science Dashboards™ tell us what you have been working on lately.

SK: Well, we are going through some format changes to the Dashboard, including updating the brand and look and feel for 2013, and we’ve also improved the structure of the content somewhat. We’ve just completed a month-long audit of some of our Dashboard end-users with the goal of capturing their input regarding what parts of the Dashboard they like and use most and what they rarely use. We wanted to do this before we made any changes because we wanted to retain what our customers value in the existing format.

Percepta: What did you end up learning from that exercise?

SK: It’s always good to hear directly from your customers. For the most part the input was very positive, which is gratifying but not always very actionable. It’s especially important to pay attention to what they are asking for or what they say isn’t useful in its current form. Identifying these gaps will help us tailor our dashboards to best resonate with the business objectives our customers are trying to address. For example, we learned that one section, which is included in each dashboard and is focused on the desired product changes, would help our customers better identify unmet needs if it was more specific for each product sub-segment. In its current form it wasn’t very useful. That was something we suspected but now we know – this is one area where we invested time on improvements.

Percepta: Then what will the new Dashboard format include that’s new?

SK: It will still have all the same sections and we will include some new sections to address client needs. It will still give the retrospective view of the market over time so our customers can see how the market is evolving since the last published Dashboard. We will continue to report findings in each Dashboard focused on the end-user’s perspective. Our Dashboard users really like those two features, but we are planning to make the report layout a bit more user friendly and make the discussions a bit more succinct. For sections like researcher’s desired changes we will focus on getting more actionable and granular information and also more detail about how we determine the growth rates and market sizes. We are also expanding our research efforts into emerging geographies, and we are starting with new reports focused on Asian markets, specifically China and India and we will eventually expand that list.

Percepta: This is a two part question: first are there any new Life Science Dashboard segments planned; and second when is the next report going to be published?

SK: Yes to answer your first question there are at least two new Dashboard report segments. The first is focused on Fluorescent Imaging Reagents in North America and Europe and that will be available very soon, but it will not be in the new format. The other is focused on Reporter Gene Assays in North America and Europe and that will be in the new format. That will be available by late spring at the latest. We are also planning to publish a report on Laboratory Instrumentation later in 2013, also in the new format. Finally we are planning to find a way to address some of the applied markets in a Dashboard report before the end of the year. To answer your second question, the next Dashboard on the Editorial Schedule to be published will be Nucleic Acid Purification in China. This is actually the second Dashboard we will be publishing on the Chinese market, the first being the Cell Culture Life Science Dashboard for China published late in 2012. We also just published Series 2 of the Quantitative Immunoassay Life Science Dashboard.

Percepta: Does all this new format and new content mean Life Science Dashboard users can expect a new higher price too?

SK: The short answer is – no. We have held our Life Science Dashboard price constant for the past three years mostly in recognition of the bumpy economic times and we are keeping it unchanged in 2013. In fact, we offer discounted pricing for our reports focused on the Asian market for our clients who have purchased the North American and European reports.

Percepta: Great! So where do new customers go to learn about the Life Science Dashboards that are currently available?

SK: They can call us toll free in the US or Canada at 877-597-9236 (for international +1 760-431-6300) or go to our website perceptaassociates.com at their convenience.