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Series｜Service & Support vol. 2

On the Front Lines of U.S. Clinical Laboratories: Solving Issues Through Service and Support

The United States, the world’s largest medical device market, accounts for over 40% of the global market. In the field of hematology, which involves analyzing red and white blood cells, Sysmex America has maintained the top market share in the United States for over a decade. In addition to the quality and performance of its testing instruments, the company’s service and support, tailored to the specific needs of the U.S. market, has earned high praise from clinical laboratories. But what makes this support so highly valued?
In vol. 2 of this series, we interview Judy Bosko, Head of Customer Care for the Americas. She outlines Sysmex’s efforts to provide efficient, high-quality service and support while continuously striving for both business growth and customer satisfaction across this vast market.

Sysmex’s Efforts to Address Challenges Faced by U.S. Clinical Laboratories

Judy Bosko
Senior Executive Officer, Customer Care
Sysmex America, Inc.

Q: Please tell us about the Customer Care organization that oversees service and support in the Americas.


The Customer Care organization consists of approximately 600 associates, including field service engineers, application specialists, and call center staff. It serves the entire Americas region, including the United States, Canada, and Central and South America. Our mission is to support the stable operation of over tens of thousands of testing and peripheral instruments installed in medical institutions and clinics across the region while ensuring the quality of their test results.
Q: What challenges are clinical laboratories in the United States currently facing?
 
In the United States, the aging population is driving an increase in testing volume, while tests are becoming more diverse and advanced. As a result, the demand for clinical laboratory professional is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5%1. However, at the same time, a severe shortage of clinical laboratory professionals is emerging due to rising labor costs and the retirement of experienced professionals. To maintain both the quality and speed of testing, clinical laboratories face the challenge of improving productivity while ensuring the skill development and knowledge acquisition of laboratory professionals.

1. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/clinical-laboratory-technologists-and-technicians.htm#tab-6

A Unique Service and Support Model that Effectively Supports Medical Institutions Across a Vast Region

Q: And how is Sysmex addressing these challenges through its service and support?

Given the vast size of the United States, where air travel is required to reach some facilities, it is neither practical nor sustainable to frequently visit every medical institution for service and support. To overcome this problem, we have adopted an approach of “solving our customers’ challenges in the most effective way,” as opposed to the typical service methods of “responding when a problem occurs” or “visiting for regular maintenance.” Based on this concept, our dedicated development team has built a unique remote service and support model that optimizes and streamlines services in a data-driven manner, supporting customers’ problem-solving without relying on face-to-face interactions.
For example, by planning work based on data, such as the number of operations performed by testing instruments, we can proactively conduct maintenance in a timely manner, supporting the stable operation of our customers’ instruments while optimizing service visits and work hours. Not only does this help control labor costs for our field service engineers, but it also enables us to provide faster service to all customers.

Additionally, remote services play a key role in reducing the burden on medical institutions and maintaining testing quality. We collect and statistically analyze measurement accuracy data from testing instruments across the United States, allowing us to proactively contact customers when we detect abnormal trends and provide remote support for calibration tasks2 to ensure that testing instruments are functioning correctly.
 
2. In the United States, clinical laboratories are legally required to perform calibration of testing instruments every six months.
Q: How is Sysmex addressing the challenge of the shortage of skilled clinical laboratory professionals?
 
We have long been committed to creating environments that allow healthcare professionals to efficiently and effectively improve their skills. Virtual training offers high-quality product training equivalent to in-person sessions and removes geographical barriers, allowing anyone to participate anytime and as often as needed, without having to travel across the vast country. Since the establishment of our dedicated studio in 2013, the number of annual participants has grown from 900 to over 5,000 today. By expanding educational opportunities, we actively contribute to the development of clinical laboratory professionals, helping to maintain and improve testing quality.
 
By pioneering these innovations in service and support ahead of the industry, we have successfully supported productivity enhancement and skills development in medical institutions. This, in turn, has led to steady business growth and high customer satisfaction.
 
Ratings for Overall Service Performance in the United States
In the customer satisfaction survey conducted by the external research company IMV, Sysmex has ranked No.1 in Overall Service Performance for 18 consecutive years in the manufacturer in hematology category (as of March 2025).

The Foundation of Our Service Brand Is a Strong Sense of Mission to Contribute to Patients

Q: What is important for maintaining and improving the quality in service and support?
 
The Americas are not only vast in terms of geography but also rich in diversity, including language, race, and ethnicity. Medical needs vary widely, and in any environment, the key to delivering high-quality service and support to our customers is fostering a unified organizational mindset: “To always deliver the highest standard of service and support for the patients.”
I always tell the Customer Care team, “Every sample is not only a test; it’s a patient. Imagine that your loved one is at the other end of the service you provide and always do your best to solve our customers’ challenges.” I am convinced that Sysmex has been able to build an unwavering service and support brand because our strong sense of purpose—to contribute to patient health—has deeply embedded itself in our corporate culture, especially among the clinical laboratories that are our customers. This high sense of purpose has, in turn, created a virtuous cycle of high employee retention, strong engagement3, and continuous skill development, which forms the foundation of our high customer satisfaction.

3. The employee engagement score for Sysmex America’s Customer Care organization consistently exceeds the ideal benchmark, maintaining a level of 85%.

Contributing to the Improvement and Standardization of Healthcare Standards in Latin American Countries

Q: What challenges are you taking on for further growth?

Our commitment to providing the highest standard of service and support to our customers knows no regional boundaries. While some areas may lack infrastructure such as transportation and communication networks, we will continue to strengthen our systems to ensure timely delivery of standardized, high-quality, and advanced service and support across the Latin American region.

One challenge is strengthening our service and support in the Latin American market, where medical needs are expected to continue expanding.
 
To address region-specific healthcare needs such as infectious diseases and challenges related to improving the quality of testing and healthcare, it is essential not only to deliver testing instruments and reagents but also to provide support in areas such as training on the effectiveness of testing, quality control, and the interpretation of test data. Sysmex is gathering and sharing diverse academic assets, including regional case studies, on a global scale. By maximizing the use of these assets, we will contribute to improving and equalizing healthcare standards across Latin American countries in collaboration with local medical institutions.
Sysmex Center for Leaning South
In 2023, Sysmex established a training facility for customers called the Sysmex Center for Learning South in Brazil. In addition to face-to-face training, this facility offers high-level support, including comprehensive online training and addressing local needs for customers in the Latin American region.

Voice from a Field Service Representative


Lucas Hotchkiss
Service Engineer-Lead, Customer Care
Sysmex America, Inc.

The Day I Earned a Customer’s Trust by Doing My Best for Patients

Delivering high-quality tests to patients without interruption is always my top priority. One particular experience highlighted the importance of this commitment. Late one day, I discovered that a major part of one of our testing instruments needed urgent replacement. My first thought was, “How can I ensure this doesn’t affect patient testing tomorrow?” I immediately adjusted my schedule for the next day. I received the part first thing in the morning and visited the site. To my surprise, I was greeted with applause and cheers from the clinical laboratory staff. I was delighted that my efforts to respond quickly and minimize downtime were highly appreciated. At the same time, I realized once again how crucial it is for our customers, who deal with patients’ health, to keep the tests running and provide reliable services. Through our service and support, we will continue doing our best to support clinical testing.

Series｜Service & Support

The Backbone of Our Global Leadership: How Sysmex Brings Value to Medical Institutions with Service and Support

In vol. 1 of this series, we explore the value Sysmex brings to the medical field and uncover why it is trusted by medical institutions worldwide through an interview with the Global Heads of service and support.

On the Front Lines of U.S. Clinical Laboratories: Solving Issues Through Service and Support

In vol. 2 of this series, we interview Judy Bosko, Head of Customer Care for the Americas. She outlines Sysmex’s efforts to provide efficient, high-quality service and support while continuously striving for both business growth and customer satisfaction across this vast market.

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