The Future’s So Bright

On this clammy Friday morning in mid-July the Express Diagnostics office is humming with activity. The production week is Monday through Thursday, but the office staff is still here and we are a dynamic bunch! Yesterday the Marketing and Sales departments participated in an afternoon-long webinar/work session that included our Bostonian colleague Les, and Rich our CFO who resides in California. I think we are all still buzzing with the excitement generated by hard work and effective collaboration. Work sessions are a newly developed initiate at EDI. More than just the typical; "departmental meeting," work sessions have become an extremely useful tool for our burgeoning organization. Only a few years ago our "department heads," which numbered three, met at a scuffed card table in a highly trafficked break room; now we have webinars! Thanks to enormous advancements in our technologic capabilities, we are now able to view and collaborate collectively on marketing projects and product development. Yesterday, as we all gazed intently at the newest marketing material on the large TV on the conference room wall; our CEO paused and said, "Isn't this amazing"? Yes, Paul, I agree. You see, roughly ten years ago DrugCheck had one drug of abuse testing device – the round cup. This lone device had about 20 different configurations. Now we have a large variety of devices ranging from the original cup to our newest VeriCheck Results Manager. I just confirmed that between urine and oral fluid testing devices, support products and breath alcohol test, we have over 800 items in our DrugCheck product catalog.

As our Director of Marketing, The Wangenator – Slayer of All Things Marketing, has so eloquently stated on our website, EDI will "simplify your drug screening efforts and reduce costs with DrugCheck on-site drug testing." As we continue to maintain our current success we consistently aim higher and set evermore challenging objectives. Which brings me back to our work sessions, where successes are celebrated, setbacks are analyzed, ideas are born and innovative concepts percolate. The VeriCheck Results Manager is one example of EDI's commitment to providing outstanding, innovative products. Many afternoons were spent with the Sales and Marketing departments gathered around the conference room table testing, demonstrating, adjusting and tweaking the product before we deemed it ready to go. This process may not be speedy, but it is effective and we anticipate our excitement will transfer to our customers as well.

The Waive RT was another revolutionary new product that materialized from a work session. The Waive RT emerged as the only CLIA-waived device that detects MET and MDMA at 500 ng/mL which contributes to an increased sensitivity for enhanced drug detection. The development of the Waive RT's "results ready timer" has provided EDI customers with a simple, yet accurate way to call presumptive positive results. During yesterday's work session we conferenced with our new lab services partner, Phamatech, Inc. This exciting partnership will provide our customers with complete laboratory services from an industry-leading forensic and clinical toxicology lab.

Now it's Friday afternoon and one would think that all the buzzing would have subsided, but quite the contrary. We are beginning to ramp-up for the official VeriCheck launch and next round of Waive RT promotions. Nick aka "SpeciMan," is smoothing out a handful of last planning details for AACC in Atlanta at the end of the month and whoa, a stray lightning bolt just knocked out our server for a minute! Speaking of Nick, make sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter for special social media promotions and updates on the adventures of SpeciMan!