Q & A with Dr Steven Dodd of TotalLab

Industry Insights

Q & A with Dr Steven Dodd of TotalLab

26th April 2022

TotalLab is a global pioneer in image analysis software for companies in the biotech, pharmaceutical and chemical processing sectors. Based in Newcastle, the company develops life science analysis software that is used worldwide to help companies solve complex scientific challenges, work more efficiently and achieve regulatory compliance.

Dr Steven Dodd, Head of Sales and Business Development at TotalLab talks to Horizon Works about the company’s growth and ambitions…

You have recently launched a new brand and website, why did you decide to do this?

One of the significant benefits of being a specialist software company was always that the market in which we operated was small, so it wasn’t hard to get ourselves and our products noticed.

Our previous website and branding were designed to be purely functional. It was an online presence that only existed to inform customers of our existence and point them towards interacting with us directly to make sales and was rarely updated.

It became the case that our software UI design was being constantly developed and becoming more visually appealing with every iteration. However, our website lagged behind that severely because it was always an afterthought. The decision to update our branding and website was made to ensure that the user experience of our external presence reflected that of our software and was more in line with our current and future software offerings.

What will this mean for you moving forward?

Ideally, our new visual styling will help TotalLab stand out better both online and at conferences, and project a more approachable image which will then translate into more people using our software solutions.

Tell us about your international strategy and US-focus.

The experiments that our software is used to analyse the results of are very widely carried out within the life sciences, from academia to industry – this already gives us a global reach.

Our GxP solutions in particular, which can be coupled with our software, have made us very attractive to pharmaceutical manufacturers and the US has a high concentration of these. This gives us a very strong presence in the US, which we are keen to maintain and expand.

Moving forward, our focus remains on industrial partners in the US and helping to ensure they have the tools they need to meet FDA compliance. For instance, our Version Control software was developed in response to the need for companies to meet 21 CFR part 11 regulations.

What are your business plans for the future and what do the next few years look like?

It’s a really exciting time here at TotalLab and this brand and website refresh is just the beginning. We’ve got lots of plans in the future to expand our Version Control / GxP software offerings to ensure FDA compliance – and not just within the life sciences sector, but the larger manufacturing sector as a whole. We’re planning some new product launches that will innovate within that space.

We plan to leverage modern developments in computing to develop new products that will save users time whilst simultaneously improving reproducibility and reliability of results, enhancing time-tested experimental procedures with the latest advances in technology.

Following a marketing strategy, brand refresh and new website Horizon Works is working with TotalLab as its retained marketing partner to provide website support and social media content, SEO, PR and marketing material that can support sales and lead generation.