Looking Forward by Looking Back: A Year of U.S. Healthtek
By Mike Pratt
Mike Pratt, VP Sales/Marketing
When I joined U.S. HealthTek a year ago, my goal has long been to focus on what I call “Precision IT.” This piggybacks on the concept of precision medicine, which takes a holistic, big-picture evaluation of a patient beyond their symptoms, in contrast to the traditional band-aid approach.
I have definitely found the right environment for that – and a good deal more.
In my first few weeks here, I immediately recognized the immense advantage that comes with a virtual company. Not just personally, but professionally. What does a team working from home, in different parts of the country coast-to-coast, mean for our clients? Well, we’ve eliminated the overhead that comes with a brick-and-mortar office. But beyond the savings that we pass on to clients, it allows us all to focus on exactly what the client needs executed in the timeframe required. No long, drawn-out meeting room extravaganzas for us. Our exchanges are concise, and when we’re done discussing the issues at hand, we go right to work. Project Managers working from home are more flexible and efficient, benefits our clients notice and embrace immediately. (Given the advantage of the digital age, I’m surprised more companies haven’t gotten on board with this.) No one brings donuts to the phone conferences. Maybe that’s an upside? But I digress …
Refrigerators to Eskimos?
Once here, I immediately appreciated some key aspects to the company’s approach. For one, how we approach Virtual CIO and its top-tier technical aspects. We collaborate. We enter every initial conversation with an open mind, with no goals other than to listen, ask questions, and understand. I also appreciate the company’s philosophy of not walking into the beginning of the process with a hidden agenda where we’re just trying to upsell. This leads to fantastic conversations that put people at ease.
Now, it is true my title is “VP of Sales” but that means something very different here. Far from the cliché of the guy-in-the-plaid-jacket, it’s about universal top-to-bottom support. It’s all hands on deck, all the time. From the beginning, Bryan Firestone, Cristy Reiter, Robert Negosian, and anybody else who needed to be there has been there; at the very end, you’ll find I’m still there as well. It’s how our corporate culture prioritizes the success of the project over any other objective. I’m aware that there are pre-conceived notions that come with that. But let me tell ya – I can’t sell refrigerators to Eskimos. If you don’t need what I have, I can’t and won’t sell it to you.
What’s most important is to understand how much we offer a customized approach. It is unique and it transcends the typical industry mindset. Here’s to another year of that!
Part of the culture here is the emphasis on face-to-face interaction with potential clients, which is why I especially enjoy the conferences we attend. It’s there that I absorb the information exchange, found in both formal meetings and casual run-ins. But I’m afforded the luxury of support within the organization, in that if I don’t feel 100 percent confident about a project, I don’t have any pressure to pursue it. Otherwise, I’m always a resource and when you email, call, or text, you don’t get just me; you get the founder, the CEO, the COO, and everyone else.
Prior Experiences, Prior Cultures
A little background: When I first graduated from college, I was an account rep for CPL in Fairfax Virginia, and then I transitioned Sunrise Med Lab, which dropped me right smack dab in Manhattan … yada yada yada … well, turns out I’m not a big city person. So I went from sales to IT at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center where I was a Systems Analyst for the Allscripts Enterprise EMR. Next I was a Provider Relations Specialist for the health systems ACO. These experiences all influenced how I believe partnerships should work in this industry and prepared me to be the client-centric team member of U.S. Healthtek I am today.
As I reflect on my past work experiences, the one thing that I always found curious was people who kept information tightly guarded. In too many IT cultures, those who understand the process are hesitant to relinquish it to anybody, for any reason. It becomes a mentality that imbues knowledge as a commodity, or as a source of job security, rather than as a tool to be shared. It is culture based almost on mistrust, and what inevitably follows is all this red tape, which becomes part of the boundary that keeps resolutions from happening quickly and efficiently.
U.S. HealthTek does none of that. I credit President/CEO Cristy Reiter for being forward and vocal about making everything we do a collaborative effort as a team – internally and with our clients. The culture is to help any and all.
Beside the lack of office donuts, are there downsides? Perhaps the biggest challenge is getting that face-to-face. We don’t deal in “Acme Widgets” – it’s nuanced, custom work. It’s specific to your challenges and your working environment. But sometimes getting a discussion going through email or even brief calls is a struggle. When we get to have that one-on-one, inevitably there’s that “ah-ha” moment. But it does require a willingness to come sit, talk, and explore the possibilities. The vast majority of those who can make the time to do that are glad they did – even if they don’t immediately become clients.
What’s most important is to understand how much we offer a customized approach. It is unique and it transcends the typical industry mindset. Here’s to another year of that!