The Power of Consultants? A Reminder! Even Consultants Need Them
Consultants are essential: For their specific area of expertise. For their ability to be laser-focused on the challenge at hand. For their assurance that tasks will be completed, solutions will be found, and best practices implemented.
Now you’re expecting to hear about our record of successful consulting … but first, here is how we recently realized the value of “leading by example.”
Streamlining Our Backend
In 2021, the executive team at U.S. HealthTek realized that our growth was exceeding our desire to run as efficiently as possible. As our very mission is to automate labs and healthcare organizations for efficiency, we knew we needed to streamline our backend – specifically the finance, administrative, and project management aspects. Knowing it made more sense to “buy” rather than “build,” and after researching what was available (always the first, most crucial step for success), we landed on a system that is versatile with strong à la carte options, fitting perfectly with our business needs. We went with a product that in addition to handling basic time entry, provided in-depth project tracking and profitability options integral to proactively managing a business.
Three years later, we came to understand that while we did a good job learning and implementing the program, we weren’t able to fully take advantage of all it had to offer. We meant to, but our dedication to our own clients’ efficiency, profitability, and success kept getting “in the way.” Then our founder, Bryan Firestone – always the smartest guy in the room – said what should have been more than obvious: Why don’t we bring in a consultant?
Here’s a bright idea: Bring in a consultant!
We deepened our partnership with our application provider and hired a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to work with us to make sure we took full advantage of the system, learning how to utilize all the bells and whistles. And, after a short period of time working with the SME, we are now achieving the full value of our investment. Most important, we did it without wasting the time and resources of our own team members, who are doing what they do best – serving our clients.
Worst-Case Scenario: Missed Opportunities
Many times over our twenty-plus years serving the healthcare industry, we have provided SMEs to address similar challenges. Post implementation, we are all relieved to have the brunt of the work over but realize we were a long way from knowing all the particulars of the new system. In general, ongoing maintenance, support, and training time should be planned for but routinely end up on the low end of the priority list and are fit in when time allows. Yes, we want to be budget conscious. Yes, we believe our team can execute the vast majority of much-needed IT improvements. But the question is, do they have the bandwidth? Will they be able to keep up with their additional responsibilities, or will something be left for “later”?
Invariably, despite the investment, despite the time, despite the business-critical need to be more efficient and thus more profitable, we get busy and key items get ignored.
Best-Case Scenario: Peace of Mind
Clients choose to partner with U.S. HealthTek for the depth of our expertise, the length of our experience, and the width of our products and solutions. But when we become part of your team, we’re also aware of the unspoken benefit we provide that is layered on top of all that: peace of mind. It’s not about replacing your IT team; it’s about becoming part of it to work on clearly defined goals.
Problems as well as opportunities come up. Priorities change, and there are fluctuations big and small that need to be addressed to assure sustained success. Once again, the team in place has their jobs to do, and often are already stretched to the limit. We are limitless in our precision-focused approach to maintaining the utmost advantage that the system implemented can provide for you.
LIS/LIMS Performance Plus
Just one example of this is our LIS/LIMS Performance Plus Managed Service Provider (MSP) program. With this, we provide a single point of contact for all your needs. We function as an extension of your team, taking on the responsibility for managing, administering, and improving your digital lab systems. Then we extend access to core services with organization-specific engagement, and we charge only for the support that is needed. You don’t want the company’s stability or investment to be at risk, so our proactive approach means you achieve complete success in ROI and predictable total cost of ownership.
Part of Your Team!
How successful are we at this? One of our consultants has been named “Employee of the Month” – not just once, but twice by one of our clients. So seamlessly did she immerse herself into the organization that the sales team (and we all know how demanding great salespeople are!) didn’t realize that she was not a permanent employee!
Our only regret with our backend application is that we didn’t engage a consultant sooner (which by the way, is what we typically hear from our clients). But better late than never, and we’ve learned that everyone needs consultants – IT consulting companies included.
