“yes you are right, baking is hard work, but times are different, I have invested in a special device that is programmable, I mix my dough when I am here during the day, then I place the dough in this unit which is similar to a fridge then, I tell it that I want to store the dough in it until a certain time and this unit will control how quickly my dough matures by regulating the temperature and humidity which means I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night and I can be less tired and focus on my other dough ($$$) if you know what I mean”
Needless to say that this baker is thinking like every businessman should and he has ambitions to expand his business and currently has 3 bakeries and growing. What I would like to point out here is that, I know for a fact from growing up in a bakery, chances are, with all 3 bakeries his earning capacity is still not very high, yet he is willing to invest in protecting his time. Are you thinking like Tim?
Let’s look at another scenario. You are the CEO of a company that employs 1000 staff and has an annual turnover of 100 million dollars and an EBITDA of 5 million dollars which is close to 2 million dollars net Profit and you require an Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP*), what sort of ERP systems would you look for, that will suit your Enterprise?
Would you purchase a locally installed system that requires complex IT systems and much configuration and rigorous training that will take months to deploy, has limited remote and mobile capabilities for your 1000 strong work force or would you want to be more nimble than that and partner with a solutions provider to get the best and latest ERP that requires minimal infrastructure?
Would you consider reaching out to Microsoft, HP and other conglomerates requesting to hear more about the solutions they can offer an organisation your size, after all a 1000 employees and a $100M turnover is a serious business in our market. This concept is known as OPR (other people’s resources).
Up until recently small business could not afford the luxuries that were available to large businesses as the cost was probative and an example of that is, when email took to the business world, it was mainly using an old technology called POP3 (An old protocol). Shortly after Microsoft launched a product called Exchange which costed a business upwards of 50 thousand dollars to deploy properly and as a result small business stayed on POP3 for a long time. Now, a single doctor can sign up to an equivalent product, office 365 for a few dollars a month for a single mailbox and have access to world of exchange features that were previously unaffordable. Get office 365 and all your email systems are synchronised and backed up and readily available online through a browser and you don’t worry about the detail of it, you simply use the most advanced email system in the world.
Coming back to the small enterprise which is your private medical practice now.
How are you handling your dough? and what do you need to protect your time?
Choosing an ERP for a medical practice requires the same level of agile thinking. Think big and stay nimble is the message here. Don’t settle for substandard solutions and as any enterprise you should do your due diligence on the systems you are considering. Ensure they have the business efficiencies and that they enable you as a clinician, choose a system that works for you today and also enables your team and helps your patients. Choose a system that is not only feature rich but has the foresight to continue evolving, because in today’s world systems must deliver and must continue delivering and adding value. Otherwise we would all be still using, film based cameras, commodore 64 (yes I am showing my age here), cars without air-bags, powered windows or ABS brakes and Nokia phones.
