You Can’t Get the Most Out of Your Health Tech Investment Without Managed Service
I’m a solutions engineer at Parlance, which means I help our enterprise and healthcare customers implement conversational interactive voice response (IVR) and intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) solutions. My colleagues and I don’t stop after implementation, however – we foster enduring relationships with our clients and ensure optimal performance and ROI. Frankly, I think more companies should work like ours.
Having come from healthcare tech giant Epic Systems, where I also helped support hospitals with their software post-implementation, I’ve seen first-hand how vital it is to be available for customers as they learn to use and master new technology. When it comes to creating the perfect managed service, being as responsive as possible is the gold standard.
Great healthcare IT vendors leverage their experiences learning about and working with health systems and provide that specialized knowledge to clients. Sharing information is crucial to building trust and equipping teams with vital perspectives on their market. This part of the process should start as early as the first meeting, regardless of whether prospective customers move forward with a purchase. A vendor’s responsibility is to educate potential clients. Therefore, each discussion should hold value.
As a technology vendor’s partnership with a health system grows over time, the vendor will inevitably be called upon to offer advice, fix issues, and pivot between objectives in a pinch. In my experience, there are advantages to working on a smaller team when it comes to this part of the job. Having the ability to make quick, yet responsible decisions is key. This is why it’s beneficial to be part of a company that doesn’t have several layers of management that must weigh in on everyday decisions. A smaller team is more nimble, tweaking processes to align to customer goals and staying communicative along the way.
I don’t know why any vendor would offer tech without managed service. Technology degrades over time, and when a health system invests in a solution that isn’t managed, the in-house team is left to fix problems and streamline operations on their own. There’s no ROI in a product that forces an IT team to do all the hard work themselves.
That’s why I’ve found a home as a solutions engineer for Parlance. The team here has implemented conversational IVRs and IVAs at thousands of hospitals and clinics across the United States. It’s a joy to make the connection between patients and their health systems easy, and to help knock down obstacles as they arise. We have the ability to tweak our solution to align closely with the customer’s goals and budget. Each healthcare organization has a specific vision and set of goals. We work alongside each client as a partner to deliver on that mission.
For example, I’ve come across health systems that operate in communities with a dead split of Spanish and English speakers. Focusing on the language processing features to ensure the most streamlined process was the first step, but it may not be an important step with another client. There’s also the possibility that an organization doesn’t recognize the needs of diverse language understanding tools until after we implement our product – in which case, we’d go back in and help them out. A prepackaged product doesn’t have that customizability.
When it comes to partnering with a healthcare organization, their success is our success. We take responsibility for enhancing contact center operations so an organization can focus on what they truly need to. Establishing long-lasting relationships with our clients enables them to innovate and improve while having our support by their side. That’s why offering a managed service is imperative for HIT vendors.
By Michelle Glans
