Business Strategy | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer | Telecom Marketing Content Writer

The Healthcare Puzzle: Improving Patient Experience

May 29, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

As a healthcare professional, you know very well how difficult it can be to improve the three most important pieces of the healthcare puzzle: patient engagement, consumer satisfaction, and patient access to healthcare. It’s not always easy to provide the kind of service that patients need, yet it is still so important to ensure that everyone has access to it wherever they may live and regardless of their situation.

Healthcare Patient Experience

Here is a quick guide to improving patient experience that all healthcare professionals should know about in order to improve the system. It takes a little bit of effort from everybody to raise the standard even higher and ensure the kind of care that people deserve.

Access to healthcare: It’s all about prevention

A big problem is that many patients tend to only seek medical help once they are injured or in pain. Their problems have, in other words, time to accumulate and build up rather than being handled before their condition potentially escalates.

This is undeniably difficult for both parts as the healthcare sector is in need of more professionals – and patients may be hesitant to contact their doctor about minor problems. Try to think about what your patient population wants and attempt to offer treatments in a way that is convenient to their specific needs.

Start by taking a look at your digital communication strategies, for example, reassess your schedule and consider whether your office hours work for your patients. Another point to this is how your administrative staff is handling appointment calls; this is such an important part of the patient’s experience and they are unlikely to address you with minor issues if they are constantly meeting a busy signal on the other end of the line.

Improving patients access through telehealth

What they need is, in fact, a system that basically envelopes them and engages with the patients non-stop. The most important thing healthcare professionals can do is to determine how they can expand their care access in order to improve patient care; a 24×7 doctors answering service may be one of the best solutions so far.

That way, your patients are able to reach medical advice even before they are injured or in pain – and we are able to reduce the chances of conditions escalating due to a lack of access. Telehealth may also include video conferencing which is, undeniably, more personal and often preferable way of communicating with the patients.

Telehealth is also able to open up for improved healthcare offers to two patients groups: those with busy schedules who are unable or unwilling to make a quick trip to the doctor’s office as well as those who live in rural areas. It is perfect for follow-up appointments, in particular, where you only need to have a quick chat about how things are going and don’t need to see the patient in-person.

That way, you’ll be able to provide them with the best possible care as well as constant access to healthcare advice without having to stretch your schedule even further.

Don’t Let Tech Issues Bring Your Small Business To Its Knees

May 29, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

These days, it’s almost impossible to find a small business that hasn’t welcomed various forms of technology into its office. Laptops are now usually given out to most employees, and some individuals in the company will also be given cell phones for professional use. These are just some of the most basic forms of tech available to companies these days, as things like the cloud and AI are now slowly being adapted for small business use.

Most of the time, all of this new tech is a great addition to any business as it can help automate processes and increase the overall efficiency of a company. However, as with most forms of tech, there will be times when things don’t go to plan. Devices can fail and break, and this can cause some significant issues with the workflow, especially when important items like computers and laptops break. In some extreme cases, serious tech issues can end up costing a company huge sums to resolve, and it can even bring some businesses to their knees.

It doesn’t always have to be like that, though. Here are some very common tech issues within the professional world, and what you can do about them.

File Recover Challenges

One of the biggest challenges that many entrepreneurs and business owners live in dread of is file recovery. There are various reasons why your files, data, and information stored on your computers and hardware may be at risk, but one of the most common things that will wipe data from your machines is when the computer malfunctions. For instance, if an employee’s laptop or computer freezes while they are working on it, then they might lose any work that they haven’t saved. Thankfully, that’s no reason to panic. If you do think that some of your files or data is lost on broken or old hardware, it’s worth calling a company like Apex Data Recovery who are experts in retrieving stored digital information. But, generally speaking, as long as your computers and machines are regularly replaced and kept in good working order, then you shouldn’t have too much to worry about.

Problems With Integration

Whenever you set up a new company or set to work expanding your current one, you will need to bring in more computers and laptops to increase the network. More often than not, entrepreneurs do this when they require new computers for all their new hires to work on. But before your employees can get to work, the computer needs to be integrated into the network. If the new computers are quite new, you might find that a network that uses older software might not be able to support them. This can bring about a whole load of inefficiencies. One of the best ways around this is carrying out thorough planning. By checking all of your systems beforehand, you should be able to find out what you can use and add to your current network. It’s also a good idea to enlist the help of some IT experts who can ensure the integration process goes as smoothly as possible.

Online Security Issues

Online security is a big problem right now, for both individuals and professional organizations. Companies are often targeted more so than individuals, though, so it really is important that all entrepreneurs and business owners do everything in their power to protect their computer network from hackers and viruses. Unfortunately, though, there are still many companies out there that are making some serious school-boy errors. For instance, lots of entrepreneurs try to save money by rarely updating their online security software. However, as viruses and hackers become more sophisticated, they can quickly learn how to hack older security software to get into computers. So, it really is paying for the newest antivirus and firewall options. You should also make sure that your employees know all about the best practices that can keep them safe when they are working online.

Outdated Software And Hardware

Technology really is a great benefit to all kinds of companies, but there is a limit to its greatness. That limit usually starts to kick in as the software and hardware begin to age and slow down over time. If you continue to use outdated tech, then you will find it can really reduce your company’s efficiency and overall productivity. Not only that, though, but your products or services could also reduce in quality, which could lead to you losing some of your customers. One way to resolve this is to research the average lifespan of your tech products. Once one of them is starting to come to the end of its life, you should start looking for a replacement piece of tech. Bringing a new item into the office to replace the current one while it is still working will be a lot smoother than waiting until something breaks to replace it.

A Lack Of Employee Training

If an employee uses a piece of technology in their day to day line of work, then they need to be trained so that they are absolutely certain that they know how to use it. Otherwise, they will become very frustrated trying to use some tech that confuses them. Plus, they might end up spending the majority of their day trying to figure out how to use the tech or device in the first place! So, as you can tell, this isn’t very efficient at all. To ensure that any problems and issues such as this are ironed out as soon as possible, you should give all of your team members plenty of training. Some general IT training will help everyone in the company, while it’s also a good idea to offer some job-specific training to make sure that everyone is 100% sure how to use any tech that they work with in their daily schedule.

Hopefully, your company isn’t affected by any of the common tech problems above. If it is, though, these tips can help you overcome them.

How Tech Can Save Your Small Business Money

May 29, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Every small business owner has to deal with a myriad of costs and expenses when they are running their companies. In the modern world, it is technology which is accounting for a bigger and bigger proportion of these expenses. However, many small business owners see tech as a necessary cost that can also end up saving them money as well by improving efficiency. If you are still not convinced, we will run through just a few of the ways that tech can make your business operating costs cheaper.

Excessive Paper Usage

Not only is cutting down on your paper usage good for your business, it is also good for the environment. Digital communication means are so much better that you don’t necessarily need to mail documents that you used to. And with cloud-based storage systems, you can also store all your important files without fuss. Printer ink can be fairly expensive, and cutting back on using this is always going to be a good thing.

Digital Marketing

Nowadays, more and more companies are channeling their efforts into digital marketing techniques such as SEO, email marketing and the like. This tends to be the much more cost-effective approach than printing off lots of documents like posters, brochures, flyers etc. Not to mention all the cash that you have to pay to put adverts in print-based publications. Of course, this isn’t to say that all digital marketing is going to cost you nothing, but it tends to be much more affordable.

Communication

As time goes on, communication systems are getting more and more advanced, and as they do, they are often getting cheaper or even becoming available for free. But you also need to think about investing in the tech that is going to make it easier for customers to get in touch with you. At the moment, instant chat is a highly popular means of contact which many companies are now looking at installing. Obviously, as well as the software itself, you need to have staff members on-hand to respond to the needs of customers. However, making yourself more contactable as a business is one of the best ways of inspiring customer loyalty. Many business owners see this as an expense which is worth paying.

Security

The criminals of the modern age are operating more and more in the digital world. If you are not investing in the right software such as virus protection and firewalls, you will be giving them a chance to disrupt and damage your company. You may also want to hire a professional IT company like CCC IT. You also need to think about the system that you are using to store all your files as you don’t want to risk them becoming compromised. Ensuring business continuity will certainly save you money in the long-run.

Technology continues to advance at a rapid rate and it is the companies that are investing in modern solutions which tend to stay ahead of the competition in various different ways.

Simple Ways to Make Your Auto Business Greener

May 28, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

While you probably have a lot to think about already, the idea of making your dealership greener can actually boost your sales significantly. Customers are becoming increasingly interested in buying the most environmentally friendly cars and ensuring that the carbon footprint they leave behind is as small as possible – by allowing your business to do exactly this, you might be able to gain an advantage over your competitors.

Business Greener

Here are a couple of ways you can make your automotive business a lot greener and friendlier toward mother nature so that your customers can feel a bit safer about choosing you over your competitors.
Greener car manufacturing

In the early days of green initiatives, car manufacturing was sorely lagging behind. Until the incorporation of recyclable materials into car productions, that is, as well as choosing fuel alternatives that allow companies to reduce their fossil fuel intakes. Today, it is actually quite simple for your business to provide customers with green alternatives when buying a car as many of its parts will be a lot more reliable and environmentally friendly.

Aluminum is an example that quickly comes to mind when considering recyclable material that makes the car lighter on fuel – and there are, of course, all the electric cars on the market which significantly reduces our carbon footprint. You can have a look at Flowmeters.com if you need some other ideas on how to make your business as green as possible and remember that you can easily find tyres that will be lighter on the environment as well.

Don’t know where to begin? Just start small

Going green may seem like a daunting task, especially when you already have a successful auto business up and running. Luckily, you don’t actually have to do an entire remodeling to build a more sustainable business; just start small and work your way up instead. The idea is that, by making an effort and giving your customers what they way, you are also boosting the morale of the community and showing them how easy it actually is to get started.

Try to limit the number of balloons and decorations you have on your next event; it will save you money too, by the way. Swap out the regular paper cups for coffee cups from recycled material, for example, or make an effort to go paperless.

However small it may be, the work you put in it will make a difference, in the long run, and you can pride yourself on having a business that works with the environment instead of against it. Check out Allaboutimports.com for even more ideas on how you can make the repair process a bit greener as well.

The great thing about the auto industry is that it is one of the few that have realized the fault in its ways and is making an attempt at correcting it. Surely, other businesses in your community will catch up with the green wave sooner or later so make sure your company is at the forefront of it.

How to Stop Wasting as Much Time with Your Business

May 25, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

So, you’re trying to do everything you can to stay on top of everything and you are probably more exhausted than ever. You probably think that this is the way that things are and that there is nothing that you can do to change this. The truth is that this is not the case at all and you would be surprised at how easy it is for you to stop wasting as much time with your business.

What’s Not Working?

If you want to stop wasting time then you need to try and find out what isn’t working. You need to identify any of your business processes that are not efficient, whether it is the communication that you have with your team or whether it is your buying and selling process. When you are able to get all of this sorted out and when you know where you are going wrong, you can then begin to plan out solutions that will help you to deal with this on a much more efficient basis.

Go Digital

If you are wasting time trying to fill out forms or if you are constantly trying to stay on top of your business paperwork then this could be compromising the overall efficiency of your company. You need to go digital as much as possible. After all, if you think about it, how easy is it to send an email to 100 people with a document? Now think about how long it would take you to do 100 photocopies of a document, and hand them out to everyone in-person. You can already start to see how digital assets can save you a ton of time, and this is especially the case if you integrate it into your business process. You can even digitalise your accounting process as well, by looking into accounting packages, Complete Accountancy Package – Qdos Accounting as this is a great way for you to get things back on track with your business finances.

Move with the Times

If you are not willing to invest in new strategies or if you are not willing to take on the ideas of others then this will really stall your business potential. If you are stuck in the past then you may find it hard to get the daily tasks within your company done and you may also be missing out on faster and easier ways of doing things. A lot of businesses don’t want to invest in new processes because they believe that the time it takes to implement them is just not worth the effort, but this is not the case at all. You could save hundreds of hours every year by being open to new ideas, and if it does happen to be a better solution then both you and your employees will be happier for it.

So there are so many ways that you can try and boost your business efficiency, and you would be surprised at how much time and money it can save you as well.