Canned Software Solutions Not Cutting It with Evolving Workers’ Comp Needs
When Company Nurse opened for business 18 years ago, it was a humble but mighty operation, with one small office suite. Since then, the brand has outgrown its space twice – moving into a larger one in the coming months – and last year alone, its team of skilled nurses answered 75,000 calls. Thus, as the demand for the company’s services has grown, the demand for an improved workflow and ease of reporting has expanded as well.
For the first 10 years of business, Company Nurse operated with a licensed software solution – used by many companies in the telephone triage space – in terms of software and related reporting processes. Creating a custom solution was not a viable option in the early days and one that didn’t make sense while the business model was still taking shape.
In Spring 2014, the executive team began discussing the need for a new software better suited for the Company Nurse workflow, to more efficiently handle the current client work, and allow for future growth – both for clients and internally. It was then that Mike Wood, director of business operations, and John Malone, director of IT, began putting their heads together to find a solution.
“We started by evaluating several systems already in existence, “ said Wood. “We quickly determined that because the Company Nurse model is so unique, we really needed something tailored to our specific model – not another ‘one-size-fits-all’ program for which we would undoubtedly need to continue to create workarounds in order to solve issues, as we continue to grow. We needed to create something just for us.”
With Wood’s keen eye for creating efficiencies and reducing costs, and Malone’s expertise in all things technical, the software development team was formed. Wood focused on the software from a business process perspective to determine how to best improve workflow overall and get the user “from point A to point B” faster than before. He worked backwards from the prescribed set of outcomes for the functional user, to outline the process for getting there.
Meanwhile, Malone served as a liaison between Wood and the technical design and development team, to help articulate business processes in a technical manner and problem solve between the two entities. He also was charged with setting up the infrastructure for all parts of the integration – including phones, training, intuitive design – to ensure all facets worked together.
Now, after only 14 months of development and design with a third-party developer, Company Nurse is proud to announce the launch of its innovative proprietary software solution. This new system allows the team to create customized directives for faster, easier data collection and reporting by Company Nurse staff, as well as a simplified process for distributing reports, to more easily meet each client’s specific needs.
From the other side of the operation, clients will have greater reporting capability and flexibility, to allow for customized solutions that are tailored to each one’s unique business challenges and requirements.
“I am most excited about how quickly all of our users are adapting to it,” said Wood, noting that the majority of the team members using the software in the testing stages adapted to the new system after a matter of days. “I look forward to the reliability and stability of having our own software, specific to us – what we do and how we work.” added Malone. “In the past, we haven’t had control over the bugs in our software and the issues that resulted. Now, we can solve problems more quickly, to serve our customers faster, with greater ease. We take pride in providing solutions to our team members and our clients that are both efficient and hassle-free.”