Investing in Technology is now mandatory; whether you want to enhance the quality of care and end consumer experiences, grow your revenue or improve productivity and save cost. 

However, a large number of Health and Social Care organisations (both public and private) are unable to unlock the true value and ROI that technology investments can bring. This in turn, can create a negative spiral in technology adoption and a lack of new investment in the sector as a whole.

When implementing a new system in your organisation, ask yourself these 5 questions:

 1.   How is the solution fit for purpose now and more importantly, is it in line with your future business plan?

The more effort you spend at the due diligence stage to understand why a specific software is relevant for you and how it delivers on your business objectives, the better the outcome you will get. It is critical to evaluate whether the technology solution will also be fit for purpose with your changing business needs. Ensure you have a detailed business case.

Many care homes in the UK have invested in a Care Planning System without considering their future (more so current) need for an eMAR (Electronic Medical Administration Record) system. Often these systems do not communicate with each other, resulting in the duplication of effort and time unnecessarily spent in the manual triangulation of data. Many incumbent technology providers do not have easy availability or accessibility of API or SDK for quicker integration with other systems.

 2.   How far is the software from its sunset stage?

It helps to understand what stage the software is in their product life cycle and what its future looks like. Depending on your risk appetite, it’s best to invest during the innovation or growth stage of the software product – if not, chances are, you may lose out on better innovations around the corner. You might also end up with a product with no feature developments and a frustrating support experience. Over the last 20 years, the average software program lifespan has been around 6-8 years.

3.   How will the new system talk with your existing data, systems and processes?

This is a classic mistake that I have seen time and time again – injecting a new software without any considerations of how the new system will integrate with existing systems and processes or how existing data will be migrated. Often businesses will only tinker with existing processes on the surface, rather than rethinking newer business models and lean processes to unleash the real benefits that can be derived from the new system.

4.   How will you make it easier for your team members to use the system?

Often system trainings are provided with a technology lens and not a business lens. Better adoption can be achieved if team members are communicating and explaining what problems the technology is trying to solve. Team member training prior to implementing new technology is a must, but it needs to be ongoing initiative.

Build a simple process to identify how well the team members are using the new system and why adoption issues exist. Accordingly, schedule learning initiatives and refresher clinics, keeping in mind different learning styles. At all cost, avoid 7-hour “one size fits all” training that aims to make every team member proficient in using the technology in one-day.

5.   How will you manage the change?

Finally, the success of technology implementation depends, to a large extent, on the effectiveness of your change management strategies. These projects can trigger significant risks if a technology-first approach is taken.

Create ownership by ensuring the project is owned by the business and supported by your IT team. Provide adequate support to your business team by freeing up time and resources from their BAU activities to lead the project.

Create the right buzz, keeping team members engaged all through the journey through adequate and regular communications. Be mindful of change exhaustion through information overload.

Though technology can often be perceived as a magic bullet that will solve all business problems ‘once for all’, it is not an end objective in itself. Like any tool, it will only be as good as you make it.