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The Build vs. Buy vs. Outsource Conundrum
By DeeVee Devarakonda MBA
There are several options to build, buy or outsource a medical practice Customer Resource Management infrastructure. And, there are advantages and disadvantages to all three options. I will review all three for our ME-P readers.
Build:
Rapid technology advances are transforming the business landscape. This makes it very challenging for healthcare organizations to keep abreast of the technologies, to train and manage resources on tools, to grapple with cross-functional, cross-departmental dynamics and build the CRM application. In addition mergers/ acquisitions and other market realities can make CRM operations complex and distract healthcare organizations from delivering excellent patient experience.
It is very tempting for small healthcare organizations to think they can develop what they need in-house themselves. May be May be not. It is very essential to stay focused on your main business and see if the solution is available elsewhere. Figure out if you are in the business of whatever you are doing or let us say in the business to develop patient survey tool or a low-end database. It is best to get outside help wherever you are dealing with an initiative/ task that is not your core competence or where it is to your strategic advantage- be it time-to-value or cost savings.
Buy:
Depending on your business needs you can either buy CRM package solution and implement or build best of breed solutions that are suited to your business needs. You need to pay very close attention to what the software vendors are promising. Naturally they will be more interested in making the sale, than advising on whether it integrates well with your existing technologies, so the onus is on you as a buyer to ask the right questions and make appropriate purchases.
Outsource:
Especially for very young healthcare organizations today, outsourcing can be an option worth exploring to de-risk technology decisions. Outsourcing de-risks marketing program – avoids unnecessary, upfront, massive capital investment and will also equip the marketers with the flexibility to ramp up or down as situation demands. Outsourcing does not mean healthcare organizations can wash their hands off the CRM function. Still it is the business that will have to provide the strategic direction and control the CRM process and outcome. There are also Application Service Provider (ASP) solutions which de-risk technology decisions.
Assessment
One of the attractions of going the hosted route becomes very clear when you have a two doctor practice marketing medical services that require 24×7 availability of information, transaction and service. They have attractive pricing that encourage “pay as you go” paradigm which is of enormous help to young businesses. However, the disadvantages of an ASP [SaaS] are: 1) you can’t integrate with your other enterprise systems for patient 360-degree view 2) you can’t customize to reflect your exact needs 3) you can’t work offline, which can be a disadvantage if you are a mobile “new-wave” medical practice.
MORE: CRM Marketing
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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com
OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:
- PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
- HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
- CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
- ADVISORS: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org
- FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
- INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
- Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance
- Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security
- Dictionary of Health Insurance and Managed Care
***
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Filed under: "Doctors Only", Career Development, Experts Invited, Information Technology, Practice Management | Tagged: CRM, CRM applications, Customer Resource Management, DeeVee Devarakonda |
The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants 
What kind of healthcare company or medical practice needs CRM the most?
Simple; any healthcare company, which has patienta and aims to provide DME products and medical services at a profit needs a CRM vision, strategy and roadmap.
C [Patient] RM is the way healthcare organizations should bring people, processes and technology to develop long lasting and profitable relationships with their patients and other stakeholders. No more, no less. In order to achieve these objectives, healthcare organizations need:
• A team that is committed to the same business and patient vision
• Simple business processes that are responsive to changing patient needs
• Patient 360 degree view or at least a “good enough” patient view
• Real time patient information and insights
• A consistent communications strategy and execution across multiple channels.
While implementing C [P] RM, it is essential to remember CRM is more than technology. CRM is a philosophy that needs to be embraced by the health care employees who are committed to deliver the organization’s promises to the patient while being guided by clear business objectives, with supporting processes and technology.
Often, it is magical when done right!
Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA
[Publisher-in-Chief]
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Why Hospitals Need CRM?
Not about doctors, or medical offices … but about hospitals.
http://www.hospitalimpact.org/index.php/2010/07/15/title_18?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Just imagine … a patient centric hospital?
Jean
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CRM for Nursing
Nanalynn
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Oh, and we all hate CRM.
Try PRM
Luckily, we can do away with it for good thanks to Spiro.
As the world’s first Proactive Relationship Management platform, Spiro uses AI to automatically collect data from emails, calls, and texts to proactively provide sales recommendations and actionable insights that radically improve sales outcomes.
What that means is you and your sales team basically get super smart robot butlers that can help reach 47% more prospects daily, grow sales by 20% monthly, and forecast more accurately with 8x more data.
Buck
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