When talking with healthcare leaders who are ready to improve inventory and materials management processes, the first question I’m often asked is: “What should I look for when I’m evaluating materials and inventory management systems?” There are several areas worth considering as you get ready to make an investment in supply chain technology.
Take a good internal evaluation and make sure you’ve defined:
- Internal goals and requirements
- Current systems, processes and capabilities
- The needs of individual locations as well as the needs of the organization holistically
Consider the company that you’ll be partnering with:
- What’s their healthcare experience?
- How long have they been in business?
- Are they committed to customer success?
- Can they demonstrate continuous improvement of their solutions?
- Do they work with their customers to identify, document and share best practices?
- Does customer input factor into their product development processes?
Make sure the vendor delivers:
- Not only enterprise capabilities, but also, modularity to select the exact functionality required
- Flexibility and capability to integrate with existing systems
- Fully mobile capabilities, so busy team members can manage their ordering and supply management tasks from anywhere
- Barcode scanning to reduce time spent managing inventory and reordering supplies
- In-depth healthcare expertise for an optimized experience that covers the entire continuum of care
- Savings opportunities throughout processes, across the enterprise
As you take the important step forward to improve your inventory and materials management processes, make sure it’s with a partner who shares your dedication to improving and automating the healthcare supply chain. You’ll gain value from their healthcare expertise, continually enhanced technology, and the best practice sharing that will ensure you and your team are delivering high-quality and cost effective care, based on the best possible supply chain processes.
– Steve Britt, Managing Partner, Inventory Optimization Solutions
