Every firm is different. No two firms have the same short- and long-term plans, goals, processes, or face the same challenges. Given this, it might be natural to think that having a multitude of systems to address various aspects of your business would be the right way to go. That creates more issues than firms realize. When it comes to choosing systems that can help you accomplish virtually all your operational management tasks, you’re better off utilizing a single, comprehensive system versus many different specialized systems. Having multiple software systems tends to be more administratively arduous, provides more room for error, requires more training and maintenance resources, and proves to be far less effective than putting into play a single, powerful practice management software that can handle a multitude of functions. Taking this approach in implementing software solutions is a best practice that will help you standardize workflows, produce uniform reporting, and monitor projects and employee performance in real time, setting the stage for greater accuracy, efficiency, and overall success.
Avoiding the Multi-Systems Trap
Today’s marketplace is moving at a breakneck speed. The explosion of technology solutions available for consumers to take advantage of can be difficult to navigate. Firms often fall into the dangerous trap of selecting multiple systems to accomplish distinct tasks where one would do. To tackle issues as they arise, firms may contract for a software system to address a single aspect of their business, adding on additional systems to contend with new issues as they arise. What results is an amalgamation of disparate systems that, may get the job done, but just as often create a lot of monetary and managerial waste in the process. Training on how to use so many systems and managing workflows when the work is divided amongst too many systems can detract from the primary goal of employing technology solutions that make processes run more smoothly while requiring less oversight. Adding systems at varying times also results in the individual systems and the data housed within them lacking the ability to “speak to” one another. That generates a greater administrative burden on firm management than necessary. Finding a practice management system that can handle all aspects of your business paves the way for the increased automation and overall standardization you would expect your systems to accomplish. It helps to reduce redundancy in tasks and task management by offering you consistency in the way you monitor, track, and report progress across all areas of your firm.
Establishing Consistent Workflows
Implementing a practice management system that addresses all your concerns can easily help you establish consistent workflows. Through the system, all levels of staff are given access to tools that help them accomplish their tasks quickly without sacrificing quality. Professionals can see what steps they need to accomplish in the queue before their work moves ahead to someone else and where something that is due to them is being held up. Managers benefit from having a system that shows which stage each project is in and who is currently working on that project as well as who has availability in their schedule to take on added work and complete it by a particular due date. Managers also gain the ability to assign work directly through their practice management system.
Staying Connected in a Hybrid Work Environment
During the pandemic, many organizations moved to a hybrid work model with professionals working from many more locations than ever before. Employers are contributing further to this trend by spreading a much wider geographical net when hiring new employees. With an employee base spread out so widely, managing processes and workflows became a herculean task for even the most adept of managers. Having an overarching practice management system in place can act as an additional tool for management in connecting with these dispersed employees and tracking their productivity and efficiency at a granular level. Often the use of these types of tools can be a selling point for attracting technologically focused talent who may be impressed by how streamlined your business is and how easily you can stay in touch and on top of things.
Trusting Your Data and Reporting
Stronger reporting also comes from a single, unified system where all information is stored and maintained. Having a single system allows firm leadership to trust the data they are receiving and relying upon to gain timely insights and make qualified accurate decisions. This also provides firms the benefit of migrating to the Cloud where all data can be stored and allows for insights that are either currently unavailable or are questionable due to the different sources of data that were being combined.
The benefits of a unified, single-source practice management system are clear. With an effective system in place, you can reduce the cost of your IT resources, ensure that no work is being duplicated, and be responsive enough to pivot regardless of whether the work environment remains hybrid, goes fully remote, or returns to in-person at a physical location.
Contact us for a PracticePro 365 demo to see how a single system can give you a singular, competitive advantage.