While there’s no magic bullet that can fully replace the human component of managing a practice, having a strong practice management system in place can vastly reduce the amount of time you dedicate to tracking your organization’s financial performance and streamlining workflow processes. A carefully selected practice management system acts as a central repository which gives you a daily baseline of how the organization is faring financially as well as an instant snapshot of how efficiently work across various departments is flowing through the pipeline. 

1. Simplifying Management – A practice management system is one of the best tools management can have at its disposal. Given that your data entry is as close to error-free as possible, partners and managers can access the information in the system on a daily basis to keep track of items both at the big picture and the detailed levels.  Management is able to leverage the system to track progress on various tasks in real time and easily send follow up requests to help move the work along, right through the system, itself. As more data is entered into the system, the process becomes turnkey, allowing for all of the organization’s most critical information to be warehoused in a single software solution that addresses the firm’s most important business objectives.  Using a Practice Management System allows your workflow processes become more seamless in that everyone can communicate with each other on outstanding items and see, at a glance, the status of various projects that impact them.  

2. Improving Documentation – Not only does a practice management system provide management with a simpler way to handle large amounts of data and keep track of projects and status stages, it also gives you a vehicle through which you can keep pristinely, documented records. With reporting capabilities included, keeping careful documentation of the entire lifecycle of a project and being able to quickly format and produce reports at any point in that lifecycle becomes an effortless task.  Just select the data points you wish to include in your reporting and format reports to your precise specs.  

3. Meaningful Analytics – A quality performance management system gives you a detailed look at all areas of your firm’s business. If you want to go granular on performance measures pertaining to your staff, accounts receivable, product or service development, realization, utilization, or work in progress, the ability to segregate and analyze your data along any of these measures can provide you with invaluable insights in real-time.  Armed with this information, you can readily recognize where you can better utilize resources and how you can keep projects on time and within budget. You can also identify areas that need to be addressed or improved.  These analytics can just as easily point the way towards where your organization is succeeding most. A review of the insights your system yields can help inform future goals and objectives and help you identify where your firm’s strengths and weaknesses lie and where you should focus your accountability efforts.  

4. Scalability – When looking to obtain a practice management system, it’s important you think not only about your immediate needs for such a system but also about your potential future needs. Make sure the system you purchase is scalable and can grow and evolve with the organization as it changes, over time.  Any good system will be able to accommodate scalability.  If you find one you’re interested in but recognize it lacks the ability to grow with your ever-evolving organization, recognize that as a red flag and explore the possibility of other systems that offer scalability as a feature.  Having a system that grows along with you translates to less time spent down the road having to transfer the large amounts of data you’ve entered into the system you originally contracted for and eliminates the potential errors that could arise from backing out data and inputting it into a new system.  It also saves you time, money, and resources, if you land on a system from the start that’s good for today and tomorrow as you can avoid having to retrain staff on its use.  

5. A Cybersecure Platform – Finally, a cloud-based practice management system gives you the added benefit of being available to your employees anywhere, anytime. It also affords you peace of mind knowing that your system has added layers of cybersecurity protection to safeguard all of the client-sensitive data that’s housed inside.  

If you have questions on how to find the best practice management system for your organization, request a demo of PracticePro 365.