Hyland Software's Document Management Blog

ACORD LOMA 2013: Let’s Talk Mobile

// May 8th, 2013 // No Comments » // Document Management, Enterprise content management, Insurance, IT, Mobile // Julie Rees

As day three begins and ACORD LOMA draws to an end here in Las Vegas, it’s hard to believe the conference is almost over. It’s been a great show. We’ve had good traffic at the booth, reconnected with friends and had lively conversations with industry experts.

Perhaps most importantly, the sessions this year were great, too. Charlene Li’s social innovation presenation was particularly interesting, as well as a few others that talked about analytics, e-policy delivery models and emerging technology. But, if there’s one topic at this year’s show that kept coming up in conversations, it was mobile solutions.

We’ve had a focus on mobile ECM strategies for a few years now, and while it interests many in the industry, insurers have been slow to adopt mobile technologies. We asked around to see why something that is so widely discussed among insurers still causes hesitation. It seems that the only thing holding the industry back is a fear of change. On the bright side, during our conversations with analysts, it’s clear that the adoption of mobile solutions will increase because they’re quickly becoming the go-to tools to grow business.

After all, business decisions shouldn’t have to wait until your staff return to the office. Now, decisions can be made in the field so that processes keep moving, quickly. We’re hearing about the impact mobile is having on productivity and profit from our insurance customers who are among the early adopters of mobile technology. By implementing mobile ECM applications to empower their employees in the field, they’re moving at the speed of business – not the other way around.

If you’re attending ACORD and wish to learn more about our mobile apps for field adjusters, new business or life, we’d love to talk to you. Stop by booth #558 to see a live demo and experience the benefits of a mobile ECM strategy.  If you weren’t able to attend the show, feel free to contact me to hear more about our mobile solutions.

More and more, business leaders turning to mobile to stay connected; make decisions

// April 8th, 2013 // No Comments » // Cloud Computing, Document Management, Enterprise content management, Financial Services, Government, Healthcare, Higher Education, Insurance, IT, Mobile // Gabriel Baird

Put mobile in the pocket of your decision makers

What do business leaders and their teenage children have in common? In most cases, it’s not the belief that the greatest singer of all time is Justin Bieber.Both young people and decision makers, however, are together in leading the Internet migration from the desktop to mobile devices.The Washington Post reported recently that a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found about 25  percent of the nation’s youth connect to the Internet primarily using mobile devices.The study doesn’t provide data on adults. However, social contact manager Gist, which Research in Motion acquired in 2011, has an excellent infographic about “The Mobile Workstyle.” The graphic shows that 87 percent of IT managers have handed out mobile devices and that mobile access climbed 36 percent between 2009 and 2010.The number of workers going mobile continues to climb. That’s obvious in any airport where business travelers are glued to their handheld devices, answering emails and making business decisions from the concourse.

Critical business information needs to get into the hands of the right people at the right time. In today’s global marketplace, the right people are often on the road. This often creates bottlenecks in workflows until those road warriors can take action. Your ECM vendor provides access to documents from anywhere allowing decision makers to – for instance – review, approve or deny requests.

At Hyland, we’ve seen the trend accelerate since leading the ECM industry into the mobile frontier. Hundreds of our customers are using mobile modules for OnBase to access and act on key documents using their Android phones, Blackberries, Windows phones, iPads and iPhones.

“We’re constantly extending OnBase features so our customers can evolve their solutions in lockstep with the latest devices and get even more and better results,” said Bill Filion, vice president of development for Hyland Software.

The Pew report has prompted talking heads on TV to raise concerns about teens connecting to the Internet without adult supervision. Certainly, music snobs are just as concerned about adults using the Internet to watch performances by Bieber.

Better government IT starts with smart procurement

// March 29th, 2013 // No Comments » // Document Management, Enterprise content management, Government, IT // Terri Jones

There are many challenges to using the competitive procurement process to purchase IT solutions for government.

The dilemma is more than just large and cumbersome RFP package production, long software demos and lengthy review and contracting. Government has reduced funding for investments and can no longer afford to get it wrong – especially for core systems like document management, GIS, accounting and finance solutions and other large, critical systems. That means the best approach is to improve the way you procure IT.

Traditional procurement rules and processes aren’t designed for the complexity of IT. Procurement focuses on getting the best price and terms for commodity items that are easily definable and available from multiple vendors. IT purchases don’t often fit this approach because technology is usually deployed as a “solution” — a set of products, consulting and support services and processes that are often developed after vendors are selected. And, often proposals come in with different pricing schemes and different descriptions that make it difficult to do an “apples to apples” comparison.

Similarly, standard purchasing terms and conditions were usually not created for IT. The nature of IT investments might require adjustments to payment terms, delivery parameters, considerations of warranty coverage and other standards that are defined for general purchasing. You may need to develop new terms and practices for the “best-value” contracting that is often a better choice for IT projects.

For all of these reasons, I think procurement staff, like most of us, struggle to keep up with technology. An IT investment typically includes many variable elements such as multiple licenses, product bundles or versions, and multiyear support contracts or service subscriptions. These elements can be confusing and is only compounded by rapid technology change and the increasing number of highly diverse IT projects.

Additionally, the increasing adoption of IT services and cloud solutions instead of hardware or software product purchases requires a new understanding of service pricing and delivery models.

So, how can your procurement get smarter about IT?

• Use vendor white papers or invite vendors to educate staff about a technology before the RFP is developed. This gives you a way to be more precise in describing what you need for your organization from the solution under consideration.
• Visit neighboring jurisdictions that have implemented a solution or use an online meeting to see actual solutions that address your needs so you can understand realistic outcomes before you write requirements. Use your peers’ experience to write your RFP and to understand how to evaluate a type of solution.
• Shared services and interlocal agreements can also be used to to leverage another jurisdiction’s procurement. TUsing contracts such as GSA or state term schedules in order to avoid creating your own contract is another option. This can save money and allow you to benefit from IT pioneers at the county or city level.
• Check resources like the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the National Association of State CIOs and the Center for Digital Government to learn more about specific solutions and who is using them.
• Finding new ways to research and procure technology solutions begins with knowing what you don’t want every bit as much as what you do want. To identify this knowledge within your organization, ask the question that is at the core of what you are trying to achieve: What will success look like for your organization and why is it important? This question about project success prompts discussion with the business side and with users about what they need and what they can realistically expect from a technology purchase. In turn, this discussion helps to create more realistic RFPs, more targeted vendor responses, and a more efficient purchasing effort.

Changing procurement does not mean throwing out competitive bidding, but it does mean evaluating our practices to ensure that your process picks the solution with the best chance of meeting the project needs at a fair price.

The company you keep … Reflecting on how ECM helps higher ed work smarter, not harder

// March 29th, 2013 // No Comments » // Document Management, Enterprise content management, Higher Education, IT // Laurel Stiller

As I am brand new to Hyland Software, my inaugural post will be observations on a technology company working to skyrocket efficiency in higher education.  In my third week at Hyland as the Industry Marketing Manager –Higher Education, I’ve put this company through an exhaustive personal review so that when I look at my many clients and co-workers from 20+ years working and serving higher education, I am confident I can recommend Hyland without reservation.

A company I can keep…

So let’s start here.  Evaluating the company I chose to keep.   Let me say that ECM companies – document imaging, managing business process more efficiently and leveraging technology that will compliment and maximize your ERP -  was where I wanted to go in my career.  There are a lot of documents to manage in higher education.  I saw the stacks of paper firsthand working at Dickinson College helping dedicated people in the Admissions, Financial Aid and Registrar office move paper around making critical decisions that impacted the college in a substantive way.  We used the “sneaker-net” back then – student workers racked up miles walking across campus routing folders with documents that need to be reviewed to admit students, award aid and scholarships, and register students. Not incredibly cost effective.  Neither was the practice of annually hiring temp workers to enter massive volumes of data.

Fast forward to today.  As a parent about to send a child off to college, I see the other side: families have to submit a lot of paperwork and encounter a number of problems if we don’t.  I now see how the admissions process can be done better, faster and easier by leveraging the ERP that enrollment management staff already use every day – with increased accuracy and less lost paper.  I’m hearing about schools that, with technology and more efficient process, are decreasing decision times to more than two weeks earlier than previous years.  Let’s be honest, the first acceptance letter a student receives carries a lot of emotional weight that a second third and fourth  cannot quite match.   Enter OnBase at Hyland Software.

A company that wants to keep you…

So I chose Hyland Software for my career next step.  I want you to know I chose a company that wants to keep you – our clients and prospects.  I value the life-long client partnerships that higher education can bring.  I know you don’t have time to keep implementing solutions, nor do you have money to waste on false starts or products that don’t work.  Staff have to “work smarter, not harder” as my favorite VP used to say.   At Hyland, we are going to prove our ROI when you choose OnBase as your ECM solution.  And we can.  As I get started, I’m hearing great stories about eliminated file cabinets, eliminated warehouses filled with boxes of papers, faster decision making and smarter processes.  I’ll showcase and introduce you to our clients who tell these stories and we’ll figure out together where we can save you money.

Hyland Software is the company you can keep for imaging, routing and so much more.  And the savings you’ll get when we are done?  Yeah, you can keep that too!

Live From HIMSS 13: The Importance of IT for the Future of Healthcare

// March 7th, 2013 // No Comments » // Healthcare, HIMSS, IT // Susan deCathelineau

No matter your political beliefs, we can all agree on something: Healthcare IT is a critical component of moving our healthcare system forward. During his keynote address at HIMSS 13, former U.S. President Bill Clinton emphasized the need for IT to drive down costs while improving patient care.

As Clinton explained, we can’t sit back and keep doing what we’ve done in the past.

“We want Americans to have the best healthcare,” he explained. “We need to think about the role of IT to have an impact on it.”

With rising healthcare costs and a lack of accessibility, IT is needed now more than ever. By utilizing technology, healthcare organizations provide staff with access to accurate, timely and complete information, increasing the quality of care and service while at the same time lowering operating costs. That, in turn, results in lower costs for patients, allowing more and more citizens to access much-needed benefits.

Implementing IT also provides transparency in healthcare processes, allowing organizations to continuously improve their processes while increasing efficiency and driving down costs across the enterprise.

“We cannot allow a lack of transparency,” Clinton said. “We can change all that. … We need to use IT everywhere to continuously update [healthcare] with the best knowledge and best practices we know.”

By doing so, healthcare organizations equip themselves with the tools necessary to manage data, streamline processes and provide the best patient services.

As Clinton said, it’s what we do now that matters. So, how are you going to use IT to transform your organization?

***Please note this blog is in no way endorsing one political view over another. This post is simply meant to report on a keynote session that was an important part of the conversations at HIMSS 13.***

Live at HIMSS 13: How to Prepare for ICD-10

// March 6th, 2013 // No Comments » // Healthcare, HIMSS, IT // Susan deCathelineau

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for medical coders will increase by 21 percent from 2010 to 2020. Despite this increase, healthcare organizations face handling the ICD-10 transition with a fewer number of coders.

This shortage is only one of the challenges coming with the transition to ICD-10. With many more codes in the new standard, correctly assigning codes and getting the reimbursements your healthcare organization deserves will be an incredibly important part of keeping the revenue cycle healthy and thriving.

As “big data” becomes a more and more important part of healthcare IT, ICD-10 will make it easier to collect and analyze data on correctly assigned codes. In order to ensure coding is the driver for identifying trends and improving patient care, healthcare organizations must rely on new and existing technologies. Computer-assisted coding (CAC), for example, will be a critical part of the transition for healthcare organizations. These applications will automate the coding process, improving the accuracy of code assignments as well as data trending and reimbursement.

Healthcare organizations will also need to connect CAC to other applications and information. Creating 360-degree secure access to information, from paper files to forms to clinical images, will allow coders to make quicker, more informed assignments.

With this in mind, what are you doing to prepare for ICD-10? How are you going to utilize technology to prepare for this transition?

Live at HIMSS 13: Right Time? Yes. Right Place? Yes. It’s On!

// March 4th, 2013 // No Comments » // Document Management, Enterprise content management, Healthcare, HIMSS, IT // Susan deCathelineau

HIMSS kicks off this morning with the theme, “Health IT: Right Time. Right Place. It’s On.” There’s no question that now is the “right time.” With deadlines for many regulations quickly approaching, healthcare organizations must and are acting quickly to tackle the big issues facing healthcare.

The HIMSS conference is also the “right place” to do it. Healthcare organizations will largely rely on their CIOs and IT teams to conquer these challenges. There’s no other opportunity like the HIMSS conference to gather the best minds in the industry in one place to talk about them.

I also like that “it’s on” suggests a preparedness, a readiness to take on anything. We are ready to take on the most important challenges facing healthcare today. What other industry could tackle Meaningful Use, HIMSS EMR Adoption models, ICD-10 and the healthcare reform act all at the same time?

Conferences like HIMSS show a willingness in the HIT industry to collaborate together to make changes and move forward together. Of course competition is tight in our healthcare markets, but HIMSS shows that more of us are working together – sharing successes, learning from each other’s mistakes, and taking on the hard issues facing our industry – to serve patients better.

What do you think? Are we reading to take on the challenges of 2013?

The Different Flavors of Cloud Software Deployments

// February 22nd, 2013 // No Comments » // Cloud Computing, Enterprise content management, IT, Software as a Service // Glenn Gibson

When I was young, I admit I didn’t realize vanilla was an actual flavor.  I thought it just meant “plain” or “standard” and a bit boring.  Tubs of Neapolitan ice cream usually started a war between my brothers and I, as the three striped flavors came with an invisible ranking of desirability.  Chocolate was clearly the most exciting, vanilla was just standard and strawberry got some traction simply because it wasn’t vanilla.

That was, of course, until a slice of warm apple pie appeared on our plates.  Then we abandoned chocolate and strawberry and the vanilla got pride of place.

What does all this  ice cream talk have to do with deploying software in the cloud?

Clearly, cloud deployments are the flavor of the month, perhaps the chocolate in the analogy above.  Software deployments are easy and payments are straightforward, with your monthly fee covering your software subscription and use of the infrastructure supporting it.  Both of these factors make it a very appealing option, leaving many wondering why deploying software on-premises ever seemed like a good idea.

For others, the cloud is not the right fit for what they have on their plates. Like the apple pie and vanilla example, they enjoy the comfort they get from the standard approach to software deployments by deploying their software on-premises.  They are happy to pay for the software and then deploy and support within their own environment.

But there is one flavor missing.  Because there is more than two choices - there are three.

The third choice is often overlooked, just like strawberry ice cream.  This choice is called “hosted”.

With a hosted model, you buy the software outright, which means no subscription fee.  This is very appealing for some budget models.  You then host your software in the cloud environment, taking advantage of both the infrastructure and dedicated expertise of the folks managing it.  This allows you to alleviate any burden on your own IT staff or IT infrastructure and can be very cost effective.

Which of these three choices is right for you?  The answer is simple: The one that tastes best.

As this poll and discussion board on the topic “Neapolitan ice cream: what do you eat?” shows, there is not one right answer for everybody.  In fact, the most popular answer in this poll reflects the same response I know I’d get if I polled 200 organizations and asked about their favorite deployment choice.

The most popular is not chocolate, is not vanilla and not even strawberry.  The most popular choice was “all of them”.