LASA Q Focus Magazine - Leading Age Services Australia ...

TECHNOLOGYWeighing up theCost of GoodManagementBarry WilliamsGeneral ManagereziTracker AustraliaGood communication is the key to effective management of a team of carers inthe field. Simply making a phone call is no longer adequate - governing bodiesand funders are now demanding transparent systems that provide duty of careto your staff and proof of service delivery to your client.You may already have anautomated system to plan yourclients’ care provision, but whatif something doesn’t happenwhen it’s supposed to? Howwould you know?Finding the right solution is achallenging task. IT and mobilesolutions are vast and there ismuch to consider when searchingfor the right service to best suityour needs.Rightly or wrongly, the firstconsideration is usually cost. Dowe have to buy new hardware?New software? What are theongoing costs to my business?My client? My staff? Beforereflecting on costs however,give some thought to the longterm goals you hope to achieve.Do you want to enhance clientservice delivery? Improve staffcommunications? Automate yourpayroll processes? Automateclient billing or funder reporting?It is reasonable to expect toachieve all these goals, and manymore besides.Then ask yourself whattype of solution would bemost appropriate for yourorganisation. Consider yourclient, your staff, your servicearea, and your existing systems.How immediate do you wantthe information made available?What form of technology doyou envisage to perform yourtasks? Computer? Mobile? Acombination? Is your existingsystem helping or hindering youto achieve your goals?The last consideration isflexibility. Will all of your clientsfit the same solution? Will allyour staff?Once you have considered theseparameters, you are ready toinvestigate potential IT or mobilesolutions. Make sure to ask aboutset up costs, after sales service,and assess the credibility of thecompany. Ask for testimonials.Often a combination of suppliersystems is required to fulfil yourneeds. This is not unusual andis sometimes a simple matterof developing an interface forease of operation. Howeverit is important to rememberthat your existing systemwas probably not designed toaccommodate monitoring data ormobile technology solutions soremember to keep your long termgoals in mind.Now it’s time to weigh up thecost. With the expansion ofweb and cloud-based services,investment in hardware orsoftware is a thing of the past.When compared to the time,expense and inaccuracies of yourmanual paper shuffling system,the right solution should in factsave you money.www.ezitrackerhm.com20LASA-Q Focus | Autumn edition 2013