Healthcare is a growing sector in Ireland and worldwide. By introducing enterprise-level software and solutions, service providers are in a position to deliver a first class service to all stakeholders and of course their patients too. In this case study, read about how we helped our client make big savings on their phone bills and increase system efficiencies internally too.
Our client is a private high-tech hospital. It has more than 50 consultant suites and more than 300 beds. After an internal needs assessment, they established that they needed to invest in specific communications solutions.
The client was using a bi-monthly billing facility for telephone usage, telecommunication equipment and internet connections. This resulted in a lot of manual work being required to use the reporting function and convert this information to invoice. As a result, they had to create report print-outs for all suites and add them manually. The problem with this was that manual verification is more likely to lead to errors in the bill. Another problem that arises is that new devices were not charged immediately until they are added to the current invoice or report. They needed to appoint a telecoms specialist that had the necessary product and service capacity to build a complete solution.
The first step in this major project was to sit down and discuss client requirements and come up with an installation plan-of-action. And the first stage of this plan was to replace the client’s current Call Accounting system with AccPlus Enterprise. Here, Softweg implemented an automated new device/port recognition functionality that could automatically assign the port to an account. And once a new device (Fax, Visa machine, DECT, IP Telephone etc.) has been added to the PBX, it will be automatically assigned to the consultant suite.
The next phase of the project required the addition of several automated verification steps. This was done in case certain criteria are not matching, so then the invoice will be sent to the administrator first for manual check. Sample verifications may include whether the bill of account is above or below 20% of previous bill or if certain devices or individuals have predetermined numbers of calls, for example.
The reporting stage of the project involved the creation of a customised consultant summary report. The report will be sent automatically before the bills are sent to the consultants. Part of the solution also ensured that a summary and detailed bill was added for each consultant. Every two months, the bill will be dropped in a special folder for the hospital’s finance department and then sent to the consultants by e-mail.The consultants also have the option to view their bills online over a customised client portal.
Thanks to the new solution, the billing process is completely automated. This includes automated controls and verifications of all the bills and reports. And if there are any anomalies in the bills, they are identified before the bills are sent. This saved 1-2 days on "man-hours" for each billing cycle. The savings on these labour costs are around 5000 EUR per year. Bills are now more accurate and have fewer errors. Our client has seen a 10% revenue increase for each bill. Another excellent outcome is that all devices are being billed from the first day meaning there is no more lost revenue on new devices. All in all, a very successful implementation by Softweg.