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Starting a Company Right Using Privia®
The most efficient and cost effective way to "automate" a company may be to do it at the beginning. Not only is it costly to establish the manual procedures and infrastructure required to operate a company, the phrase, "This is how we've always done it" carries with it so much institutional inertia. Doing things differently requires redesign, training (for both the department and its internal customers) and modifying forms, instructions, manuals, etc. It's easy to overlook something and have to fall back on the old way of doing things just to get something done.
Change is hard. And the cost of change is enormous. If you can start off by building your procedures and infrastructure online and avoid the double-whammy cost of change, it makes much more sense. And the return is much larger as well.
If your vision is for an efficient, highly automated company then the easiest way to achieve that is to start off that way. I have often thought that if I was starting a professional services firm, I would purchase the software first and then build the company around it. Then all that inertia works to your benefit. Everybody is automated, and everyone works that way. If you don't, then you're the one that doesn't fit in and can't keep up. Getting there is hard. But starting there works so much better.
The platform for doing this that I am most familiar with is Privia. I like to imagine what it would be like to start a company that uses it from the beginning. Imagine:
- Having Privia's notifications, instant messaging, and document review functions commonly used by everybody: human resources, contracts, operations, facilities, business development, proposals, etc. No phone directories, no multiple copies, no manual distribution of paper. While you're at it, scan the mail and distribute it electronically.
- Being able to automate your workflow. Implement virtually any workflow at any time, from your own desktop. Online approvals instead of paper signatures. A company based on automated procedures instead of manual forms.
- Having online search and retrieval libraries with the information available at the moment of need, right from the desktop instead of expensive and unused bookshelves and file cabinets (or worse yet, in an online shared drive that is not secure, not collaborative, and not under permission controls!).
- On-site or field office staff who no longer feel so remote. People telecommuting much more efficiently.
- Being able to use staff from another office instead of being forced to hire locally. Being able to ask for help from another office with time on its hands, and actually getting it.
- Each employee getting a short introduction to Privia during their new-hire orientation instead of a massive training program for a traumatic software roll-out.
It would be a different company than the one you're probably working at now. But consider how much of the cost of the software would be made up through savings:
- Less travel. This alone may cover the cost of the software.
- Fewer overall support staff by being better able to leverage staff at other locations. Just one less position makes up for a lot of software licenses.
- Lower overhead by reducing the need for office space.
- Fewer file cabinets, less paper. Less transport and administration of paper.
But the real benefits come from the improvements that are difficult to qualify:
- Faster decisions
- Better accountability
- Less hand-holding when people execute processes
- Everyone notified when needed
- People being able to ask a question and get an immediate answer, right from the desktop
- Better retention and use of institutional knowledge
- Better teamwork
This makes for a more effective company. While it's nice to say that the cost of software is offset by savings elsewhere, sometimes it's not just about doing more with less. Sometimes it's about doing more and doing it more quickly and effectively.
This is a vision that will appeal to some C-Level executives more than others. If I was starting a professional services firm I would want to start off that way from the beginning and avoid the cost of changing later. But if you are in a company that needs to change and is beginning to recognize it, you might find a receptive audience that shares your vision. Just keep in mind, that this is a vision that can't be achieved through half-measures. It impacts everyone and will require their support. This is much easier to achieve when you are starting out.
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