10,000+ devices installed throughout medical campus and remote sites
Challenge
A major teaching hospital near central Virginia sought to engage a vendor partner to provide a cost-effective, comprehensive maintenance solution to its install base of 10,000 devices throughout its campus and remote sites. This client experiences approximately 29,000 admissions and 700,000 outpatient and emergency room visits annually. The requirements included providing support to a multi-vendor, multi-product environment on an around-the-clock basis while working closely with the client’s service desk and LAN group personnel to ensure maximum up time and minimal user workflow interruptions. Services included remedial maintenance on hardware, software and installed applications; installations, moves, ads and changes; warranty facilitation; project assistance; and provision of on-site spare parts and loaner units. Requirements included overall outstanding customer satisfaction while meeting or exceeding Service Level Agreements.
Healthcare IT Solution
NTS provided an alternate response to the request through our due diligence and discovery processes. We did not want to merely place individuals to perform remedial tasks. Our healthcare IT solution included a combination of complementary elements – project management, dedicated on-site maintenance staff, IMAC and disposal services, professional technical support and customer incentives. Our philosophy was to create synergy between the client and NTS support staffs to not only fix the problem, but fix the client, as well.
We created cross-training seminars to increase the knowledge of the each of our staffs. Client staff provided initial training on the vast array of applications in use, and NTS staff provided technical training on vendor-specific hardware and software platforms.
The combined staffs are prepared to handle calls ranging from IMAC requests to desk-side support to break/fix requests, eliminating the need to redispatch calls while creating a sense of solution ownership within the combined organizations.
We worked closely with the client and were able to create a transition and implementation plan with milestones and specific target dates. Site visits, regular meetings, and open and constructive dialog helped in customizing our existing procedures to meet the current and future requirements and streamline the entire service delivery process.
Benefits
The client has been enjoying a significant decrease in the number of unsatisfied users and complaints that, at the time of transition, were numbering in the double digits per day; they are now nearly non-existent. NTS implemented process improvements to help document devices with abnormal failure rates and a policy of replacing instead of repairing equipment that is at end of life. Our team utilizes fair market value to help determine the feasibility of repair of a particular device. In addition to obvious cost savings, this policy helps keep current technology on users’ desktops.
Employee development has increased significantly for client personnel through our creation of a self-funding training reserve. Training is funded by a portion of warranty reimbursement NTS receives for performing vendor repairs for the client. This has led to the development of numerous NTS and client personnel receiving promotions in our respective organizations and the occasion to promote from within to other strategic areas, which has lead to very high departmental morale.
Out-of-scope charges have been nearly eliminated due to our on-site dedicated staff that can perform ad hoc requests without the need to redispatch calls to another vendor or portion of the organization. Special projects can be planned and arranged around the team’s daily schedule without interrupting our remedial maintenance efforts by using secondary shift coverage.
