Orthomedics empower their users

After 14 years of consistent business growth the Orthomedics Healthcare Group, comprising Orthomedics (one of SA`s top suppliers of Orthopedic products) and SA Biomedical (niche supplier of surgical and medical products and instruments) found they needed to replace their existing operational IT systems.

They needed a modern ERP system that provided business controls that were dynamic and flexible, on which to make sound business decisions, with tools that would allow their users themselves to get the reporting needed directly from the system. In addition it was crucial that they found a system that would be able to deal with the specific requirements of their healthcare environment, satisfying not only their internal requirements but also those of their customers.

Neil Verdal-Austin, financial director of the group explains, "Our existing business systems didn`t allow us to have real time accurate sales and marketing information. We couldn`t quickly and easily get reports such as sales performance figures, market share data, and budget to actual growth of the business. We needed multi-dimensional viewpoints of sales data, not just sales made to a given hospital but who was the surgeon making the selection, what was bought and when. It was frustrating for directors and product managers because they could only make retrospective business decisions."

The Orthomedics Group decided to select a new system. They retained Deloitte and Touche IT consultants to carry-out a full needs analysis and evaluation of competing vendors` systems. Explains Verdal-Austin, "From the initial sixteen systems we short-listed nine, and then qualified four from which to make detailed evaluations against our specific needs. Datasoft-Logical`s Compact ERP software was selected as having by far the best fit with the specification at 92%, without modification or further development. Equally important in our selection process was how vendors would provide consulting, training and installation assistance and their track record with existing clients. Compact was developed in SA, all services, backup, training and implementation would be done by Datasoft-Logical`s own staff, providing us with a single-supplier responsibility and they had strong references from their existing clients. Finally we went through a full week workshop process where every module was checked according to the specification to ensure it could do what the vendor said it could. In IT you can`t afford to make costly mistakes which could ruin the business and so we had to ensure the process was professional and in-depth."

Notwithstanding the very thorough evaluation in selecting the right system with the right back up by Orthomedics and SA Biomedical, the very high level of success and user satisfaction achieved was in no small way attributable to the imaginative approach of the implementation project team. "Neil was really creative and motivational in communicating plans and progress to users and seeking feedback and ideas from them. The buy-in and positive approach from all of the users was what helped to make their implementation of Compact such a success," says Rover Strain, Marketing and Sales Director of Datasoft-Logical.

The whole process took Orthomedics and SA Biomedical eighteen months and they now have a 100 concurrent user license for Compact, that is part of a R3 500 000 IT upgrade to ensure their continuing business success in the 21st Century. The system is now live throughout the Orthomedics and SA Biomedical group that includes branch operations in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Durban, Port Elizabeth and at head office in Cape Town. Their users are positive towards the changes and feel empowered, enjoying the improved facilities and speed of reporting. "The adoption of Compact has resulted in users being able to get information out of the system on their own, when they want it, without having to ask for it from a centralised IT department," emphasises Verdal-Austin. The group`s future plans include the roll-out of Compact`s business intelligence functionality, bar coding modules and lot tracking facilities.