Effectively managing key information centric work through the use of a case management solution has become hugely popular within the IT industry over the last number of years. However, the concept has been tried and tested in many areas. For example, healthcare, social services and court case management has used similar solutions for many years prior to this resurgence.
These industries have benefited from many case management capabilities. Such as the coordination of information, collaboration and the ability to handle unpredictable events. Most importantly, perhaps, case management provides these organisations with a complete, central view of all information, support for audits/GDPR compliance, and the ability to drive better customer experiences.
There is a common misconception that case management can only be applied to certain industries. That isn’t the case. While case management was born and still thrives as a specialized practice in the areas mentioned above, organisations across all industries are now seeking to apply case management solutions throughout their business.
Case management allows your organisation to stay on top of work that is driven by information, work that requires human discretion and work that is often unpredictable. Through the management of this information-centric work your customers will be happier with your service, your employees will become more productive and your organization can remain healthy and profitable for years to come.
The first step toward implementing an effective case management solution is to identify areas within your business that could immediately reap the benefits. In order to do this, you will need to spot facets of your current work processes that requires human decisions and discretion. This type of work usually involves a lot information and can include anything from your IT support desk to customer service or project management.
These areas of your work process are heavily dependent upon your organisation’s knowledge workers – those who use their knowledge and discretion to make decisions and move dynamic work forward. For these employees, case management capabilities make their lives easier, giving them a complete view of the information they need.
Without case management, this work is currently managed in scattered spreadsheets, paper files or departmental databases like Access or Lotus Notes. This often leads to information getting lost, misplaced or even going out-of-date. However, through the implementation of a case management solution, the flow of work is faster and more effective, tasks are streamlined, conversations are tracked and managed, key data and documents are accessible.
Once you’ve identified the opportunities for case management, determine where you are experiencing the biggest pain point – and start there.
The next step involves determining which approach is the best fit for your organization. When it comes to implementing a case management approach, you can take one of three routes: build, buy or configure.
Having your IT developers build a solution from scratch with custom coding can be a difficult. They take longer to build and are difficult to modify if you are unhappy with the finished product.
Another option is a point solution. This type of solution can be effective for use within a specific department or for a certain process. However, they can’t be easily extended or connected to other areas of your organization. So, if your organisation is looking to implement case management applications across your enterprise or if you feel you may look to do so in the future, niche solution providers aren’t the best option.
Perhaps the easiest and best option is to configure all of your organisations case management applications in one centralised point and click platform. This has many organisational benefits. Your IT department won’t have to spend their valuable time developing an in-house system and maintaining custom coding which will allow them to work directly for your business’ clients. Having a dedicated platform will also lead to a lower overall cost for implementing case management applications across your company.
Plus, by leveraging an enterprise content management (ECM) solution for case management, you build data-driven business applications on the same platform where you’re storing your key documents – instantly connecting all your information and critical supporting content. An ECM platform also allows you to take advantage of any beneficial built-in functionality, such as security controls, document management capability, workflow automation and more.
The final step in embracing case management is looking beyond what you need now and determining what your needs will be in the future. By choosing a solution that is easily scalable and adaptable to changing to changes within your business, you will be able to extend the solution to other processes, partners and users across the company.
By upgrading your business processes through this phased approach, you’ll be able to expand your applications to over time to become a centralised system. When choosing a software vendor, ensure that they have the relevant experience with data-driven applications and proven implementations in the case management space. Your vendor should understand the dynamic nature of case management and have the ability to stay flexible and proactive as technology and business environments change.
The right solution expands beyond your immediate needs. Your solution needs to integrate seamlessly with other business processes, leveraging existing IT investments across your enterprise.
A case management solution empowers them with one complete view of all the data, documents, notes and other information surrounding a case, customer, incident or relationship. By eliminating the need for them to switch between applications, paper folders, spreadsheets and file shares to get their work done, you’ll increase both productivity and satisfaction.
Inpute’s case management solutions allows you to configure data-driven business applications that support case management and fill the gaps between your line-of-business systems via a point-and-click solution. Minimise the need for costly custom coding, inefficient shared spreadsheets and disconnected point solutions. Replace antiquated departmental databases with applications that seamlessly connect data, processes and related documents.
By embracing case management, you can help create a competitive edge for your business. If you’d like to talk to one of our consultants about implementing a case management solution for your business, you can email solutions@inpute.com for more information.