As the owner of a home care business, you know that your employees are the backbone of your company, and essential to driving growth. You also know that finding, training and developing quality, reliable employees is challenging and expensive. One way to help ensure that your employees are productive, happy and engaged is by investing in software.
One thing you should always look for when selecting a software provider is design. How does the software drive employee retention and growth? What are their measures for preventing hacking? Are there any ways to help employees use the software, so the system becomes an indispensable part of everyday life at work?
There are many aspects to consider. Here are our top 5 tips to help you find the best software provider for your home care business.
Security
The internet is a business-critical yet volatile environment. Companies around the world are encouraged to ensure they have fully considered their cyber security resilience.
It’s important to choose a software company that invests in data protection and has safeguards in place to protect your information from cyber security threats.
Additionally, you should ask about the company’s customer service policies. In the event of service disruption due to a data breach or cyber attack, does the provider have contingency and incidence response plans?
A broader consideration is the ability of a software provider to respond to your needs. How quickly do they answer questions? Do they offer phone or chat support? What is the turnaround time for responses? If you need help, will they be available and able to support you?
You want a company that offers prompt customer service, is friendly in their manner, accessible and is easy to work with.
With good customer service, you can better navigate your business through any software and internet related challenges.
How does the software work?
Along with a system that delivers significant time and money savings to all office functions, such as the automation of time-consuming workflows, the software provider you chose should be able to offer you a mobile app which will make it easier for your employees to work in the field and communicate their updates, such as their availability to work, with the office.
An app should also help your employees maintain communication with clients, access information about the client, such as their care plan, and accurately capture data while supporting clients.
You want your software to be efficient and intuitive while providing features like automated scheduling, time-tracking, and invoicing. It’s important that your software is easy to use so that all of your employees have no issues when it comes to completing their daily tasks.
Trial the software first to see if it meets your company needs and gauge the reaction of your employees; they will know if the software will help them in their role.
Good software providers will be happy to pilot their software with a group of key stakeholders to prove value and fit.
As a home care professional, you know how important it is to have a software provider that makes care work as easy as possible. You need one that can help evidence all care work in the field, and a system that has the ability to drive growth.
Cost
Another thing you should look for when choosing a software provider is the cost. Is the software affordable?
Find out how long is the duration of the contract? Will there, or could there be, price increases during the length of the contract? Do they charge extra for services like data archiving or customer support?
With software solutions costing thousands of pounds, they can be a significant cost. Ask the software company if there are any cost-saving offers that can make a material positive impact on your overheads, such as free aspects of the solution.
Also, check for any associated costs, such as internet service provider and hardware costs.
When it comes to software providers, there are many different options. When you’re looking for a provider, it’s important to explore your options and see which one would be best for your company.
A good software company will be happy to meet with you and discuss your requirements without creating any pressure or feeling of obligation to buy their product.
Additional benefits of the software
Take some time to identify what you need from your software. For instance, to help ensure a successful implementation you want it to be easy to use and navigate.
You need all your employees to know how to use the software so they can utilise it with ease, and not revert to previous ways of working.
If any of your employees need to resolve a problem or have a question, you need customer support that is available and accessible.
Another benefit of choosing the right software provider is easy reporting and analysing data on a regular basis. This will allow you to monitor your business’s performance and make changes as needed.
Finally, look for software providers that offer you choice over functionality. Good providers will not charge you for functionality you don’t need or use. They will divide their solution into modules that work together or in isolation so you can choose the best solution that meets your budget and business requirements.
How software can become vital to employee and business success
Software has become vital to the success of a home care business. It can help to ensure your business is compliant, isave time and money, and drive growth by helping to retain employees and identifying opportunities to take on new care packages.
A good software provider will be able to demonstrate how their product can help employees have clear expectations, that their work is valued, and that they are in control of their own destiny. This way, they will be more likely to stay on with your company so you can grow.
Intelligent home care software can help take some of the stress out of managing your business; it will make it easier for you to schedule care visits and keep track of care work completed by every employee, whether they are located in the office or in the field.
Encouraging the right behaviours and choices of your employees can be business critical. If you’re looking for a way to improve the culture of your home care business, investing in intelligent software can help prevent scenarios such as missed visits, double-bookings and medication errors from occurring.
Through careful design and intelligent capabilities, good software will enable employees to deliver excellence in care on every visit as planned, reduce time-consuming queries, and help prevent safeguarding incidents.
It’s also important for software to encourage accurate data capture and good sharing of that data. Real-time data is a key aspect of running a good home care business so ensure your software provider can show you how the system collects only accurate and comprehensive data, and how that data is safely and shared across your digital ecosystem, so accurate and up-to-date information is available in the right hands at the right time.
Lastly, look for a software provider that will grow with you over time. Your needs may develop and change, and you will need your software to move with you.
Technology is evolving, so a provider should be able to show you how they are investing in improving their products, how they learn and get better at what they do, and even show you a roadmap of how they are intending to continue to provide you with value utilising the most advanced technology, like machine learning and prediction capabilities to help you plan for future people, qualifications and equipment requirements.
With an ageing population and pressure on NHS services driving soaring demand for home care, now is a good time to identify a software provider that you can work with, scale with your business and support you to grow and meet the demand for home care.