Multi-site healthcare collective reduces mobile costs and streamlines administration

Manual processing and analysis of carrier invoices meant this organization could not control its continually increasing wireless telecom costs. Cimpl provided an automated solution that empowered staff to reduce expenditure, and streamlined financial operations.

The Challenge

In a system of public healthcare, the focus is on providing the best healthcare possible, in the most efficient way possible, and mobile technology can be a real ally. Being able to locate and get hold of key medical and administrative staff, and enabling those staff to carry out their work, wherever they are – on site, at home, at a conference – is a boon to productivity.

However, this healthcare collective had found that mobile costs seemed to be getting out of hand. Total mobile costs kept going up, though the number of devices and the number of staff that held them was relatively stable. The finance department could see the increase was due to charges not covered by the plans contracted with their operator. However, to analyze the exact reasons, or even produce a statement of usage for each device-holder, was an extremely onerous manual process. Each month, the accounting team would scan over 700 invoices manually and send them to the members of staff concerned for validation. They would input invoice details one by one into a spreadsheet, to enable analysis and reporting according to pre-defined criteria. One-off reports could not be accommodated.

They needed a solution that would enable them to track, report on and control their costs, in detail.

Cimpl – automated invoice management and easy reporting

The healthcare collective chose Cimpl’s managed services and invoice management function, to automate input of invoice data, and analyze and report on usage. Cimpl is connected to the operator’s portal and automatically incorporates the latest invoice information for all 700+ accounts.

Each month, mobile device-holders automatically receive a statement of their usage through Cimpl’s Send Invoice feature, raising their awareness of how much their mobile phone habits are costing, and what proportion can be attributed to excess time, roaming, data or long-distance calling, for example. Additionally, a report summarizing the top 20 consumers is automatically sent to Finance, and reviewed with them to identify potential cost savings.

Benefits – reduced usage costs and higher value-added  

With staff more aware of their usage, mobile phone costs have gone down. On Finance’s side, costs can be easily tracked. Analysts can see if a trend is on the rise or fall: whether there are more users, how much costs have changed, the average cost per user, and who is above that average. This enables the department to better control overages and identify where action needs to be taken.

Additionally, the healthcare organization has saved money through streamlining its operations. The 10 person-days per month previously devoted to manual invoice processing has now been freed up for higher value-added work.

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