It started out simply enough, with an IT engagement that seemed very straightforward. In June 2004, RTech, a healthcare services company that provide revenue recognition solutions to hospitals, brought us on board. At the time, many of RTech’s processes were manual and outdated.
Over the course of a 12-year engagement, ImpTrax was able to help RTech automate processes, reduce manual labor significantly, and deliver cutting edge, custom software solutions – to such a degree that the company became a very attractive acquisition target. TransUnion formally acquired RTech in September 2016. You can click here to read a case study of the details interest you.
As you might imagine, there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that went into going from the point an (antiquated) to point an (acquisition). In the spirit of helping others, either in the IT space or outside, here are three highly valuable, non-technical lessons that we took away from the incredible success story:
(1) Learn your client’s business so that you know it better than anyone else. There are two pieces of this equation. First, at the early stages of an engagement, you need to quickly understand the intricacies and nuances of the processes that drive the business. We made it a point of knowing each of the 24 processes that comprised the RTech workflow like the palms of our hands. This knowledge enabled us to accurately and effectively forecast the ROI that IT projects could yield, and gave RTech the confidence to commit to the capital expenditures.
Second, you must also understand the bigger picture, and know where your client’s product or service fits within the broader scope of the industry. To make that happen here, we needed to gain a firm grasp of a very complicated healthcare claims system. The more we learned, the more we were able to see the immense potential in RTech’s ability to help its clients recognize revenue, and the easier it became to recommend smart, new projects, and also make the right adjustments to the existing workflow.
(2) Customer service builds trust quickly. From the early stages of our engagement, we made it a point of letting RTech know that we were there for them 24/7. When they tested us on the claim, we passed with flying colors. Lesson learned: Nothing breeds confidence faster than customer service that exceeds expectations. Our attention to service enabled us to build trust at an earlier point in the engagement. With this trust, combined with a growing knowledge of the company referenced in (1), RTech gave us more autonomy to create and innovate. And this delivered results!
(3) Loyalty, dedication, and achievement must be rewarded. Every assignment has inherent challenges. Invariably, when the proverbial chips are down in a work environment, certain employees rise to the occasion. Whether it’s working overtime, or coming up with a brilliant solution to a problem, there is nothing more inspiring than seeing someone within your company deliver in the clutch. And when this happens, these people must be rewarded! Never lose sight of the fact that (A) talented people always have options, and (B) karma has a way of rearing its head when you least expect it. Treat your people well, and you tend to reap the benefits.
Munawar Abadullah is the CEO of the ImpTrax Corporation, a NYC-based IT/Software company that provides full-service IT and network security solutions. You can reach out to him directly at Munawar.Abadullah@ImpTrax.com or learn more about ImpTrax at www.ImpTrax.com.
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