Image and work-flow systems are tools that can make processes run smoother, reduce human errors and, ultimately, increase the bottom line. Even insurers that struggled with these applications in the ...past can implement them today. First, insurers should clearly identify the problems and how image and work-flow applications will provide the solution. Next, insurers should consider these technologies in conjunction with other business transformations or reengineering. Insurers that assess the big picture, improving all business processes with these applications will see greater savings than insurers who simply automate some. Finally, insurers should consider advice from organizations that specialize in systems or business integration.
Discusses how Unisys Ltd in the UK and other leading companies are
finding that performance measuring and improving key business processes
form a vital part of a company-wide improvement strategy. ...Using examples
from Unisys, shows how cross-functional methods of process improvement
are being deployed to this end. Discusses the key business processes,
breaking these down further into delivery and support processes. Looks
at how to exploit the challenges and opportunities to be found in the
1990s and how to structure measuring, improving, planning and
controlling the key business processes as part of a company-wide
strategy.
A former health sciences librarian, Denise Koufogiannakis of the University of Alberta Libraries saw how evidence-based medicine was forcing doctors to change their time-honored ways of treating ...patients and came to the conclusion that librarians should apply those same principles to their own profession. Koufogiannakis draws no distinction between being "research-oriented" and "practice-oriented" because her goal is to improve library services to users.
More Than Skin Deep Connie Robbins Gentry
Chain Store Age,
01/2005, Letnik:
81, Številka:
1
Trade Publication Article
The Dallas company known for rewarding its most successful sales consultants with a pink Cadillac has become quite gifted at making informed supply chain decisions, thanks to the implementation of ...new technologies and process improvements. In May 2004, Mary Kay Cosmetics went live with its implementation of a new warehouse management system (WMS) that has enhanced visibility across the supply chain and improved inventory management. The WMS monitors orders through picking, quality control, weighing and shipping. Mary Kay extensively customized the WMS to extend it into its manufacturing operations to control allocation and replenishment, and to monitor raw materials. Mary Kay also has rolled out a Trading Partner Management (TPM) solution to 40 of its key, high-volume vendors. The TPM enables suppliers to build shipments, create Advance Shipping Notices and label cases to expedite the flow of product through the Mary Kay facilities. This project has made a vast improvement in Mary Kay's companywide supply chain.
While automated claims processing systems potentially cost insurers millions of dollars, vendors in the field promise a swift payback through reduced personnel requirements in claims-processing ...centers, along with fewer errors, less paperwork, speedier workflow processes, and less time spent trying to mollify exasperated beneficiaries. IBM entered the field in June after inking an agreement with deNovis Inc. to run its claims-handling program on IBM's e-business platform. FileNET Corp. offers a health-insurance platform that it says delivers increased efficiency and improved process management. Captiva's ClaimPack software allows insurers' claim-handling personnel to use scanners to capture claim information from various documents, then automatically enters the data into the insurer's claims-processing system. TriZetto's application service provider unit for claims management hosts applications from more than 40 vendors for a monthly fee.
Health systems must continue to keep their visions focused on excellent patient care, even when distracted by changing financing mechanisms, new technologies, and growing integrated systems, warns ...Ruth Williams-Brinkley, group vice president of Catholic Health Initiatives in Louisville, Ky.
Turning pursuits that aren't normally game-like into opportunities to amass points and move up leader boards has found new fans inside many companies. Sure, rewarding employees for "scoring" by ...meeting company goals seems like an easy target for eye-rolling among cubicle dwellers. But a nascent industry is working to build games into a new approach to business-process improvement, that age-old field of management study. The goal is to figure out why employees do things a certain way at work and what would motivate them to effectively alter their habits in line with employer goals to improve operations and return on capital. Known by the buzzword "gamification," the strategy is already being tried across an array of industries for consumers. A new app being released next month by Jackson Family Wines, the parent of Kendall-Jackson, will use gamification software to help engage potential customers.
When worlds collide Koberstein, Wayne; Redmond, Cavan; Star, Larry
Pharmaceutical Executive,
09/2002, Letnik:
22, Številka:
9
Trade Publication Article
Despite huge investments, R&D never seems to produce an adequate number of products with blockbuster potential. Sometimes the science falls short of marketing's promise; other times, marketing ...overlooks key advantages in the science. Pharmaceutical Executive's Marketing Mix Roundtable, which took place this past June in New York City, revealed participants' new ideas for strategies, models, skill sets, services, partnerships, audiences, and media aimed at a more dynamic R&D marketing relationship. One of the most daunting problems the industry faces is not so much external but internal: getting two cultures, two silos, two giant areas of thought - R&D and marketing - to interact effectively. The marketing R&D interface boils down to a marketer and a researcher interface. Ultimately it is about two individuals communicating and interacting with each other. Cross-functional training, having people with clinical backgrounds move into marketing or people in marketing work in clinical research areas, breaks down enormous barriers and greatly enhances the likelihood of success in those interactions.
As the business of manufacturing magazines becomes increasingly door-to-door digital, many publishers are exploring how process automation and managed workflow can help them work smarter and more ...efficiently. Publishers can buy off-the-shelf systems, purchase specifically designed scripts, or write scripts of their own to automate tasks. When converting any publication to an all-digital workflow, you need to educate your staff about how jobs and responsibilities will change. This is a good time to evaluate areas in your workflow that could be improved, says Linda Manes Goodwin, a San Francisco-based production consultant who specializes in digital transmission.
