We've heard a lot about technology and how it's changing our lives. Every day a new invention that can "make our lives better" seems to come out — who would have thought we were going to be living like the Jetsons?
How has the smart phone improved your productivity? Who would have thought that in 2016 most of us would be carrying around a very, very powerful computer in our pockets that in an instant can give us any piece of information we're looking for - on demand?
One great benefit of technology is that it has enabled businesses to go paperless. It's a scary thought — to move all of your organized filings into one computer system... or heaven forbid... "the cloud". Are you files safer in the cloud? Are you more productive with your files in the cloud?
It has been estimated that searching through paper files can take up as much as 30 percent of employee work time, that's 1/3 of your day! Going paperless can allow you to be more efficient, which in return allows you to properly serve your clients, spend more time with the more higher-priority or most vulnerable clients, and maybe even serve more clients.
The infographic below takes a closer look at some of the "pain" social workers are facing and will be facing more of
in the very near future.
If you're searching for new software or considering making the leap from paper to "electronic" case management forms... and are still on the fence about FAMCare - consider these benefits:
- The files in your office will be more secure. You will have strong security around access, a solid disaster recovery plan of 1 hour ongoing backups of your data, and only certain people will be able to see what you need them to see.
- You'll never have to open up a file cabinet again and hope that latest authorization was put in there. Consider this - you will never wonder where a missing file could be or worry about if you locked the file cabinet before leaving your agency.
- Who doesn't like to save money? A recent case study with a client of ours - Child Center Marygrove looked at 90,300 sheets of paper saved (indivdual logs - 52k, communication logs - 3.5k, incident reports - 24k, treatment plans - 10.8k).
- You can't get back time. In the same case study - which is also a trend with so many agencies we work with... incident reports can be approved and circulated in minutes instead of days. Minutes... everyone is in the loop, everyone confirms and signs off.
If you don't know where to start... consider grabbing a copy of our ebook "The Unofficial Guide to Electronic Case Management". In it, we've included worksheets to help get some of your initial thoughts organized and help you begin to look at your agency from the outside... (you've heard of a 12 foot ceiling view?)
Sometimes when we take a step out of our environment and roles - we see things differently. A wise man once told me that when you need a new perspective - leave the office with a note pad and a pen and focus. It allows you to "see" what is happening with a fresh set of eyes.
Let FAMCare help.
