Internal systems never get the attention they need. Everyone starts out thinking “we know more about what we need than anyone else”, which might be true, but quickly internal systems start falling behind, especially when you take into account the ever-changing governmental and regulatory requirements that software must meet. Software partners can make sure you have the right system that works for you, saving you time, headaches, and money. The right partner can take the burden of developing and maintaining a system and let you focus on what you do best—get people where they need to be for better health and wellbeing.
Internal systems suffer from the curse of expertise
Sometimes there is such a thing as knowing too much. You and your team know your operations inside and out. You understand the business models. You know how to take care of your members.
Or do you?
You might find you’re blinded to new and better ways of doing things, just because it’s how you’ve always done things. An outside perspective can help you refine and improve old processes that never really made sense in the first place. Sometimes having someone ask “why is it done this way?” can unlock “that’s a good question, why do we do it that way?” and makes all the difference in helping you improve how you’re doing things. Software partners have many customers, and you get the benefit of their combined experience when working with them. There might be efficiencies that you haven’t thought of, but other industry players have.
Internal systems don’t age well
At first, your internal NEMT system works great. It matches what you need perfectly, but very quickly things drift. A change here, a change there. A new system to connect to. And things are being held together with a series of patches and no one knows the full story.
And this is where core competencies again come into play. Software development is constantly changing. New and better ways to solve problems, new ways to improve security. New development standards. New regulatory or governmental requirements.
Internal IT teams don’t have the depth of software experience that a team dedicated to delivering software does. Internal teams certainly have the edge on experience in the industry and core functionality, but when all you do is develop, deploy, and support software, the end result (the software) turns out better. Plus, a good software partner will have hired experienced industry players to help develop and maintain its software, which you will get added benefit from.
If you’re spending your entire day working in the software trenches and keeping up with the latest developments, you’re going to know how to keep systems running. You’ll know where you can replace older code with newer, more efficient bits. You’ll be on top of all the latest security vulnerabilities and apply the patches quickly.
Internal teams aren’t always that lucky. They might catch big security vulnerabilities, like at the server level, but at the code level? At the level of shared software libraries that all your systems rely on?
Probably not.
Over time, internal systems get bloated, slow, and insecure. Internal teams don’t have the time and resources to maintain the system, until something completely breaks or the system becomes the gateway to a cyber attack.
And that’s never the right time to find out your systems aren’t up to snuff any longer.
IT is always juggling priorities
A lot of the people at Momentm (www.momentmtech.com) have been part of internal IT teams and companies large and small, and the one thing they told me was that the single biggest issue in IT is time. There is never enough of it. Internal IT teams are always pulled in a hundred different directions. They are always fighting the next fire and dealing with the latest crisis. We all know the adages, “a stitch in time, saves nine” and “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” internal teams don’t often have the luxury of doing those stiches, because there is always a wheel that squeaks that little bit louder.
When you have to juggle priorities, the system that is running “okay” goes to the bottom of the pile over something else. When your internal NEMT system is that thing that is running okay, little issues and problems, sometimes even basic upkeep, aren’t done.
Our developers have come from the managed IT services space and over and over again they’ve seen internal IT teams breathe a sigh of relief when someone can take a project or system off their plate.
Momentm has the expertise to build efficient, customized systems for you
All we do is develop solutions for Non Emergency Medical Transport. Nothing else. We might have been born from the public transit and paratransit space, but that only brought the original foundation for how to efficiently schedule routes and pick ups. Since then, we’ve done nothing but focus on NEMT.
Many of us have come from MCOs, providers, and community groups. We understand why this is important. We know how important getting people to and from appointments is for their health. We know that providing a connection to the rest of the community is essential for better health outcomes. And as our population ages, that need is only going to grow.
Get in touch with us to see if we can help move your internal NEMT system to something newer, faster, and flexible than what you have now.
Your IT teams will thank you.
