It is encouraging to see major system implementations continue to move forward during this period. Seattle Children’s, UI Health and Steward Health Care are just a few examples of EHR go lives in recent 
weeks. Kudos to all the teams who are working to ensure they go smoothly and safely as they provide a combination of virtual and onsite support.
My StarBridge Advisors colleague, David Muntz, and I just completed an ERP selection with a client. We have moved into the contracting and planning phase. All our work has been virtual. There was a short period where the client team was partially back in their offices but as case numbers in that state rose, they returned to the work from home arrangement with the exception of senior leaders in the office on certain days. The vendors successfully conducted virtual demos over several days with very high participation and engagement by the client organization.
While the vendor of choice is understandably anxious to meet with the client team in person, that is not happening for the foreseeable future. By the time of go live in Spring 2022, it should be a very different situation with onsite work. But for now, it will be all virtual work. And even when regular travel and onsite work is considered safe, I expect more work by the vendor and their implementation team to be done remotely to save on travel costs and time.
Bottom line, we have all made this virtual way of working a success. Yes, there were a few times when being in person in the same room would have really helped – the initial period of work when we were getting to know the client team and some of the key decision meetings. Learning the culture and “reading the room” can be a challenge in the virtual world but it is all doable.
As I think about other scenarios in this virtual world we are working and living in, there are many positive examples of how we have adapted with good results:
Staff town hall meetings – With a very large IT department, logistics of an in-person meeting can be a challenge. Many CIOs are doing more frequent all staff meetings now that they are virtual. Leveraging the Zoom breakout group feature and assigning people randomly can also be used effectively to strengthen connections.
Virtual conferences – There seem to be more conferences than usual this Fall, and I am hearing reports of much higher number of participants than when they were in-person. A win-win for organizers and attendees.
Sales – While salespeople who are used to meeting with prospective clients may be itchy to get back on the road, they can do that many more sales calls when you remove travel time.
Fundraisers – I support and volunteer with the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island. They recently held their annual fundraiser event online. I was just as inspired by the keynote speaker and award winners as when I was at the in-person event last year. They made their call for donations and as attendees made online pledges or entered their amount in the chat, we were recognized and thanked by name. The silent auction was easy to do tracking bids and counter bids for the items I was interested in. And if my donation tally for the night was any indication that an online event can work, I’d say it did.
Board meetings – I am on the board of AAMI and in addition to holding our day long board meeting virtually in November we’ve added a virtual happy hour the night before. This will take the place of the usual board dinner where we have a chance to talk informally and strengthen our connections with AAMI leadership and board colleagues.
If the cluster of COVID-19 cases at the White House has taught us anything, it’s that the coronavirus is not gone or going away any time soon. And that wearing masks and social distancing do make a difference.
We are clearly in a new mode of working and I don’t expect that we will go back to the way it was. Not everyone will return to the office full-time. Office space will be used differently. Consultants and vendors will do more remote work. Travel costs and time will be reduced. Collaboration and virtual tools will evolve. We will continue to adapt and improve how we conduct our work and live our lives.
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