Symplicity Communication began working with a nonprofit health system with 22 locations as a Technology Expense Management (TEM) partner in the summer of 2020. Since the beginning of this partnership, Symplicity has assisted the healthcare system in managing their relationship with their technology service providers, resulting in cost savings, credit refunds, a decreased amount of invoices and providers, increased visibility towards their technology spend, and an assist in handling client service issues.
Our nonprofit health system client works with a large technology service provider for many of their technology needs. Symplicity, as the client’s TEM partner, has taken a lead role to help the client ensure they have visibility into their technology spend, find ways to upgrade their technology stack, and navigate any challenges that may arise.
In 2021-2022, Symplicity helped our client upgrade their services with their main service provider, which resulted in the reduction of the number of technology invoices the client has, as well as a reduction in their monthly technology spend by a significant amount. During this upgrade, Symplicity switched the client from a PRI to SIP product and moved multiple agreements to make them coterminous. Prior to this upgrade and consolidation, the client had 15 invoices with just one service provider that covered their voice and data, as each PRI was a separate bill. They currently have just four invoices covering their voice and data. In total, Symplicity has helped the client decrease the number of technology invoices they receive from all providers from over 50 at the beginning of our partnership to just 14 today.
After the disconnections of the PRI service the service provider cut the client refund checks, but the client never received them. As part of the Symplicity Process, nothing is closed until it is confirmed that all refunds and credits are issued and received. Symplicity noticed that these refunds had not been received by the client and were able to get the service provider to reissue those checks. This resulted in refund credits to the client of over $167,000 in 2022. From 2021-2023, Symplicity has helped our client receive over $265,000 in credits back due to our process and follow through.
Symplicity works closely with not only the IT department, but also the Accounts Payable department of the client to ensure that the two departments are aligned. We monitor autopay accounts and then review the list of payments to make sure they are correct and can be reconciled in the clients’ system. Since the beginning of our partnership and the implementation of our Technology Expense Management program, the monthly technology spending of the client has dropped from $90,000 per month to the current average of $77,000 per month.
Symplicity has also been an asset to the client in client services by assisting them with trouble tickets and escalating tickets to the right level so that they can be resolved. From 2021-2023, Symplicity’s client services have helped the nonprofit health system close 100 client service cases.
As a result of our partnership and the use of Symplicity’s Technology Expense Management, the nonprofit healthcare system has been able to increase their visibility into and knowledge of their technology spend and handle pain points and trouble areas they did not have the capacity for. By adding Symplicity as a member of their team, the client has experienced upgraded technologies, better client service, as well as cost savings.