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In this case study:
Client: Inform Diagnostics
Industry: Healthcare
Products and Services: Microsoft Azure
Country: USA
Digital Transformation Proves to Be As Much About People As Technology
Great partnerships are never born. They’re carefully built over time on a foundation of trust, collaboration, and mutual respect. Such is the case of the strategic relationship between Quisitive and Inform Diagnostics, one of the largest pathology labs in the United States, testing thousands of samples daily provided from specialists, surgery centers and other institutions.
The two organizations first crossed paths in late 2018 when Inform Diagnostics was looking to transform its major systems, including ERP, CRM, HR and lab information, and support these initiatives with cloud-based infrastructure. According to Dan Kelly, Vice President, Business Development, Inform Diagnostics, Microsoft Azure was the clear choice when it came to their cloud migration.
“For Inform Diagnostics, it was about creating a scalable and integrated environment with a vendor committed to providing a robust and flexible toolset,” he said.
Finding the Right Partner with a Shared Vision
Quisitive, with deep roots in all three Microsoft clouds, and expertise in how to innovate within the cloud, made a strong impression with the Inform Diagnostics team from the beginning.
“We came to Quisitive because we were looking for a vendor that could execute on our transformation vision working alongside our staff,” said Mike Lacenere, Chief Information Officer, Inform Diagnostics. “My initial impression was that they were very professional leaders in their space, had technical acumen and understood our vision.”
Kelly agreed: “Beyond understanding our vision, in the room the Quisitive team began discussing approaches to establish a solid foundation from which to deliver. The confidence and clear articulation of how to deliver against the vision, while educating our team to be self-sufficient, was a clear distinction that set Quisitive apart.”
It was that well-defined vision, according to Steven Balusek, Senior Vice President, Global Solution Development at Quisitive, that differentiated Inform Diagnostics as a customer, and aligned the two companies in the transformation journey.
“We saw immediately that this organization had a vision and that it engaged their team to drive forward,” he said. “To me that was the underpinning of their success as their team’s vision melded with ours. We were able to start with the end in mind, which allowed us to both deliver technically, but also from a relationship standpoint.”
Transformation with a Side of Training
The Quisitive team was quickly viewed as an extension of the Inform Diagnostics team, as they worked to move the company’s core infrastructure and migrate Windows and SQL Servers workloads from on-premises to Microsoft Azure, leveraging a Platform-as-a-Service approach to the greatest extent possible. They worked closely with Inform Diagnostics to help them understand what a transformational journey would look like and divided the project into eight-week engagements.
“We carved out a specific scope and a pace of change that the organization could adapt to,” said John Jacobus, Enterprise Account Executive, Strategic & Healthcare at Quisitive. “When you make a commitment to transform like they did, in many ways, it’s less about the technology and more about the people. It’s why we think it’s so important to train and enable their team throughout the process. It doesn’t have to be a revolution; it’s an evolution.”
This approach was greatly appreciated by Kelly. “Quisitive’s people were always willing to share knowledge with our team, making our organization stronger in the process,” he said. “In addition to bringing their expertise, they trained us as they got things up and running. They showed us how to survive by ourselves down the road, giving us independence.”
Lacenere agreed. “It is important to work with a vendor like Quisitive so we could leverage expert knowledge in the key technology areas we are venturing into. Quisitive has done a great job of working with our internal staff as they helped us launch our new vision,” he said. “What we have gained and learned is that we have an extended team at Quisitive that we can count on.”
Lacenere added that Quisitive’s consistent success in delivery, balanced by a collaboration with Inform Diagnostics’ IT team, served as a catalyst for transforming the relationship between the two companies. “I would define our relationship as strategic,” he said.
Digital Transformation and Solid Relationship Provide Foundation for Innovation
One of these projects was a true testament to the strong foundation of trust that the two companies have built. In early 2020, Inform Diagnostics saw an opportunity to launch a mobile solution that would benefit both clients and the company:
- Provide real-time case status regarding specimens sent to its labs
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Improve the accuracy of patient information, reducing billing and insurance errors
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Facilitate direct messaging and escalation from physicians and clinical staff to sales reps and customer service
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Reduce the cost of picking up specimens by enabling clients to cancel unneeded courier pickups
“We’ve all used pizza trackers, and Amazon trackers that let you know when the items you order will arrive at your door,” explained Kelly. “We wanted to do the same thing for lab services.”
Inform Diagnostics wanted to turn their idea into a working application in a short timeframe, in order to transform its service to clients dramatically.
After a formal RFP process, Inform Diagnostics selected Quisitive to help build and deliver this vital application.
“We chose Quisitive for a couple of reasons. First, they were selected based on their experience and prior ability to deliver. The second had to do with their acquisition of Menlo Technologies Inc., which brought great experience with mobile apps ,” Lacenere said. Menlo Technologies, which has onshore and offshore development capabilities, was acquired by Quisitive in 2019. “The last was Quisitive’s ability to bring the technologies together, because of the team they have, to deliver an app that would leverage our new Azure Infrastructure and Microsoft Teams, while meeting delivery on a short timeline.”
Over the course of 12 weeks, Quisitive and Inform Diagnostics worked elbow-to-elbow to develop, test and launch the Inform Diagnostics mobile app. The app is the first of its kind to bring these key features to the market, giving Inform Diagnostics’ clients 24/7 self-service for critical functions.
“We were able to move quickly due to the pre-planning on the app requirements, as well as the infrastructure that Quisitive helped us put in place. We were able to go from concept to testing in a matter of months,” said Lacenere.
A True, Trusted and Strategic Relationship
“We had a lot of excitement in building something and learning from each other while doing it. I’ve launched software before, but to see this happen in three and a half months was unbelievable,” said Kelly. “Quisitive had already taken us through the tough stuff of building our IT architecture, so we knew if anybody could do it, they could.”
Mike Reinhart, Chief Executive Officer, Quisitive, echoed Kelly’s sentiments about the two companies’ relationship.
“Over the course of a project, there are many touchpoints with a customer where you have the ability to either disappoint or delight them. At Quisitive, we believe that relationships matter and so we always do whatever it takes to do the latter and delight our customers every time,” he said. “As a company goes through a transformation, a big part of delivering from a relationship standpoint is to deliver technically. But the other part is to deliver everything, from vision to detailed execution, with empathy. The combination of these elements is what can help us transform a vendor relationship into a true, trusted and strategic relationship.”
