InterviewsGenned upFrom Document Manager Magazine Vol 18 No 01 - January/February 2010 DM Editor Dave Tyler speaks to Gary Sawyer of Genisys Technology about the company's continuing success in the health sector, and particularly in the purchase-to-pay arena Dave Tyler: What would you say makes Genisys different from other DM software suppliers?
Gary Sawyer: Where we've had most success is in situations where we are able to apply our Genisys Document Manager product to solving a specific business problem. We've been trading for some 25 years now, and our most successful sales have always been on that basis. In 2004 we were bought by Financial Objects, who have since been acquired themselves by Temenos, so we're now part of a group that turns over in excess of 420 million US dollars a year.
Trading as a smaller company has its advantages, of course, but it can count against you when you're trying to sell products and services into the high-end SME and corporate markets. Even selling smaller departmental solutions into a body like the NHS, you have to be able to show that your finances are absolutely rock solid. Being part of this larger group definitely gives us more leverage in those situations. It has also meant that we can plan for much higher R&D investment.
Both parent companies in their turn have seen the success of the company over the years and left us, to a large extent, to our own devices - they appreciate that we know our own market best!
DT: You sell into all sorts of markets but have focused on the health sector. What makes the Genisys proposition suited to that market?
GS: In 2005, with our 'solutions' approach in mind, we developed a solution specifically for mental health functions. That sector has issues with security and privacy, obviously, so we set up a system that focused on checking documents in and out, majoring on the security aspects of the workflow, which proved very successful. We then took that thinking further and looked at a payroll and HR solution specifically for the NHS.
But by far our biggest NHS success has been over the last two years in the purchase-to-pay function. We partner with NEP, who provide a shared system service for finance within the NHS, and we quickly became their preferred DM provider. Our solution interfaces with their Oracle Financials systems to give NHS departments easy access to invoice images. That offering has been implemented in around 28 NHS Trusts so far, and the time and admin savings for those Trusts in not having to hunt down invoices has been phenomenal.
DT: So where next for Genisys in terms of product development?
GS: The government introduced an initiative late in 2008 involving an invoice payment target of ten days. In a hospital trust, which is often spread across multiple physical sites, the people who are supposed to be approving invoices always have 'more important things to do'. There is a tendency not to approve invoices very quickly, or worse to lose invoices, so that whole initiative goes out the window.In many cases the system still relies on paper copies circulating in the post, or scanned images being emailed, in both cases putting the invoices 'out of sight, out of mind'.
We've taken a different approach and last year developed a desktop app, which puts all the invoices applicable to a specific budget holder in one place, on their desktop. They can choose to click a button to approve, reject, or escalate to a higher authority. It's a very simple application, embedded into Oracle, which puts everything at their fingertips. We already have two Trusts keen to go live, who have been amazed at the amount of time it saves them. And the often small suppliers doing business with the NHS are being paid quicker, so it's a win-win all round.
More info: www.genisystechnology.co.uk Interviews |
