Supply chain management in hospitals and health systems involves risks and complications because it relates directly to the lives of people. It demands perfect management of information related to products and services, yet legacy technology makes this especially challenging. With declines in reimbursement and tightening budgets, proper inventory management is needed; it results in efficient, cost-effective services and products. Historically, hospital supply chain leaders weren’t at the table when technology decisions were made and as a result, organizations have technology gaps. Most of the solutions in hospitals today are expensive and difficult to implement and maintain. Healthcare is in desperate need of a technology facelift, but there aren’t big budget dollars to fix it.
Many hospitals are not doing actual inventory management. Instead, they’re using a process called ‘par replenishment,’ which is reordering supplies to fill shelves without accurate velocity data. This creates significant inventory problems that get worse over time—and show up in stock-outs, overstocking, supply hoarding, waste, rescheduling of procedures and labor expense. This calls for a technology partner that can facilitate the improvement of the entire supply management cycle.
‘Jump Technologies’ – often called ‘JumpTech’- is a software company providing cloud-based mobile solutions for supply chain management in hospitals and health systems. Healthcare is burdened by legacy systems built on dated technologies. The JumpTech team sees the cloud is as solution, filling the gap from old technology to new. One of the biggest challenges in hospitals is trying to get all the different systems to ‘talk’ to each other—to share data. But systems weren’t designed that way and gaps among disparate systems are common. There are never enough IT resources to go around and CIOs don’t have time to manage yet another app or server.
Moving into the Cloud allows systems to be implemented with little disruption to an IT organization. It put responsibility on the vendor and alleviates pressure on IT because they don’t have to manage updates and the environment. And supply chain is an excellent application of the cloud because it’s probably the least risky from the data perspective.
JumpTech Solutions
JumpTech is bridging the gap with cloud-based solutions that automate outdated, manual processes and connect to existing technology to add new functionality. Hospitals and health systems using JumpTech solutions are driving cost savings by reducing inventory, reducing labor and creating new efficiencies.
Some of the solutions of JumpTech
JumpStock™ (Inventory Management): Smart, simple, cost- effective cloud- and mobile-based inventory management solutions.
InnerTrack™ (with Receiving): Efficiently manage and track incoming shipments – from dock-to-destination.
InnerTrack™ (Intra-site Package Tracking): Efficiently manage and track packages throughout complex healthcare organizations.
JumpTech has measured 200 percent growth from 2015 to 2016, in both revenue and number of the number of hospital organizations using JumpTech solutions.
Aristocrat of Jump Technologies
John Freund is CEO and Chief Technologist of Jump Technologies. John joined the company in 2000 and envisioned a broader market application for its products. Working with his team, John transformed the company from a consumer-focused technology company to what may be the fastest growing supply chain technology company in healthcare.
When asked why he chose to build a technology business, John said, “Because it’s what I know! But it’s also because I’ve found it’s possible to make a huge impact in business by implementing the right technology. Bringing automation to business—saving that business money—is a great calling. With technology that can automate tasks, we can have a tremendous impact, and that’s good for our customers and good for us.”
Challenging Journey
JumpTech was formed just as the dot−com bubble burst—the JumpTech team immediately saw the availability of investment dollars disappear. So they had to grow based on what they could sell. With no capital available to support fast growth, they couldn’t settle for ideas that would take 3-5 years to generate revenue. Back in the early 2000s, they needed to get to revenue right away.
JumpTech started as a supply chain solution provider for everyone, but in time realized that their ‘all things to all people in the supply chain world’ wasn’t the best approach. At that point, the JumpTech team realized focus was key of success. So they looked at where they could focus technology to bring the biggest gain to their customers and saw the opportunity in healthcare. “Whenever you solve customer problems and drive value, it’s easier to charge for your services and be successful,” John asserted.
Attribute for Success
JumpTech attributes their success to clear focus. They focused on a specific problem to be solved and built a clear understanding of that problem. JumpTech made sure people would pay to address the problem and that they saw value. “When you can solve problems and drive value, you succeed,” said John.
Advice of John to the Young Entrepreneurs
“Find a problem to solve, not just cool technology. There’s a lot of cool technology, but if it doesn’t solve a real problem, people won’t pay for it. It might be all right if you’re working on a free app. But if you’re starting a business, you need to focus on the problems you can solve with your technology.”
Future Goals
JumpTech team is confident that they will continue to grow rapidly. They are forming strategic partnerships across healthcare to drive out costs. With healthcare costs constantly increasing, JumpTech is teaming with people who share the commitment, ‘Let’s bring them down instead.’