It’s a scenario that’s all too familiar in most businesses: you spend weeks gathering information, another week turning that information into a report, a further week or two analysing the outcomes and deciding how to act on the information, and then you realise that the information you’re acting on is now at least a month out of date, at best.

When this is your reality, you’re always playing catch-up. It’s harder to spot trends and patterns in time to adjust your approach, and sometimes managers don’t even bother paying close attention to the reports because they know they’re out of date.

Real-time reporting is, of course, the answer. When you can see what’s happening in real-time, you can make smarter decisions, faster. This can have a measurable affect on all aspects of your organisation, not least of which is the outcomes your clients can achieve.

For example, if you can see that a large proportion of your clients with specific needs are gaining positive outcomes with a particular provider, you can quickly divert other, similar clients to that provider, ensuring they get the same opportunity for positive outcomes. Conversely, if you can see early on that a provider is overcharging your clients or not delivering great outcomes, you can divert your clients away from that provider.

Managing documents and information in your organisation is crucial to ensure you get the insights you need to make better decisions that drive improved performance. Using an intelligent information management (IIM) platform, such as the one Storata has built based on M-Files, can dramatically improve your visibility into crucial information, add workflows to streamline processes, and extract information and insights in real time.

Here’s how real-time reporting can help you improve business and operational performance and client outcomes:

1. Business performance
   Operating under the NDIS has created lots of challenges for providers around factors such as cash flow management, budget projections, accounting models, and governance. A steady, predictable cash flow is a huge clue that a business is performing well. So, when cash flow becomes difficult to manage, business performance can suffer.Using real-time reporting on activities and costs, as well as invoices, you can see exactly where your money is going and where your income is coming from. This can help you plan more effectively for lean times by actively recruiting more clients, or scheduling your own accounts payable payments for a time when you have more cash.this can help you keep more cash on hand as well as see where you can generate a stronger pipeline of business. It can also help you avoid situations where your outgoings exceed your income.
2. Operational performance
   Your operational performance can best be illustrated by the productivity and effectiveness of your team. If staff members are spending most of their time on income-generating activities, then your business is likely to be viable. However, if staff are diverted from these activities because they have to spend too much time on manual, tedious tasks that don’t generate income, then your business could suffer.The Storata IIM solution, built specifically for NDIS providers, can provide real-time reporting on activity logs, timesheets, billings, and more to illuminate which of your staff members are most productive. It can help highlight areas where staff need more support or even more training to improve their productivity.Armed with this information, you can incentivise your high-performing staff and upskill the staff members who are struggling. This can help dramatically improve operational performance.
3. Client outcomes
   Any NDIS-related business worth its salt is highly focused on client outcomes. While revenue and productivity are important for business sustainability, client outcomes are the reason you’re in business in the first place.To get the best outcomes, your clients need to be able to access the services that are right for them, at prices that don’t exceed the NDIS price list, and at the right time. This means you need to help your clients manage their plans and their budgets, and you need to be able to clearly see the outcomes they’re achieving.Without real-time reporting, it could be easy for clients to overspend their budgets, miss out on services because of a fear of overspending their budgets, and continue receiving services that aren’t quite perfect for them.With real-time reporting, you can identify and address these issues before they have a negative impact on your clients.

How to achieve real-time reporting

Many business owners are well aware of the potential benefits of real-time reporting but aren’t sure how to achieve them. Others perceive the cost of real-time reporting to be too high for their not-for-profit organisation or lean operation.

The truth is that real-time reporting is affordable and relatively simple to achieve. And, it comes with benefits beyond simple reporting.

Storata partners with M-Files to deliver an NDIS-specific intelligent information management (IIM) solution that delivers the following:

• real-time reporting based on a single source of truth
• centralised document and data management
• automated workflows including invoicing
• activity tracking and goals management
• seamless onboarding and renewals management
• transformed plan management that ensures all monies are billed and paid on time
• more time for staff members to spend on clients’ needs rather than on managing paperwork.

Storata powered by M-Files can help you improve business and operational performance as well as client outcomes with a leading edge and affordable solution. To find out more about how an IIM solution can work for your business, contact us today.