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Hallmarks of High-Performing Companies 2023
The Importance of Keeping All Promises
Author
Emily Paxman
Current Time Inside Cache Tag Helper: 5/28/2023 11:35:34 PM and Model.reportId = 3243
HIT vendors consistently strive to live up to their customers’ expectations, and KLAS data shows that most vendors successfully keep all their promises. But in the last year, one in four healthcare organizations interviewed by KLAS report their vendor does not keep all promises. This report highlights where broken promises most often occur, the impact of broken promises on provider organizations, and how both organizations and vendors can ensure promises are kept, fostering better vendor/client trust and ultimately better patient care.if you don't have a login, getting started is easy.
This report is part of a KLAS series diving into the factors that drive HIT vendor excellence. Data shared below was collected in the last 12 months across all provider-focused software market segments KLAS measures (does not include services or payer solutions).
Kept Promises Lay a Foundation of Trust—Especially around Customers’ Perception of Value
Kept promises are the foundation of vendor/client trust, especially in an industry faced with staffing shortages and strained financial performance. When provider organizations don’t feel their vendor keeps all promises, their overall satisfaction with the vendor can be significantly impacted. One area that is very closely tied to keeping promises is customers’ perception of whether they receive the expected value of their system. When promises aren’t kept, customers may not feel they are receiving the value they expected because of gaps in functionality and development. Such issues may result in organizations spending more money than expected to keep things running and IT staff being frustrated about having work they expected the vendor to do.
Common Beliefs about Keeping Promises Don’t Always Match Reality
Vendors occasionally share that it is inevitable that certain respondent demographics are predisposed to say their vendor doesn’t keep promises. While this may be true in certain markets, this isn’t the case across the board. Buying into this belief can prevent a vendor from taking the degree of ownership necessary to be successful. Certain demographics may prioritize certain things when answering whether their vendor keeps all promises—and understanding and responding to these differences is a more empowering approach than dismissing one group’s dissatisfaction as unavoidable. Below are four commonly held beliefs about keeping promises and what is actually seen in customer responses.
Belief: Large organizations have complex needs and expectations that make them hard to satisfy.
Reality: Large provider organizations are no more likely to say vendors don’t keep their promises than smaller customers. Where these organizations differ is on which promises matter most. Smaller organizations are more affected by broken promises that impact their IT teams, such as promises with integration maintenance and support resolution. Larger organizations have strong feelings about promises related to development, speed of integration, and measurable outcomes with the technology.
Belief: Respondents who were not part of the purchasing decision are harder to satisfy because they don’t know what was promised.
Reality: The customers who are most likely to say that promises are kept are managers, directors, and analysts, who may not be aware of what promises were made during the sales process. CIOs and COOs are more likely to say promises are not kept, typically citing one of two things: (1) the expected outcome wasn’t delivered or they are unable to measure the direct impact on outcomes, or (2) the vendor is not proactive in sharing information about the changes and development that impact the customer.
Belief: It is harder for vendors to deliver on promises for complex, highly functional solutions.
Reality: Complex solutions (e.g., EHR, ERP, population health solutions) are often rated quite high. However, customers of specialty and post–acute care EHR solutions consistently report that promises are not kept. Often saying they feel like an afterthought, these customers commonly report the vendor isn’t delivering the level of specific functionality, support, and training they need and isn’t always communicating how updates will benefit them.
Belief: To not break promises, it is better to not make them at all.
Reality: Sometimes, customers don’t provide an answer as to whether their vendor keeps promises because they say their vendor doesn’t make promises in the first place. When they say this, they also tend to report that their vendor is slow to provide updates and support, noting that when the vendor does provide these, they don’t properly communicate about them. Overall, customers who don’t answer the keeps-all-promises question have similar overall satisfaction as those who answer no. Customer satisfaction scores also show vendors perform better overall when they communicate about promises—even if delivery is slow—than those who make no promises at all.
Broken Promises around Support & Integration Impact Customer Relationship and Product Experience, Respectively
By far, customers most frequently mention their vendor breaking promises of support, citing that problem resolution isn’t what they expected or that they lack access to the support resources they were promised during the sales process. Some customers acknowledge this is because they didn’t end up purchasing the level of support required for success; others say the support tiers they have purchased aren’t yielding results. Additionally, some of the customers most dissatisfied with their vendor keeping promises say the support personnel they work with are unwilling or unable to escalate issues to the right levels to achieve a quick, effective resolution. The top reported challenges are first-call resolution, vendor staffing turnover, and a lack of knowledge from resources.
When customers report broken promises about their solution, they often note integration as a significant pain point (true across all market segments). Dissatisfied respondents report their vendor sometimes says they can integrate with solutions that the vendor doesn’t have experience with, and then when issues occur, the vendor becomes unresponsive. Interviewed customers also frequently cite integration timelines as an area of product frustration—many say the vendor eventually delivers the integration but not within the time frame originally promised. Another challenge is support for integration during the upgrade process. Provider organizations want vendors to earmark more resources to reduce the burden on organizations’ IT staff and prevent potential loss of data flow that could impact end users.
Aligned Expectations during Sales Process and Clear Communication about Barriers and Delays Have High Impact for Customers
Most customers report their vendors are able to effectively manage expectations during the sales process. But when promises aren’t kept, the sales process is often when those expectations were set. Missed expectations can significantly impact a customer’s loyalty and willingness to recommend the solution. Some examples of mismatched expectations include the vendor unintentionally misrepresenting integration capabilities, demonstrating nonstandard functionality, or promoting outcomes customers have achieved that may not be possible for other types of organizations. Lack of proactive communication also affects customer retention and evangelism, including insufficient communication around upgrades, a failure to understand the customer organization (slowing down support and future sales), and a lack of follow-up to see how well customers are tracking against outcome targets.
Aligned Expectations during Sales Process and Clear Communication about Barriers and Delays Have High Impact for Customers
Vendors are largely in control of managing promises, but both vendors and provider organizations can take steps to remain on the same page and ensure mutual success.
Best Practices for Vendors
- Include your implementation team in the presales process to ensure that promises are possible.
- Develop the ability to ask strong questions in the sales process that help uncover both implicit and explicit expectations.
- Clearly communicate how organizations can measure the success of their solution.
- Carefully set expectations around integration capabilities. Missed expectations around experience, the work required, and timelines can significantly impact whether or not provider organizations feel you have kept promises.
- Rather than not setting expectations or making promises, take the opportunity to increase communication and drive accountability.
- Know what exactly is required for a customer to be successful. This will help you know whether a potential customer is a good fit and whether there are gaps that will impact success.
Best Practices for Provider Organizations
- Provide as much information as possible on governance structures, infrastructure, funding, etc., that may influence your ability to fully leverage a product. This gives vendors’ sales and support teams the needed information to appropriately set expectations and achieve success.
- Clearly document and communicate the outcomes you want to achieve.
- Ask vendor for references at other provider organizations to confirm experiences and capabilities with integration.
- Be receptive to vendor’s best practices and guidance for success.
About This Report
Each year, KLAS interviews thousands of healthcare professionals about the IT solutions and services their organizations use. For this report, interviews were conducted over the last 12 months using KLAS’ standard quantitative evaluation for healthcare software, which is composed of 16 numeric ratings questions and 4 yes/no questions, all weighted equally. Combined, the ratings for these questions make up the overall performance score, which is measured on a 100-point scale. The questions are organized into six customer experience pillars—culture, loyalty, operations, product, relationship, and value.
This report (part of a KLAS series diving into the factors that drive HIT vendor excellence) focuses specifically on whether provider organization customers feel their vendor keeps all promises and how vendors can be successful in this area. Data was collected in the last 12 months across all provider-focused software market segments KLAS measures (does not include services or payer solutions).
This report is part of a KLAS series diving into the factors that drive HIT vendor excellence. Data shared below was collected in the last 12 months across all provider-focused software market segments KLAS measures (does not include services or payer solutions).
Kept Promises Lay a Foundation of Trust—Especially around Customers’ Perception of Value
Kept promises are the foundation of vendor/client trust, especially in an industry faced with staffing shortages and strained financial performance. When provider organizations don’t feel their vendor keeps all promises, their overall satisfaction with the vendor can be significantly impacted. One area that is very closely tied to keeping promises is customers’ perception of whether they receive the expected value of their system. When promises aren’t kept, customers may not feel they are receiving the value they expected because of gaps in functionality and development. Such issues may result in organizations spending more money than expected to keep things running and IT staff being frustrated about having work they expected the vendor to do.
Common Beliefs about Keeping Promises Don’t Always Match Reality
Vendors occasionally share that it is inevitable that certain respondent demographics are predisposed to say their vendor doesn’t keep promises. While this may be true in certain markets, this isn’t the case across the board. Buying into this belief can prevent a vendor from taking the degree of ownership necessary to be successful. Certain demographics may prioritize certain things when answering whether their vendor keeps all promises—and understanding and responding to these differences is a more empowering approach than dismissing one group’s dissatisfaction as unavoidable. Below are four commonly held beliefs about keeping promises and what is actually seen in customer responses.
Belief: Large organizations have complex needs and expectations that make them hard to satisfy.
Reality: Large provider organizations are no more likely to say vendors don’t keep their promises than smaller customers. Where these organizations differ is on which promises matter most. Smaller organizations are more affected by broken promises that impact their IT teams, such as promises with integration maintenance and support resolution. Larger organizations have strong feelings about promises related to development, speed of integration, and measurable outcomes with the technology.
Belief: Respondents who were not part of the purchasing decision are harder to satisfy because they don’t know what was promised.
Reality: The customers who are most likely to say that promises are kept are managers, directors, and analysts, who may not be aware of what promises were made during the sales process. CIOs and COOs are more likely to say promises are not kept, typically citing one of two things: (1) the expected outcome wasn’t delivered or they are unable to measure the direct impact on outcomes, or (2) the vendor is not proactive in sharing information about the changes and development that impact the customer.
Belief: It is harder for vendors to deliver on promises for complex, highly functional solutions.
Reality: Complex solutions (e.g., EHR, ERP, population health solutions) are often rated quite high. However, customers of specialty and post–acute care EHR solutions consistently report that promises are not kept. Often saying they feel like an afterthought, these customers commonly report the vendor isn’t delivering the level of specific functionality, support, and training they need and isn’t always communicating how updates will benefit them.
Belief: To not break promises, it is better to not make them at all.
Reality: Sometimes, customers don’t provide an answer as to whether their vendor keeps promises because they say their vendor doesn’t make promises in the first place. When they say this, they also tend to report that their vendor is slow to provide updates and support, noting that when the vendor does provide these, they don’t properly communicate about them. Overall, customers who don’t answer the keeps-all-promises question have similar overall satisfaction as those who answer no. Customer satisfaction scores also show vendors perform better overall when they communicate about promises—even if delivery is slow—than those who make no promises at all.
Broken Promises around Support & Integration Impact Customer Relationship and Product Experience, Respectively
By far, customers most frequently mention their vendor breaking promises of support, citing that problem resolution isn’t what they expected or that they lack access to the support resources they were promised during the sales process. Some customers acknowledge this is because they didn’t end up purchasing the level of support required for success; others say the support tiers they have purchased aren’t yielding results. Additionally, some of the customers most dissatisfied with their vendor keeping promises say the support personnel they work with are unwilling or unable to escalate issues to the right levels to achieve a quick, effective resolution. The top reported challenges are first-call resolution, vendor staffing turnover, and a lack of knowledge from resources.
When customers report broken promises about their solution, they often note integration as a significant pain point (true across all market segments). Dissatisfied respondents report their vendor sometimes says they can integrate with solutions that the vendor doesn’t have experience with, and then when issues occur, the vendor becomes unresponsive. Interviewed customers also frequently cite integration timelines as an area of product frustration—many say the vendor eventually delivers the integration but not within the time frame originally promised. Another challenge is support for integration during the upgrade process. Provider organizations want vendors to earmark more resources to reduce the burden on organizations’ IT staff and prevent potential loss of data flow that could impact end users.
Aligned Expectations during Sales Process and Clear Communication about Barriers and Delays Have High Impact for Customers
Most customers report their vendors are able to effectively manage expectations during the sales process. But when promises aren’t kept, the sales process is often when those expectations were set. Missed expectations can significantly impact a customer’s loyalty and willingness to recommend the solution. Some examples of mismatched expectations include the vendor unintentionally misrepresenting integration capabilities, demonstrating nonstandard functionality, or promoting outcomes customers have achieved that may not be possible for other types of organizations. Lack of proactive communication also affects customer retention and evangelism, including insufficient communication around upgrades, a failure to understand the customer organization (slowing down support and future sales), and a lack of follow-up to see how well customers are tracking against outcome targets.
Aligned Expectations during Sales Process and Clear Communication about Barriers and Delays Have High Impact for Customers
Vendors are largely in control of managing promises, but both vendors and provider organizations can take steps to remain on the same page and ensure mutual success.
Best Practices for Vendors
- Include your implementation team in the presales process to ensure that promises are possible.
- Develop the ability to ask strong questions in the sales process that help uncover both implicit and explicit expectations.
- Clearly communicate how organizations can measure the success of their solution.
- Carefully set expectations around integration capabilities. Missed expectations around experience, the work required, and timelines can significantly impact whether or not provider organizations feel you have kept promises.
- Rather than not setting expectations or making promises, take the opportunity to increase communication and drive accountability.
- Know what exactly is required for a customer to be successful. This will help you know whether a potential customer is a good fit and whether there are gaps that will impact success.
Best Practices for Provider Organizations
- Provide as much information as possible on governance structures, infrastructure, funding, etc., that may influence your ability to fully leverage a product. This gives vendors’ sales and support teams the needed information to appropriately set expectations and achieve success.
- Clearly document and communicate the outcomes you want to achieve.
- Ask vendor for references at other provider organizations to confirm experiences and capabilities with integration.
- Be receptive to vendor’s best practices and guidance for success.
About This Report
Each year, KLAS interviews thousands of healthcare professionals about the IT solutions and services their organizations use. For this report, interviews were conducted over the last 12 months using KLAS’ standard quantitative evaluation for healthcare software, which is composed of 16 numeric ratings questions and 4 yes/no questions, all weighted equally. Combined, the ratings for these questions make up the overall performance score, which is measured on a 100-point scale. The questions are organized into six customer experience pillars—culture, loyalty, operations, product, relationship, and value.
This report (part of a KLAS series diving into the factors that drive HIT vendor excellence) focuses specifically on whether provider organization customers feel their vendor keeps all promises and how vendors can be successful in this area. Data was collected in the last 12 months across all provider-focused software market segments KLAS measures (does not include services or payer solutions).
Writer
Carlisa Cramer
Designer
Bronson Allgood
Project Manager
Joel Sanchez
This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2023 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.