Streamlining Supplier Data Management
Premex deploys ServiceNow to maximise efficiency with help from Insight 2 Value
Managing thousands of suppliers can be time-consuming and complex. Relying on manual processes can lead to errors, compliance issues, and increased risk as companies grow. To be efficient and competitive, companies need a dependable solution that allows for growth without operational limitations.
Premex, part of the ExamWorks UK Group, is the largest provider of independent medical-legal reports in the UK. Their service is relied upon by the medical, legal, and insurance sectors to assist in the resolution of personal injury claims. For over 20 years, their expert panel of over 4,500 nationwide specialists has been at the heart of their service offering. It is vital that Premex offer the highest standard of medical experts and that their service is fast and efficient.
The Challenge: Enhancing Supplier Management for Sustainable Growth and Operational Excellence
Aiming for sustained growth and operational excellence, the transformation team at Premex identified a need to improve its onboarding and ongoing management of experts who provide medico-legal reporting services for Premex. A key area for improvement was the quality and integrity of data relating to experts and the venues from which they work.
“A key area for improvement was the data model, which had led to the creation of multiple records in our case management system for essentially the same information, resulting in data duplication”, explains Joanne Bowden, Group IT Director at Premex. “We also want to seize the opportunity to embrace automation and workflow to improve and standardise our processes.”
The Solution: Automation and Standardised, Auditable Workflows with ServiceNow
To overcome these challenges, Premex enlisted the expertise of Insight 2 Value, a trusted business automation specialist, to overhaul its data model and build a new supplier management solution. Leveraging the capabilities of ServiceNow’s Creator Workflows, Insight 2 Value designed and built a solution to address these challenges comprehensively.
Bringing Efficiency and Consistency to the Onboarding Process
Premex’s supplier onboarding and management programme is a fundamental aspect of its control framework and adheres to the ISO27001 standard. Insight 2 Value worked with Premex to design and implement a solution for their onboarding and annual review processes.
Workflows and associated tasks were built to automatically trigger emails at each stage to collect information and move through the onboarding process to completion. Automatic acknowledgements and reminders help keep the process on track, significantly reducing the time for new suppliers to become productive.
Onboarding playbook
Premex employees now benefit from a workspace which gives them a comprehensive view of anything pertaining to their medical expert suppliers.
An onboarding ‘playbook’ identifies where suppliers are in the process and the steps needed for completion.
Overall, the process is more consistent and removes the need for interactions to be spread across countless emails and phone calls.
John Walker, Expert Liaison Manager noted,
“Playbooks have been instrumental in making our process more efficient and compliant to meet our needs. The guided process and workflows mean we can process cases faster than our old way of working and onboard new panel members easily.”
Supplier Expiry Date Tasks
Each medical expert supplier is required to undergo an annual review and update their record with the latest information, such as their terms, fees, CV, DBS certificate, insurance certificates, and ICO registration. All of these items have different expiry dates, which makes the maintenance process time-consuming and cumbersome. Previously, this activity was managed by email. Staff had to rely on diary notes, search for the medical expert’s record, and then send emails manually to request information.
To streamline this process, Insight 2 Value has implemented automation so that close to expiry dates, suppliers are automatically sent reminders using prebuilt email templates. Up-to-date information can be collected from the supplier, and the record is updated automatically.
Providing Unprecedented Oversight
A centralised dashboard offers managers real-time insights into team tasks, ensuring consistency and automating routine processes. Each employee works from a personalised dashboard which shows their assigned tasks, and the steps in the process to completion.
John Walker emphasised the transformative impact: “The dashboard is a level of insight and oversight we have never had.”
A Single View of Supplier Information
Premex captures and stores a significant amount of information about each supplier. This can now be accessed from a single view, improving accessibility, accuracy and reducing manual searches.
The information includes static and dynamic data, such as the current venues they work from, fees that are dependent on case and product types, each with a confirmation date. Premex also records legal experiences, length of experience and details of any clinical negligence conflicts with a hospital trust. A document tab shows related documents, e.g. ICO, DBS and Indemnity Insurance certificates. The Contact log tracks all inbound and outbound communications with emails being automatically logged and the ability to log phone calls or letters manually. An additional tab shows the supplier tasks and expiry date tasks.
The expert liaison user has the ability to create their own ad hoc to-do tasks against a supplier and can even assign the task to others if necessary.
Results and Impact: Establishing a Foundation for Future Growth and Excellence
This transformation project has resulted in substantial outcomes for Premex:
Efficiency Gains – Automation of repetitive tasks and streamlined workflows have resulted in significant time savings.
Scalability – The enhanced supplier management system has positioned Premex for scalable growth without the need for additional staffing.
Consistency and Oversight – Playbooks guide staff through consistent, repeatable processes. Dashboards have provided a new level of oversight, with cross-team visibility and auditability, setting a new standard for excellence.
Joanne Bowden, Group IT Director, gave her thoughts, “This successful partnership with Insight 2 Value has not only addressed immediate challenges but it has also equipped Premex with a robust foundation for future growth and operational excellence, setting the stage for continued success in our industry. Insight 2 Value and ServiceNow has brought much-needed unity, efficiency and transparency to our supplier management operations and we look forward to extending our use of ServiceNow with Insight 2 Value in other parts of the business.”
