Mental Health Cooperative Transformed Organizational Efficiency and Decreased Operating Costs by Switching from Microsoft Dynamic GP to NetSuite
Mental Health Cooperative
Mental Health Cooperative supports adults with serious mental illnesses and children struggling with emotional or behavioral challenges to live quality lives in their community through state-of-the-art treatment and support.
HEADQUARTERS
Nashville, TN
OTHER LOCATIONS
13 locations across Tennessee
INDUSTRY
Healthcare, Nonprofit
WEBSITE
mhc-tn.org
Introduction and Challenge
Mental Health Cooperative (MHC) is a Tennessee-based healthcare provider that offers innovative, trauma informed, and person-centered behavioral health services for children, adolescents, and adults. In addition, they operate a primary care clinic and a representative payee program.
Growing Pains
“As we started to grow and expand our services, it became clear very quickly that inefficient processes and a lack of visibility into the organization were holding us back in several key areas of the business. When we started to see stuck batches and data loss, it was a sign that we needed to modernize our business as quickly as possible,” said Jenifer Felts, MHC’s Controller.
MHC was experiencing significant system limitations while operating their business on an outdated version of Microsoft Dynamics GP and knew it was time for a change. “When faced with the decision to upgrade our Microsoft GP to a current version or migrate to a true-cloud ERP system, it was an easy decision. Upgrading to a newer version of Microsoft GP wasn’t going to accomplish much because we would still lack the robust functionality that we needed to operate our business efficiently. And, the complexity of involving IT in daily tasks would still be there,” said Jenifer.
Time for a New ERP
With their complexity of service offerings, it was critical that the new system could accommodate the unique requirements within each of those areas.
“We have a reputation for being one of the most flexible payee programs in the state and we needed a system to help us maintain and even exceed that level of service to our clients and patients”, said Jimmy Johnson, MHC’s Representative Payee Manager. “With Microsoft Dynamics GP, reporting had become cumbersome and there was a lot of room for inaccuracy due to disconnected systems. We needed an efficient way to provide solid financials to our team so that we could better plan for future growth and serve our patients,” Jimmy added. In addition to internal reporting, MHC also needed to better track expenses and provide accurate Social Security reporting related to their representative payee program.
The need for system flexibility, robust functionality, increased efficiency, improved business processes, and easy version updates led MHC to NetSuite. “Having worked with Strategic before, we knew they had extensive accounting and business knowledge in addition to NetSuite expertise, so it was an easy decision for us to partner with them again,” said Jenifer.
The Strategic Partnership Approach to NetSuite
NetSuite Implementation
MHC was impressed with how Strategic made NetSuite work for their business as opposed to manipulating MHC processes to make them fit the software. “They went above and beyond to understand our business needs to make sure the software aligned with those needs and made several out-of-the box suggestions to address our unique challenges. Having the right partner on your side will not only make your life easier during implementation, but will also position your business for long-term success. That kind of partnership is invaluable,” said Jimmy.
Post Go-Live and Training
MHC knew it was critical to have a post go-live plan in place. “It was important to us that we have a partner who was not only committed during implementation, but that would also remain dedicated post go-live. From experience, I know it’s inevitable that issues arise during post go-live, and having a proactive partner can make all the difference. Strategic was aware of our big milestones as a business and they were very intentional about alerting us to any potential issues,” said Jenifer.
Transition to Strategic Customer Care Plan (a.k.a. “The Easy Button”)
After immediate post go-live assistance, MHC transition to a Strategic Customer Care Plan to ensure the long-term health of their NetSuite software and business. “We knew from the beginning that if we were going to invest in NetSuite, we wanted to do everything we could to make sure it was operating as efficiently as possible. We love the convenience of having Strategic as the NetSuite experts while we do our day jobs. The Customer Care Plan is our “easy button” and it is worth it,” said Jenifer.
Client Success
It’s been several years since MHC implemented NetSuite, and they are continuing to realize the tremendous benefits. “In addition to decreased operating costs, our need to hire additional staff went away because our improved business processes replaced previously manual tasks. The ability to increase our client base without additional hiring expenses is a big win for a service-based organization,” said Jenifer.
According to Jimmy, the efficiencies gained are not limited to their internal processes. Clients are much happier with the turnaround time on checks being issued. The time consuming process of fixing errors and voiding checks has been eliminated, and clients now have more visibility into the status of their finances. “This increased client satisfaction is more than I could have hoped for. When a client is happy with our services and it makes their life easier, all of the hard work becomes worth it,” said Jimmy.
“Having the right partner on your side will not only make your life easier during implementation, but will also position your business for long-term success. That kind of partnership is invaluable.”
Jimmy Johnson,
Mental Health Cooperative