Meet Healthcode’s Senior Business Development Manager
Tell us about your role and responsibilities at Healthcode?
I look after some of our insurer and hospital customer accounts and I’m their first point of contact. I work closely with my customers: we’ll have monthly catch-up meetings on site or virtually and we’ll also call each other any time we need to discuss anything. From my side, that might be setting up a meeting with someone from our development team to talk about a particular product or service or inviting them to give their input at a user group meeting.
It’s really important for me to involve customers with projects like ICE or Pre-Authorisation so we can meet their needs and a big part of my role is to facilitate that process.
What do you find most rewarding about your current role?
I enjoy finding opportunities to help customers meet their business challenges. I might be able to suggest a solution that we already have or brief our developers on their requirements so we can explore this further.
I currently look after 15 hospital accounts and it’s very rewarding to work closely with them to ensure they’re aware of the functionality available and get the maximum from our services. Richard Aris (Head of Business Development) and I were on a call to a hospital recently about our eBooking service and the customer said how much they’d enjoyed working with me when they were initially implementing Healthcode. Of course, it’s my job but it’s always nice to hear that I’ve made a difference.
You joined in 2008 – what’s changed in that time?
I started as a Customer Services Agent and was promoted quite quickly to Team Leader before moving to the Business Development team. Throughout that journey I’ve felt supported by my line managers and been able to access the training I needed to reach my potential. The culture here is very encouraging which makes it easy to find your niche.
One of the things I most enjoy about working here is that every day is different. Even so, the last couple of years really have been a whirlwind! When I started, for example, there were probably 20 people in the whole company and my team took care of new registrations and coding matters, alongside customer service queries. Now the company has tripled in size and we’ve got dedicated teams looking after different aspects of customer support so we can respond more efficiently.
It’s been really inspiring to see the influx of talent and ideas that have driven the transformation process and the impact this has had across the business, from the “wow” factor of our new branding to the new infrastructure that means we can take our products and services to the next level.
What developments are you most looking forward to?
I’m really excited about the number of projects on our product roadmap like eBooking and the next versions of Pre-Authorisation, ePractice and VEDA.
As part of our Transformation Programme, we’ve adopted a multi-track approach to product development which enables us to be more flexible and responsive to customer feedback. I like being involved in the ongoing dialogue with my customers about their thoughts and preferences and then feeding this back to the project managers. I think this collaborative approach is better than launching something and waiting to see how customers respond.
When I speak to our customers, I often find they’re just as busy transforming their own businesses and often with the same aim of trying to increase efficiency. It’s a great endorsement for us that they’re usually keen to share their plans to see if they can align with us, rather than duplicating effort. This is particularly true for projects where information needs to be shared seamlessly and securely between organisations, like eBooking or The PPR (The Private Practice Register) because this is where our technology really comes into its own.
And finally, how do you switch off outside work?
If you’d asked me that a few years ago, I’d have said I loved to keep fit and socialise but my son is now two and a half and he keeps me very busy! If I do get any downtime these days, it’s quite nice to pick up a book – I enjoy a good thriller – or indulge in a bit of pampering. Maybe when my son has started school, I’ll have the time and energy to get back to the gym.
