Frost & Sullivan Customer Value Enhancement Award
Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Orchard Software for Customer Value Enhancement in Laboratory Information Systems
Below is an excerpt from Frost & Sullivan's press release. Visit Frost & Sullivan's website to view the entire press release or to read more about their Customer Value Enhancement Banquet.
Frost & Sullivan presents its 2005 Customer Value Enhancement (CVE) Award for the laboratory information systems (LIS) industry to Orchard Software in recognition of its customer initiatives that have enabled the company to generate the highest satisfaction rates in the industry.
“As information systems become more fundamental to the operation of laboratories, their functionality is expanding to meet the ever-growing needs of customers,” says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Silvia Cerqueira. “The LIS market is constantly changing, driven by more complex technology, the shortage of technical personnel, and the movement to streamline procedures.”
Some of the most important factors in an LIS purchase decision are customizability, flexibility, and the manufacturer's ability to provide superior customer service. Orchard has differentiated itself though unparalleled product development and customer support, and its Orchard Harvest LIS stands far above competing products.
Orchard has installed Harvest LIS in hundreds of laboratories across the US serving a broad customer base of hospitals, physician office labs, clinics, reference laboratories, student health centers, and public health organizations. The ongoing input from this diverse user-base helps Orchard continuously improve their LIS to provide the most up-to-date features needed to handle a variety of business situations. Product features such as ease of use, rules-based technology, decision-making capabilities, and flexibility support numerous workflow scenarios allowing Orchard to serve a very diverse customer base. As Rob Bush, president of Orchard Software, says, “When you see one lab, you’ve only seen one lab.” In addition to helping customers boost productivity, deal with regulatory issues, reduce errors, and increase reimbursements, Orchard provides enhanced outreach for laboratories through Harvest Webstation, which enables online order entry and results delivery. |
 Orchard Software's President, Rob Bush, accepts the Customer Value Enhancement Award from John Ruggles, Vice President of Frost & Sullivan. |
The company also has a strong reputation for its integration capabilities, including bi-directional interfaces with reference labs and a long list of interfaces that integrate with other ancillary and host systems such as billing, practice management, electronic medical records (EMRs), and hospital information systems (HIS). Henry Oglesby, vice president of Operations for Orchard states, “As a best of breed lab system, the seamless integration with other systems is paramount to our success.”
In addition, Orchard Harvest LIS is still one of the most inexpensive systems on the market, making it affordable for cost conscious healthcare facilities and bringing tremendous value to their operations. While the abundance of powerful features is extremely appealing, the most attractive aspects of Orchard are its responsiveness to customer requests for interface change and its phenomenal technical service department. These factors essentially create the greatest value for customers.
“Healthcare cost restraints do not allow for system changes every few years, hence facilities are under great pressure to invest in LIS that will be able to expand capabilities and upgrade in order to keep up with growing needs,” elaborates Cerqueira. “These are the areas in which Orchard excels.” Another advantage of Orchard is its commitment to continuous product development and enhancement. Generally, Orchard has one major upgrade each year, and in 2005, the company introduced Harvest LIS version 6.5. Orchard addressed 200 requests for modification and added 273 features to achieve higher levels of process automation and efficiency. Jeffrey Kain, Executive Vice President says, “Many features in the version have been added to meet the demands of small to medium-sized hospitals. Now physicians can request STAT and ASAP orders to print or fax immediately upon approval while all routine orders are printed or faxed at a scheduled time, thus saving time and unnecessary trips to the printer or fax.” |
John Ruggles, Vice President of Frost & Sullivan, congratulates Bruce Heitman, Orchard Software's Northeast Regional Sales Representative, on the award. |
By continually improving its systems based on customer input, Orchard remains at the top of a competitive and rapidly changing LIS market.
Frost & Sullivan presents its CVE Award each year to a company that has demonstrated the ability to expand its customer base, while maintaining its existing install base, with more innovative value creation and enhancement strategies than competing vendors. The Award acknowledges successful sales entry, customer acquisition and service strategies, and the degree to which these strategies have met the customers' stated needs and requirements.