Sometimes you find new benefits in unusual places...

This afternoon, I encountered an article in Healthcare IT News that explores how one doctor is using text messaging as a means of effectively keeping diabetic teenagers attentive to their medication needs:

Recognizing that text messaging was the primary mode of communication for her patients, Jennifer Dyer, MD, MPH, an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital, developed the idea for the pilot as a way to help remind her teenage patients to take their insulin treatments.

Studies have shown that adolescent patients have a greater difficulty adhering to treatment and medication activities than adults. Thus, there is a significant correlation between increased independence and decreased treatment adherence in adolescents. The rate of medication non-adherence among adolescent recipients is approximately four times higher than that among adult recipients.

What struck me was the manner in which a device that is often cited as a symbol of today's youth becoming more addicted to technology and less engaged in traditional social interaction--the text message--was in this case being exploited for decidedly beneficial, even protective, means.

Perhaps ideas such as these are to be anticipated in a world where the very nature of our communications have been and continue to be revolutionized. Where some people see a decline in social etiquette and a hyperactive focus on trivial events in one's daily routine, someone else sees an opportunity to promote healthy living. This doctor saw the text message as a tool, and in the right hands that tool could be used for noble means.

In the presence of intelligent data capture technology, one could say the same thing about Accounts Payable. For most organizations, A/P represents a necessary evil, a source of extensive labor costs, costly processing errors and potential liability in the face of government auditors and regulators. Furthermore, their job exists for the sole purpose of transferring revenues away from the business.

And yet, when that A/P department adopts an IDC solution to speed the process, reduce errors and increase operational visibility, that department becomes a source of profit potential. Faster processing allows the company to take advantage of more early payment discounts. (If these discounts can provide more savings than the cost to process every invoice, you've already turned A/P into a profit center!) Increased efficiency means fewer people can handle greater workloads, allowing for the transfer or dismissal of headcount. Increased visibility can be leveraged for greater cash flow and cash management, allowing managers to implement the policies that are most advantageous to the company.

New technologies can be a source of great opportunity for those willing to think in new ways.

Well...not all new technologies...