Community Vision
“Funds are limited in our sector and it’s important to direct the most of each dollar we can towards care. Salesforce allows us to do this by leveraging automation.”
30%
Reduction in customer call volumes
Community Vision sets the benchmark for efficient and innovative care
Community Vision is a not-for-profit community-based organisation which provides services to people of all ages and abilities. These services include family day care as well as home care for those who are aging or living with dementia or a disability. The not-for-profit also helps clients stay active and engaged with their community, whether by taking them out to do weekly shopping or by organising activities at its community centre.
“We want to create a stronger and more connected community, and that means helping people remain independent and remain in the community for as long as possible,” said Yvonne Timson, Chief Operating Officer at Community Vision.
Committed to this vision and making a positive impact, the not-for-profit has been on a two-year transformation journey to reduce the cost of service delivery while providing clients with a better experience. Salesforce is central to this transformation and has aided Community Vision’s fast response to COVID-19. Salesforce is also helping the not-for-profit set a new benchmark for community care.
Navigating a new era
Community Vision’s transformation has, in part, been brought on by changes to the Australian Government’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). While designed to provide people with greater choice in care, the changes initially increased compliance and administrative costs for the not-for-profit.
Timson brought on Salesforce to counteract these costs and address other inefficiencies in providing care. For example, it took two people working two full weeks to create fortnightly rosters and too much time was wasted typing up case notes which had been written up by hand. It was also difficult to fill gaps in rosters once they were sent out, so agencies would be called in even though full time staff were underutilised.
“Assessing the organisation like a business, it was easy to see that in order to sustain the level of care we provide and offer our clients choice, we needed to be more efficient,” said Timson. “Also, funds are limited in our sector and it’s important to direct the most of each dollar we can towards care. Salesforce allows us to do this by leveraging automation.”
Streamlining care from end-to-end
Using the Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, Community Vision has consolidated systems and digitised data to enable a single view of clients and a better experience across all touchpoints. Through integration with NetSuite, it has also streamlined back office processes like invoicing and payroll.
The biggest efficiencies have come from using Service Cloud and Field Service Lightning to optimise scheduling and enable support workers to be more productive in the field. Now, three to six months’ worth of rosters can be pulled together in a matter of hours using automation and artificial intelligence. In addition, accessing the Field Service app from their tablet, the workers can review and update client case notes in real-time. This helps to ensure continuity of care and helps workers more readily identify any changes in the client’s condition. Also, the time saved hand writing notes and typing them up later can be better spent with clients.
Timson said that by improving scheduling and reducing the need for support workers to come back into the office to collect rosters or do paperwork, Community Vision has reduced the use of agency staff by 90%. Also, by using Salesforce they can more easily match clients with support workers who have the skills to meet their needs.
Another valuable aspect of using Field Service is that Community Vision is able to better track and keep in contact with workers. They often work alone and the not-for-profit needs to ensure they are safe, whether they are providing in-home care or travelling between clients.
“What this transformation has allowed us to do is minimise the time and cost of administration and enable everyone to focus on client service. What we want to do next is form a co-op and allow others to leverage off our systems. This way we can help other niche providers who may be struggling with increased costs,” said Timson.
Connecting with clients and providing care virtually
Streamlining and digitising service delivery has helped Community Vision respond to more recent challenges related to COVID-19. The virus presents a serious risk for clients who are vulnerable due to age or illness and the non-profit needed to find ways of providing care while reducing contact. At the same time, it wanted to minimise clients’ feelings of loneliness and isolation and make sure that all their needs were taken care of.
Leading up to the start of the pandemic, Community Vision was working on a plan to offer ‘medication prompts’ via Apple FaceTime and then save the recordings of these interactions in Salesforce to manage compliance. Due to COVID-19, the non-profit has accelerated these plans and has begun offering clients the option of remote medication prompts. The new service has been well received and now 150 clients are receiving support in this way.
The virtual visits allow support workers to ensure clients are taking the right medicines at the right time while also providing an opportunity to check that clients are okay and look for any signs of physical or cognitive decline. Once the sessions are complete, support workers save the recordings and enter related notes into Salesforce.
Community Vision has also been extending support to clients and families through Community Cloud. Implemented as part of its transformation journey, Community Cloud has mainly been used to provide clients and their families with access to case notes and other care details. Now, it is helping the not-for-profit stay connected to clients and families and push out information on additional services they may need at this time.
“We’re doing a lot of new things to support our clients mentally and physically right now, like armchair yoga and group crossword puzzles through the iPad. Some of these, like the virtual medication prompts, we will carry into the future to further reduce the cost of care,” said Timson.
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