Dutch youth care agencies improve service, cut costs with cloud solution
In the Netherlands, we prioritize the needs of our nation’s youth. At-risk children and their families have access to high-quality care from the country’s youth care agencies. Traditionally, these programs have been administered at the national level, but on January 1, 2015, all youth care programs became the responsibility of individual cities. This change was accompanied by a 15-25 percent reduction in overall budgets.
Winvision, a Microsoft CityNext partner and the 2014 Microsoft
Public Sector Partner of the Year in Health , has helped Dutch youth care agencies deploy a range of Microsoft solutions. When the new Youth Act passed in 2014, we saw an opportunity to help these agencies absorb their increased responsibilities and improve client service while meeting new, more restrictive budgets.
Working with the input of eight youth care organizations, we at Winvision developed WinCare, a Microsoft Azure-based solution for gathering and tracking client data built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft Office 365. WinCare includes a mobile app that caregivers can access on Windows tablets, saving time and energy previously spent going back and forth to the office and manually typing handwritten notes into the computer. They can now have relaxed kitchen-table conversations with children and their families, and the data they enter on their tablets is synced automatically with the agencies’ central records system via the cloud. This solution includes sophisticated privacy and security controls, and it enables children to establish their own support networks, access treatment records online, and take control of their own care.
The first agency to deploy WinCare was Parlan, based in Alkmaar, just north of Amsterdam, and the staff have been very happy with the results so far. Caregivers make fewer trips to the office, which means they can spend more quality time with clients and help additional families-a huge productivity gain. Parlan uses WinCare to save even more time by tracking travel expenses and work hours automatically. One manager at Parlan said that his caregivers have been less stressed and happier since WinCare was deployed because they can spend more time on their core activity: helping children.
Parlan staff have discovered that WinCare can help in ways they did not envision initially. Because the solution is more than just an electronic health record, and because it incorporates Office 365, it can assist with many aspects of running the organization. Staff now communicate more effectively with Skype for Business videoconferencing, streamline office administration with Microsoft Outlook integration, and provide self-supporting job teams with easy access to performance dashboards and budget information. They have been surprised at the versatility of WinCare.
At Winvision, we believe in the power of an integrated Microsoft IT infrastructure to solve our clients’ business challenges. WinCare is a great example. By combining the power and mobility of Windows 8 tablets with anytime, anywhere access to Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in the cloud, we have built a solution that simplifies administration and makes employees happier. And most important of all, it helps empower Dutch children to lead healthy, successful lives.
Read the full case study here.
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