3 Key Tech Benefits in Healthcare

by Madeleine Wallmon | Jun 30, 2017 | Healthcare, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Software, Technology

Technology is disrupting markets in significant ways by reducing costs, making systems and processes more efficient and empowering customers. The healthcare industry, which had $3.2 trillion in expenditures in 2015 (nearly 18% of total GDP) in the U.S., is expected to be able to reduce costs by $300 billion by simply implementing new technology. Before going into the key tech benefits in healthcare, we will briefly discuss the different technology solutions that are already making an impact.

Artificial Intelligence

Commercialization of big data and machine learning has introduced AI to the healthcare industry and it’s believed to change the way diagnoses and treatment of patients are carried out. A study by Frost and Sullivan in 2016 projected that the AI market in healthcare will grow by 40% and reach $6.6 billion in 2021. Additionally, Frost and Sullivan also projects that AI can improve outcomes by 30-40% and reduce treatment costs by 50%. Ultimately, AI is expected to allow the health industry to automatically diagnose and recommend treatments to patients. The fact that implementing AI will reduce costs makes it even more enticing.

Mobility

By 2018 it is estimated that 65% of all interactions with healthcare facilities will be via mobile devices. In November 2016, StatCounter also reported that, for the first time, there are more users around the world that are accessing the Internet from mobile devices than from desktop computers. Needless to say, the increase in mobile usage among customers is something that the healthcare industry is taking advantage of. Mobile usage has also enabled the new concept Telemedicine, where patients can get in touch with their physicians from remote locations by simply joining a conference call.

Cloud Access

Cloud technology has changed healthcare facilities in multiple areas by for example allowing employees get real-time guidance through information systems. More importantly, cloud access has allowed healthcare facilities to safely store data and for a reduced cost. Hospitals, in particular, have to store massive amounts of data on patients on a daily basis that they ultimately use to make strategic and informed decisions about treatments.

Main Tech Benefits in Healthcare

Technology will continue to disrupt the healthcare industry going forward, and there is a reason for it. Digital approaches offer enticing benefits for both healthcare facilities and patients.

1. Reduced Cost

Technology will reduce costs, both for businesses and customers. Businesses want to maximize profits, customers want to pay less money. All in all, it works out for everyone.

2. Better Care

Technology approaches such as cloud software allows physicians to make better informed decisions in tough times, which ultimately can improve treatments of patients and outcomes. Healthcare facilities want to treat patients so they can live longer lives and patients want to receive the best care possible. Technology makes this possible.

3. Empowered Patients

Finally, technology also empowers the patients, who no longer have to schedule their days around a doctor’s visit. Technology has essentially allowed healthcare facilities to become more patient-centric.

Conclusively, technology in healthcare offer many innovative approaches to grow and save money at the same time. What are your thoughts on technology as it relates to healthcare? Do you agree on the benefits listed above or do you see other potential benefits with technology in healthcare? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Cloud Computing

by Madeleine Wallmon | Jun 26, 2017 | Cloud, SaaS, Services, Software, Technology

When people refer to “the cloud” nowadays it’s usually not the mass of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere they are talking about, but the cloud as if refers to cloud computing. Gartner reported earlier this year that the worldwide public cloud services market is expected to grow 18% in 2017 and ultimately total $246.8 billion. Additionally, a survey conducted by Clutch showed that nearly 70% of U.S. businesses said they were planning on increasing their spending on cloud computing in 2017. Needless to say, “the cloud” is here to stay.

But What is “the Cloud”?

It may not be news to you that more and more companies are switching over to “the cloud”, but what is it? In order to fully understand its benefits, this post will give you a beginner’s guide to the cloud and what essentially is so good about it.

How Did the Cloud Get Its Name?

Business Insider reported last year that one of the earliest uses of the term was in a diagram from US Patent 5,485,455, “Network having secure fast packet switching and guaranteed quality of service,” that was filed in January 1994. The figure of the diagram depicts the network model as a cloud-shaped figure. While the authors of the patent didn’t mean to illustrate the network as a cloud, that is how it essentially got its name.

Nevertheless, the term didn’t grow in popularity until Amazon Web Services launched Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in 2006. After that, many other companies followed their way by launching software (Salesforce), storage (DropBox), and combinations of the two (Microsoft Office 365). By now, 2017, the term “the cloud” is virtually everywhere.

What is Cloud Computing?

Merriam Webster defines cloud computing as:

“the practice of storing regularly used computer data on multiple servers that can be accessed through the Internet”

Ultimately, it means that you rely on sharing computing resources rather than having your own local servers or personal devices to manage applications. Thus, companies who engage in cloud services, lease their digital assets and their employees essentially don’t know the location of the resources they are using. You can say these resources are simply “in the cloud” somewhere.

Three Types of Cloud Service Models

Cloud computing services is sold in three main models; Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Software as a Service (SaaS): This method of delivering software offers businesses access to functions remotely via a Web-based service and at a much lower cost than licensed applications. Most businesses offers SaaS via a monthly fee and clients don’t have to invest in additional hardware or worry about set-up or maintenance.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): With this method, the entire platform is delivered as a service. This means that you would outsource your entire platform instead of having your own employees manage your hardware and software.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): This method delivers the entire infrastructure as a service. Your company would essentially outsource the infrastructure but only pay for the resources you end up using.

While the three methods all differ from each other, they also share some similarities:

You rent services instead of purchasing them, which means that IT becomes an operating expense rather than capital
The platform vendors are responsible for all the maintenance, admin, troubleshooting, backup etc.
Platform vendors are easy and flexible in customizing the services to you

Benefits of the Cloud

The reason the cloud has gained so much traction in the past decade is because of all the benefits it provides. Forbes recently listed the following two benefits of the cloud:

Reliability: hardware and software redundancy protect you from loss of data
Integration: cloud services can integrate with other service systems such as project management, email and marketing, apps and social media

IBM’s dedicated Cloud page on their website lists flexibility, efficiency and strategic value as benefits of the cloud. Cloud computing offers the ability to scale, customization, and remote access via the Internet. Moreover, the cloud removes underlying infrastructure and maintenance costs. IBM also claims that “cloud services give enterprises a competitive advantage by providing the most innovative technology available”.

Some of the main benefits that our cloud based software clients mention are the following:

24/7 support
Utility based
Easy and agile deployment
Frees up internal resources
Lower capital expenditure
Highly automated

We would love to hear what your opinions are on the cloud. Have you or do you plan on investing in cloud technology in 2017? What benefits does the cloud offer your business? Do you see any drawbacks with the cloud?

← Re-branding: New Look for Lavoie 3 Key Tech Benefits in Healthcare →

Re-branding: New Look for Lavoie

by Madeleine Wallmon | Jun 19, 2017 | Lavoie, Accounting, CPA, Outsourcing, Services

As you may have noticed, we recently launched a new website in addition to a new brand look in the form of an updated logo, colors and tagline. We embarked on this re-branding journey a few months ago because we wanted our brand to better represent our unique position in the market as a nontraditional accounting firm that also focuses on cloud-based accounting software solutions. We believe that our new brand better displays our role as a strategic and innovative partner to our clients.

Updated Website

The website has been entirely re-designed to aid visitors in navigating through our offering. First of all, the design is simpler and thus easier to navigate. Additionally, we have focused on improving content to better educate visitors on our offering and company information. Our solutions are now listed in our main three categories: software, outsourced accounting and projects. Additionally, visitors can also navigate through the industries we work with (software companies, business services, private equity and venture capital, and healthcare).

Re-designed logo

Since 2009, our main focus has been to help our clients in accounting and technology solutions; however, our old logo did not tell this story. Therefore, we are very excited with our new logo that has specifically incorporated design elements from accounting and technology. The “o” in Lavoie is interestingly based on the design of an abacus; a counting frame that was used as a calculating tool before the Hindu-Arabic numeral system was adopted.

New Tagline – “Efficiency Reimagined”

“We are very excited to reveal our new and fresh look and tagline, which speaks toward our innovation and ability to help clients reimagine new ways to accomplish their goals,” said Sharai Lavoie, CEO and Managing Member.

Needless to say, we are excited for our new look and hope you enjoy browsing our new site!

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3 Things Millennials Want from Accounting Firms

by Madeleine Wallmon | Jun 13, 2017 | Accounting, CFO, Cloud, CPA, Financial Services, Technology

Bill.com recently presented results from a survey they conducted with more than 1,000 business owners on services, technology and billing. The 2017 Millennial Business Owner-Accounting Firm Survey primarily focused on outsourced accounting expectations from Millennials and other cohorts as it relates to their roles as business owners.

Why Is the Focus on Millennials?

Well, as of the beginning of 2015, they are the largest cohort in the US labor force. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to figure out how and why this cohort is fundamentally different from earlier generations. Based on insights from the survey we have summarized the 3 main things millennial business owners want from accounting firms.

1. Go Paperless

Paperless is no longer an expectation, it’s the norm. Filing and storing paper is cumbersome. We live in a digital world. Electronic and cloud-based accounting services offers access anytime, anywhere and from anywhere. 82% of respondents said they would be “very pleased” or “pleased” if their accounting firm offered paperless services.

2. Strategic Guidance

52% of millennials in the survey indicated that they need a firm that offers insight as it relates to strategy and guidance. Thus, they want services such as fractional CFO or controller services.

3. Respond in a Timely Manner

An overwhelming majority of millennials (72%) said that the most important trait of an accounting firm was to respond to their communications in a timely manner. We live in a world where businesses no longer have regular business hours. The Internet has extended the hours that businesses are operating and also changed consumers’ expectations. Consequently, millennial business owners expect prompt responses from their accounting firms.

So What?

The insights from Bill.com’s survey are not surprising. Cloud-computing is predicted to continue growing at a steady rate. Additionally, consumers continue to expect more as the digital climate continues to develop and empower consumers. Thus, the takeaway from this should be that accounting firms need to be experts on what their customers expects. The bottom line is – you want your customers to be happy – and to do so you need to make sure you are meeting their expectations. If your main customer base consists of millennials, then three things you should consider doing are going paperless, offering outsourced CFO services and oversee your processes on response time with customers.

Community Engagement – Our CSR

by Madeleine Wallmon | Jun 2, 2017 | Community, Corporate Social Responsibility, Mentor

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained traction in the past decade with many companies rethinking what their role as corporate citizens should be. One of the roles that we take on as a community member is to invest in our community by giving back to organizations and people who are in need. As a result, our employees participate in volunteering and sponsoring activities in the local Charlotte community every year.

“It is important to give back where you can. If it were not for mentors and others, we would not be where we are. I do believe that each one should teach one and pay it forward”

– Sharai Lavoie, CEO and Managing Member at Lavoie CPA.

Carrie Kirkpatrick Memorial Golf Tournament

Two weeks ago, it was time for the annual and local golf tournament that honors the first African American female golfer in Charlotte – Mrs. Carrie A. Kirkpatrick. Carrie was known as the First Lady and Senior States-woman in the Metrolina Area for African American female golfers. She played golf until she passed at the age of 86.

Sharai looks forward to the event every year as she feels it is a wonderful opportunity to do something she enjoys together with great people and give back to the community at the same time. “It’s the best way to spend an afternoon”, Sharai said.

Denise Shropshire, Jean Thomas, Sharai Lavoie and Humpy Wheeler

The event is organized by Our Lady of Consolation Catholic Church and funds raised via donations and sponsorship help feed and support families in the Statesville Avenue area. The tournament is essential as the funds raised enables the continuation of support for organizations such as St. Martin de Porres Food Pantry and the Lucille Giles Men’s Shelter.

The 8th annual Carrie Kirkpatrick Gold Tournament took place at the Tradition Golf Club in Charlotte, NC. Sharai, who teamed up with Denise and Jean (pictured above) ended up taking 3rd place for women’s.

“This year’s event was wonderful and thankfully not too hot. Also, I am better at golf this year so I could contribute more to my team!”, Sharai said. “Ultimately, it was great to be a part of this year’s event and contribute to their cause. I already look forward to next year!”

← Intacct's New Tool Provides Focus for Non Profits 3 Things Millennials Want from Accounting Firms →

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