Navigating growth: MedBrief's path to streamlined people management

We had the privilege of sitting down with one of our valued customers, MedBrief to explore their journey with Appogee HR and how our solutions have optimised their HR processes and people management.

Chris F, IT Manager, sheds light on the challenges the business encountered during a phase of rapid growth and how this set him on a search for an HR solution that could scale alongside the business in the future, ultimately leading him to Appogee HR.

MedBrief Services Limited (MedBrief) provides secure medical records hosting, processing, and distribution services. Based in Birmingham, and employing 80 employees, their primary offering is MedBrief Secure Review (MSR) – a SaaS solution that enables the secure distribution of medical records and their associated radiology. 

It enables medical experts and lawyers to view medical imagery in a near-native format over any browser-enabled service and provides for the secure distribution of confidential documents such as letters of instruction and medical reports. 

They also offer associated specialist services such as collation & pagination of medical records and chronology writing services that are essential to clinical negligence and personal injury cases, that are produced by senior-level nursing and midwifery staff employed directly by MedBrief.

Growing pains - the challenges of rapid business growth

As our business continued to grow, it became clear that we needed to invest in an HR solution that would help us to effectively manage our people operations. We relied heavily on scattered Excel spreadsheets, causing us inefficiencies and discrepancies in data management.

The exchange of encrypted documents via email also posed a big security risk for us and complicated the onboarding process. We were experiencing duplicate data entry across disparate systems and found that the processes for tracking holidays and sickness had become convoluted and inaccurate.

We needed solutions that would enable us to move away from outdated spreadsheets for managing HR and would streamline our overall processes.

Overcoming HR challenges: Solutions for streamlined processes and enhanced security

Many features caught my attention when initially trialing Appogee HR and I could quickly see these helping us to overcome our HR process challenges.

1. Scattered data management: The seamless integration between Xero and Appogee HR was crucial in elevating our existing HR processes from scattered Excel Spreadsheets and server folders. Appogee HR was a one-stop shop. 
2. Complex onboarding processes: I was determined to enhance data security and simplify the onboarding process, eliminating the need for new staff to exchange encrypted documents via email, and the onboarding portal was a great solution to this problem.
3. Duplicate data entry: Gaining control over holiday and sick days was essential, I didn’t want to duplicate information and data entry between HR and Payroll – the Xero integration was ideal.
4. Manual leave and absence tracking: The reliance on outdated spreadsheets for leave tracking lacked efficiency and official approval processes. Implementing Appogee Leave empowered our Managers with streamlined leave tracking. It has helped us enormously, with full transparency for end users and managers.
5. Security risks and password management: Enabling users to connect via Single Sign-on, not only enhanced our employee experience but also mitigated the risk of password reuse across multiple platforms. Ensuring compliance with Cyber Essentials and ISO Standards.

There were many great features to choose from however, these stood out for me: Employee onboarding; Absence approval and reporting; Organisation chart; and Team schedules for managing holidays.

Navigating the transition to a new HR solution

Appogee HR support was outstanding. We wanted everything up and running immediately and a lot of that, was down to us to dedicate the time to transition from our current processes to Appogee HR. 

However, during those early stages when I was still understanding the parameters of what was possible, Megan and her team made themselves available at very short notice. Which helped keep stress levels at a minimum during our early days of running two systems.

HR and productivity integrations to improve efficiency 

So far we’ve integrated Appogee HR with Xero and Microsoft. 

The seamless integration between Xero and Appogee HR allows us to populate the necessary payroll information for new hires. This is great for capturing details such as student loans and postgraduate information, as well as updating staff changes like address information.

The holiday and sick reports are a real godsend, solving our previous challenges with approval processes and transparency regarding employee absences and managing who is off at the same time.

Furthermore, the Microsoft 365 integration allows our users to connect via Single Sign-on, which is a tick for ISO Standards and Cyber Essentials certification.

Measurable benefits of using Appogee HR Success

We see the value in Appogee HR 100%. The onboarding portal has made life so much easier for our employees and streamlined our onboarding processes, particularly the team and organisation chart. The features for managing holiday and sick leave are a big improvement from when information was only held in Xero.

The onboarding portal has been a game-changer for us, saving us valuable time and streamlining our entire onboarding process. Its professional appearance, clean layout, and user-friendly interface have received glowing reviews from all our employees.

Customer success and ongoing support

The time we spent looking for a solution was helped enormously with the free Demo, talking through our options of what we needed, which was difficult because we didn’t understand our needs. However, the onboarding Team & Megan made it obvious that Appogee HR was a good solution for our organisation.

Before becoming a customer and post-signing up, the service was and continues to be amazing. You can email in your support questions but the fact you can phone and talk with Arya is helpful and allows you to work through a problem, ensuring you understand what to do going forward to avoid similar challenges. 

I have also purchased additional one-to-one training on how to customise Appogee HR to our needs which again has been helpful. The training was carried out on my timeline and has helped to build Appogee HR into a brilliant resource specific to our business needs, thank you, Megan. 

Having a real person to speak with for support at the end of a phone or video call was invaluable. No automated chat or robotic responses, just genuine human interaction to help resolve any issues.

Transition from traditional spreadsheets to efficient HR practices

While there is an initial investment for HR software to streamline HR processes, the early outlay far outweighs the cost. Make substantial cost savings in the long run by replacing spreadsheets–reducing manual labour, minimising errors, and optimising HR operations. 

Learn how Appogee HR can transform your people operations and book a demo with our team HR Transformation Team. Alternatively, you can start your free 14-day trial with us today.