"GoToAssist Remote Support is fantastic. It allows
our small but mighty IT staff to provide a high level of
support for people across the country."
Steve Klipp
Executive Vice President – Commercial Operations
PremierTox Laboratory is a pioneer in the reference laboratory marketplace, serving clinicians who prescribe controlled substances to treat pain as well as other debilitating disorders. The company is based in Russell Springs, Kentucky, and operates satellite labs in Tennessee and Texas. It specializes in toxicology, urine drug screening and therapeutic drug monitoring and provides services to hospitals and physician practices in 18 states in US. Founded in 2011 by a group of physicians and entrepreneurs, PremierTox currently employs about 200 people.
The Challenge: efficiently delivering signature service during business expansion
In a market sector with significant competition, PremierTox takes pride in its high level of service featuring regular interactions with customers. “A competitive lab’s sales rep might visit a customer’s location, but after signing them up for service, that rep may never be seen again,” said Steve Klipp, executive vice president, commercial operations. “Our sales managers are on site at least once a month and are even available to assist customers after hours and on weekends.” PremierTox
also sets itself apart with unique technology tools and customization capability.
“Unlike the ‘big box’ labs whose dominance allows them to take a one-size-fits-all approach, we are always working on ways to tailor our services, software, testing and report output to meet clinicians’ needs.”
PremierTox has always faced the challenge of geography. “We’re a state-of-the-art, multi-million-dollar laboratory located in Kentucky’s beautiful horse country, which is not just the home of our founders but also the center of the battle against drug abuse,” he said. “We’re very rural, but we have always been committed to hiring the best and brightest executives and sales staff, wherever they are located.
That’s why we brought GoToMeeting in at the beginning. It kept us connected with impromptu and scheduled remote meetings as we were getting the business up and running, and keeps us on track now, wherever in the country we are.”
Rapid expansion over its first three years—plus current plans for extending sales coverage to six more states and opening new satellite labs—have increased the importance of remote collaboration technology for PremierTox. “As a mid-size business, we are up against competitors with extensive resources and much larger staffs,” the executive noted. To continue winning on the basis of its signature, high-touch service as it branched out even further, PremierTox needed other smart
technologies that could enhance operational efficiency, maximize reach without requiring constant travel and support innovative business practices
Expanding the Citrix solution
In 2013, PremierTox upgraded to GoToMeeting Corporate and also added Citrix cloud solutions for remote training, remote support, audio conferencing and data sharing. Enhanced GoToMeeting functionality, including integrated HDFaces video conferencing and apps for iOS and Android devices, enables the company to collaborate more effectively. “HDFaces video increases a feeling of closeness among employees and helps keep people in sync. Also, the ability to hold a meeting in an instant, from any device, is highly valuable.” Klipp praised the high quality of GoToMeeting sessions on mobile devices.
In addition to internal collaboration, PremierTox staff make presentations to states’ governing bodies and key decision makers and interact with customers using GoToMeeting.
In these situations, the company provides integrated toll-free calling with OpenVoice audio conferencing to encourage participation. “It’s important to provide a toll-free number and high-quality audio service so we can impress these audiences,” he said. The company also uses OpenVoice for conference calls that do not require screen sharing.
In a rapidly changing industry, GoToTraining allows PremierTox to train employees remotely on evolving healthcare policy as well as new products and testing capabilities. GoToTraining avoids the cost of bringing people on site while providing interactive features, such as embedded questions and periodic comprehension checks, which enhance learning and provide feedback to the instructor. “We also use it for new hire training. These classes are recorded and stored in a database for on-demand access, helping to optimize our training department resources,” Klipp said.
PremierTox relies on GoToAssist to remotely support customers, sales reps and other employees. Klipp described typical scenarios. One is assisting customers with PremierToxDirect, the company’s proprietary, web-based software for managing and documenting lab specimens. Another is supporting employees who are working on site at customer locations, as well as salespeople in the field. “GoToAssist Remote Support is fantastic. It allows our small but mighty IT staff to provide a high level of support for people across the country.”
Sharing large files with customers and employees is now quick and easy with ShareFile. “We implemented Microsoft SharePoint, but it does not allow a link to be provided to external users. In looking for an alternative, we fell in love with ShareFile and use it extensively.” Klipp noted that ShareFile facilitates collaboration with the graphics design team, located in a major urban center, by avoiding the problem of size limits for email attachments. The tool also provides secure storage for confidential information, key to effective healthcare delivery.
Creating new and efficient services
All these Citrix solutions contribute to the company’s strategic goal of maintaining exceptional customer service while expanding into new geographies. Remote collaboration, support, training and data sharing promote strong relationships, enable fast, interactive responses and impress customers—all at “an incredibly reasonable cost,” according to Klipp. “Also, the fact that participants can log in to a session for free is very important to us.”
Citrix tools are opening new opportunities for business innovations that combine efficiency with personal service. “One of our goals is to generate leads, especially for healthcare providers in locations not currently supported by a sales rep. As we envision it, a customer will find us on the web, and we’ll ship them a starter kit and then get on a GoToMeeting or GoToTraining session to guide them through the set-up and specimen collection process and use of our services.”
Currently, PremierTox is conducting a trial program where a representative in Tennessee is remotely supporting customers in Wisconsin and Iowa. “She has met these customers on GoToMeeting, shown presentations and used HDFaces video to demonstrate in real time how to handle and ship specimens. It’s going very well,” he said.
“Citrix solutions are enabling us to accomplish goals that would otherwise require significant time and expense. As we grow, these tools will continue to play a strategic role in customer outreach, competitive advantage and business efficiency.”
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