How Modern, Mobile ERP Can Help to Address the Labor Shortage

Industries are turning to enterprise software to increase productivity and automate business processes to address labor shortages. For example, mobile applications can enhance productivity, while artificial intelligence (AI) can automate manual processes. Combining the two technologies allow you to do more with existing resources so that the need to acquire more labor is minimized. 

To reduce the demand for staff as your organization grows or loses headcount, Infor CloudSuite bakes AI capabilities into the solution and provides access via mobile devices like the iPhone®, iPad®, Android™, Android tablets, etc. This is enabled through Infor’s platform technology that delivers integrated services for data integration and management, analytics, AI/ML, mobility, and more.

The Infor Coleman Digital Assistant provides an AI-conversational interface, or chatbot, to our applications so users can get current information through a simple voice command or text chat.  Coleman Digital Assistant (DA) uses natural language processing (NLP) to chat, hear, and talk to help people work more efficiently. Paired with Infor Go, our mobile application, Coleman DA provides users fast ERP accessibility on the go and can be further configured for better productivity.

Together, Infor Go with Coleman DA saves users loads of time since they no longer must search for information in their mega-ERP, or go back and forth to a workstation for access. Users have easier and quicker access to the data they want to see.

Labor shortage in Healthcare Industry

One of the industries hit hardest by a labor shortage is healthcare. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports that the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified healthcare workforce challenges, leading to significant staffing shortages, increased healthcare worker burnout, and other hurdles that will likely persist. Hospital staff is mobile, with the need for real-time information at any moment to make decisions and save lives. Infor CloudSuite Healthcare, the modern ERP designed specifically for healthcare, provides mobile accessibility, along with a digital assistant to get fast answers to inquiries.

Confluence Health, an Infor CloudSuite Healthcare customer, is using mobile ERP to improve employee productivity and patient care. Confluence Health can now execute key supply management processes at least 90% faster with AI-infused in the ERP and accessible through mobile. 

Retaining employees due to labor shortage is top of mind for Confluence Health. Therefore, another benefit of using mobile ERP has been improving employee satisfaction by alleviating the pain and anxiety the staff experiences when trying to locate supplies in a timely manner. Aja Rodriguez, a stat-certified nursing assistant (can) at Confluence Health, is a dedicated resource who floats from floor to floor and gets essential things for patients once certain departments are closed. She faces tremendous stress every time she walks into a storeroom, especially when a patient needs emergency care.

“During the night shift, there’s not a lot of resources for me to contact, so there’s a lot of pressure on me to get something immediately, especially if a patient is coding,” explained Rodriguez. “I would say one of the most critical items we have in the storeroom is Belmont tubing for rapid transfusions. Before, if you do not know where that was located, it could cost a patient’s life. With Coleman Digital Assistant, it is like Siri; I can search for that item with a voice command to my mobile phone on my way to the storeroom, know exactly where it is, and grab it quickly for the best outcome for the patient.”

With Coleman DA, Rodriguez can now locate supplies in seconds where, previously, it could take up to 15 minutes. 15 minutes could be the difference for some patients surviving. “Before Coleman Digital Assistant, I would get a phone call from the floor needing an item,” said Rodriguez. “I would walk to the storeroom and look up an item in a paper binder, and if you don’t know those little tricks of what things are named exactly, it’s impossible to find the item in the storeroom, and you can wander around the storeroom for sometimes 15 minutes trying to find the item.”

Confluence supply manager Chad Hoffman moves around most of the day across multiple campuses and must stay connected with vendors and distributors as inventory levels and demand change throughout the day. As questions come up, the Infor mobile ERP provides a fast, user-friendly way to look up information quickly, especially critical items with how uncertain the supply chain is right now. For Hoffman, Infor Go, and Coleman DA have been game changers since they allow him to quickly make the decisions needed to meet supply management performance goals. 

“If you’re going to be within the warehousing or at least to the distribution side of inventory management, it’s essential to have a mobile ERP system like Infor to be successful,” Hoffman said. “For me, personally, it saves me a lot of time, energy, and frustration because sometimes you need information quickly at any given time to make decisions.”

The combination of Infor Go and Infor Coleman Digital Assistant is available out-of-the-box with Infor CloudSuite Healthcare. That includes additional Coleman DA skills that can be deployed in a matter of weeks.

“Deployment was easy,” Hofmann said. “We rolled it out to supply chain, distribution, and clinical staff. It doesn’t take a ton of training and a lot of experience to learn how to use the software. I’ve received fewer phone calls and emails since having this software because they can now find the answers to their questions themselves.”

To hear more on Confluence Health using AI and mobility to boost productivity and improve patient care, watch this customer testimonial video.