3,500 doctors trust PVS / Schleswig-Holstein - HAMBURG – and PVS trusts SIGEL Smartpro

1,900,000 invoices, countless payment reminders and correspondence, 3,500 affiliated doctors, 100 employees, three locations – these are just a few figures that describe the work of PVS / Schleswig-Holstein - Hamburg. PVS / Schleswig-Holstein - Hamburg manages private medical bills received by the patients of the affiliated doctors at its locations in Bad Segeberg, Hamburg, and Bad Doberan. The administrative handling alone for letterheads, office and advertising materials, as well as business cards for 100 employees at the locations, caused considerable effort at PVS / Schleswig-Holstein - Hamburg until 2017. With the e-procurement solution Smartpro from SIGEL, the procurement process at PVS has become much simpler. We spoke with Dipl.-Kfm. Timo Steidel, Head of the Marketing and IT Department, and his colleague Ann-Sophie Bock, Office Communications Clerk, about the implementation, the rollout to the locations, and the daily work.

Smartpro has been optimizing PVS's ordering processes since 2017

When 100 employees at three locations consume materials, tenders, ordering, and distribution can take up a lot of time – time that could be used more meaningfully if procurement processes were optimized. Take business cards, for example: if a name, email address, or phone number changed on a reorder, the effort was quite significant, recalls Dipl.-Kfm. Steidel: "Something was adjusted, sent to the manufacturer, then it had to be checked again, went to the print shop, and finally had to be picked up. The process of creating just one business card was very complex." In addition, offers often had to be obtained and compared from various suppliers before a production order was placed. If the responsible employee was ill, it became even more complicated. PVS / Schleswig-Holstein - Hamburg recognized the potential for time and cost savings in its established processes – the solution was Smartpro. After a needs analysis including a workshop, the company's own closed shop for ordering print and promotional materials was implemented together with SIGEL.

Top: transparency in approvals and inventory

For over four years now, several employees have been able to order various items from an extensive catalog. Everything is fast, simple, and transparent – including the approval processes. "We can see which employee orders what, whether they are authorized to do so, and whether the order is executed correctly. This also ensures the four-eyes principle. Especially when it comes to large quantities of paper, this must be ensured due to our quality management," says Timo Steidel. His colleague Ann-Sophie Bock also values transparency. For her, a key advantage of Smartpro is that the stock levels of all articles are visible with just a few clicks – just like the last orders. When asked if PVS / Schleswig-Holstein - Hamburg would choose Smartpro again, she says: "From a user's perspective, I can give a clear yes. Since it is really easy for us, for our daily routine, and for this ordering cycle, I would always advocate for it again."