11/28/2007
Jim Cox was busy running his business as usual one afternoon in Franklin, Tenn., when a Dell catalog showed up in the mail. Somewhere in the pages between the laptops and the servers was a picture of Dell's chairman and CEO Michael Dell and Megan Duckett of Sew What?, last year's winner of the Small Business Excellence in Customer Service Award. "We ought to enter this, too," Cox told his team. And they did.
"I didn't think we would ever win, but I thought we might get some exposure from the entry," Cox said. "Winning was a real shock for us!"
As part of their award, Cox and his team at Medkinetics spent time with Dell on the Dell campus in Round Rock, Texas.
"We learned so many things," Cox said. "And we got asked so many good questions about our business that it really made us take a whole new and different look at what we've been doing, especially in the marketing area."
"And staying focused on the customer," Cox added. "I know that sounds like something everybody already knows, but Dell takes it to a whole new level in terms of commitment and effort, and it really shows. The award money is great, but the time at Dell will change our business and in some ways, is worth far more. I didn't think that would be the case before we went so we were all shocked by the experience."
Medkinetics has been a pioneer when it comes to adopting technology in the health-care industry. Its Web-based software allows medical facilities to keep track of which procedures physicians are certified to perform and update those privileges as quickly as possible from anywhere Internet access is available.
"Hospitals' IT departments are grossly overworked," Cox said. "And our software helps them out."
But it has been an uphill battle.
"There are two things that are a constant challenge," Cox said. "First, we have to continually improve and innovate our software. That requires not only creativity, but the ability to implement those ideas in a practical way. We've managed to stay ahead of our competitors by hiring great people and we've been very successful at finding the right people at the right time."
"The second challenge is related to our being a Web-based company," Cox continued. "Not only must we have the system capacity to accommodate increased sales, but we must also be available online 24/7 for our customers. We've been able to do both by carefully monitoring our servers and adding hardware when it’s needed and affordable."
In addition to the day with Dell to share best practices, which included time with Michael Dell, Medkinetics also received a lifetime NFIB membership and $30,000 worth of technology and services from Dell.
"Well, you may have guessed by now, [we'll be purchasing] more servers and server capacity," Cox said. "We also need to upgrade our development equipment and the award will go a long way toward doing that. We're also planning on buying a lot of Dell's recycling services. I'm pretty environmentally aware, and like most small technology companies, we have a lot of old equipment lying around and I just can't bring myself to throw it in a dumpster somewhere. For just $25, I can recycle a piece of equipment by sending it back to Dell; they even take non-Dell hardware. So, not only do we get to solve our storage problem, we do it without it being at the expense of the environment."
The application process reopens in January for the 2008 Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence in Customer Service Award. Questions about the award can be sent to SB_Award@dell.com. And Cox has one piece of advice for those considering application:
"Just do it. There is zero downside and the upside is just fantastic," Cox said. "We were so sure that we didn't even have a chance that I ordered a laptop from Dell the week before we found out we won!"
For more information on applying for the 2008 Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence in Customer Service Award, visit www.dell.com/ceaward.
