The winner of the 2005 Dell Award is....Dr. Tim Kriss
Dr. Tim Kriss doesn't buy lottery tickets. He rarely enters contests. But earlier this year, when Kriss read in MyBusiness magazine about the Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence in Customer Experience Award, he decided to give it a shot. “I entered to see how I stacked up against other business owners,” says Kriss, a Kentucky-based neurosurgeon in private practice. But after being notified he was one of 10 finalists, Kriss decided he was a long shot. “My wife and I read about the other finalists in MyBusiness magazine and were really impressed with their stories,” he says. “That’s why I was so surprised when they called to tell me I had won the award.”
Drive to succeed: Being underestimated wasn't new to Kriss. In 1996, when the young neurosurgeon decided to leave a job in an established medical clinic to open a practice in rural Kentucky, other physicians scoffed. “A lot of people predicted doom for my practice because I was so young,” Kriss says. “But I wanted to start to my own business instead of working for someone else.”
His entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to try new technology pushed him to succeed. Turning back the clock, Kriss travels to patients much like physicians did in the past. By traveling between clinics in three rural cities each week, he is able to serve patients who might otherwise not have access to a neurosurgeon. The travel makes running his practice complicated—that’s where technology helps.
How he uses technology: Using two laptops, voice-recognition software and one “superstar employee” as he describes her, Kriss’ virtual office travels with him every day. He stores all patient files on the laptops’ hard drives. He bypasses traditional transcription services—which many physicians rely on to generate notes for patients’ medical records—by using voice-recognition software. “After I've seen a patient, I step out of the exam room, speak my notes into a microphone, and within five minutes, generate a note to the referring physician and a letter the patient can take home.”
His system is popular with patients and their families. Spouses or children don't have to take off from work to attend the appointments with their loved ones. All information discussed in the office visit is covered in the letters Kriss generates with the voice-recognition software.
“People are often scared or nervous when they're hearing this type of information,” he says. “The letters help them remember what we talked about. I've had so many patients tell me how thankful they are for the information. It’s better medicine, and it’s better business.”
Winners never quit: You might think a doctor knows all. But before Kriss started his practice six years ago, the Internet was foreign to him. “I had no training, no knowledge, no practical experience with technology,” he admits. “I was just a doctor who saw patients.”
He knew to be successful that had to change. So he searched for and found a low-cost technology solution that works well for him. “I had to learn all this stuff on my own—and that was a big disadvantage,” he says. “But the way I look at it, technology was the key for me to be able to start my business.”
Prizes galore: As the winner, Kriss receives a lifetime membership in NFIB, $30,000 in Dell products and services, plus the chance to spend a day at Dell’s headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, including an in-person meeting with Dell founder, Michael Dell.
The National Federation of Independent Business is the nation's largest small-business advocacy group. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its 600,000 members in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is a trusted and diversified information-technology supplier and partner, and sells a comprehensive portfolio of products and services directly to customers worldwide. Dell, recognized by Fortune magazine as America's most admired company and No. 3 globally, designs, builds and delivers innovative, tailored systems that provide customers with exceptional value. Company revenue for the last four quarters was $52.8 billion.
