ScanSource's Constantine Lists VAR Opportunities In Healthcare
Paul Constantine, president of ScanSource POS and Bar Coding in North America, says VARs will find many business opportunities in the healthcare vertical in 2014. Healthcare is unique — upgrading technology in response to increasing government regulations and mandates. Constantine comments, “Compliance is always a great excuse to sell more technology, but in addition to that, limiting liability as it relates to any kind of errors is also a concern for medical institutions.” He says basic bar coding principles can be applied to provide a chain of evidence, proving that medical personnel followed proper procedures.
In addition, there are also applications to use bar coding for asset tracking. “There is a lot of expensive equipment that hospitals cannot afford to lose,” he comments. “Hospitals are basically just tracking things — whether it is medicine or records or people — just like you manage inventory anywhere else.” Although the technical principles are the same, he warns that healthcare does require some very specific industry knowledge. Constantine says to consider working with a pharmacy as an entry point to the vertical. “The pharmacy is a great place to get your foot in the door and apply basic bar coding principles such as asset tracking and inventory management in a healthcare setting.”
In addition to bar coding applications, VARs will find other business opportunities related to healthcare. Constantine says with new HIPAA regulations regarding security and access, communications have become a more complicated issues for healthcare facilities. “By becoming an expert on wireless networking and infrastructure, a reseller can really bring value to healthcare facilities that are deploying mobile solutions.” He adds another division of his company, ScanSource Security, sees VARs finding success providing video surveillance solutions for the healthcare vertical.
Constantine spoke to Jameson Publishing and Business Solutions magazine President Jim Roddy in an exclusive Executive-To-Executive interview conducted at the 2013 ScanSource Partner Conference in Austin, TX. You can listen to the entire interview by clicking here.