Businesses of all types are constantly generating data, and senior living organizations are no different. Whether they can responsibly steward that data and leverage it is a question of data management. What is data management? Simply put, it is gathering, keeping, and using data in a way that is secure and effective. Read on to learn why data management is critical for senior living organizations and how it can help them achieve better resident experiences and business performance.
Data Management Solutions for Senior Living Organizations
Senior living organizations have a wealth of opportunities to generate and capture data on resident experience and business operations. Some examples of the types of data senior living organizations might collect include:
- Resident preferences.
- Amenity usage rates.
- Health outcomes.
- Satisfaction scores/ratings.
- Resource usage (e.g., electricity, water, natural gas).
Gathering and organizing these data into a database that makes them easy to act on can be challenging. Given the broad range of sources and units of measure, it can be difficult to find a database or tool that can both accommodate senior living data and provide the analytical capabilities needed to use it in decision-making.
A cloud-based data management solution for senior living organizations can solve for these complex needs. This type of solution takes into account the unique data points that senior living organizations are interested in capturing. Often these solutions come with prebuilt dashboards that provide quick visibility into common data trends of interest to senior living organizations. This setup can also help you run regular organizational data audits to ensure your data is clean, or free of errors; compliant with industry regulations; and up to date.
Senior Living Data Use Cases
There are myriad ways senior living organizations can leverage data to make better decisions — from staffing to pricing to sustainability.
Staffing
With good data management, senior living organizations can more precisely understand the number of staff members and the skill sets needed to provide an optimal experience for residents. For example, data gathered on the number of visitors who are on site at any given time can reveal trends about peak visiting times. Data can also reveal the need for additional staff to meet fluctuating demand for food service, way finding, and activity programming.
Pricing
The price of residency and/or a la carte goods within a senior living organization must periodically be reviewed for profitability. Data gathered on the cost of operations can give insights into specific cost centers that could be made more efficient or need to be offset by price adjustments.
Sustainability
At a time when many businesses have sustainability goals, it can be useful to gather data on resource utilization. With data to validate when spaces are being used, organizations can make informed decisions about when to throttle various systems, such as HVAC and lighting.
How Data Management Can Help Senior Living Organizations
Senior living organizations excel at creating community and providing an excellent resident experience. Even these targeted strengths require a diverse range of capabilities.
A consulting services firm can help relieve much of the manual effort and technical know-how associated with data management. This means senior living organizations don’t need to have in-house data science resources to have a robust database and data-driven business. Consultants can also provide strategic assessment services to look for ways to increase the efficiency of senior living data operations processes.