A few months ago I assembled all my colleagues at Sollis and invited them to consider the question “what kind of business do you think we are in?” For many – particularly those who have been with the company since 1994 when it founded – it must have appeared a very strange question to pose. Still pose it I did.
I did so because I think that at some point in any company’s evolution there comes a time when it is necesary to step back and ask the question, “What is our fundamental purpose? What are we in business for?”
I like to think there was a certain logic to the timing of the question. The current NHS reform agenda has of course created huge uncertainty,and this uncertainty touches all engaged with this iconic public service. In this regard the most important community of course is patients and carers, however suppliers and their customers are not immune from the ‘slings and arrows’ of what at times can feel like ‘outrageous fortune’.
The point of the question was to get everyone here at Sollis focused on what I believe we are really in business for and that is “to make a difference”. To make a difference for our customers and in the end analysis to make a difference for patients. In this sense we are very definitely not in the technology business. We are in the people business.
Now that is an easy statement to make, and it could be argued – with some justification – that any company in any realm of business could make the same claim.
But for Sollis it is particularly true. It is true because the NHS is the absolute focus of our operations. It is true because the products and services we supply to the NHS have to ‘add value’. In simple terms they must contribute to making life better. Better for our customers and ultimately better for the populations they serve. Better for patients.
Everyone here at Sollis understands that we deliver healthcare intelligence. But importantly, all of our people understand that at the end of every piece of data we present there is a person.
Here you can read a little bit more about why we do what we do: our purpose.
