Royal Freemason's Benevolent Institution is a not-for-profit aged care services provider. RFBI opened its doors to Australians in 1880, before there were any government funded social welfare programmes.
RFBI and Epicor have been a team for a while following the announcement that RFBI will continue to use Epicor's Senior Living Solutions (SLS) software for financial, client and operations management operations.
“Technology allows us to work better,” says Frank Price, chief executive officer, RFBI.
“Our core purpose is to deliver quality care and services that have a positive impact on people's lives and to do that efficiently we need a strong, flexible IT platform to support us.
“By implementing the latest version of Epicor SLS we want to make use of the latest functionality so that we can continue growing to meet the needs of Australia's ageing population and provide a critical service to the vulnerable.
The partnership between RFBI and Epicor is more than 10 years old. In 2016, RFBI conducted a review of the IT systems on the market in search of a system that could offer good under of the aged care industry and requirements that go along with that service.
Price says that RFBI consider all the possible options and decided to stay with Epicor SLS due to its track record in the aged care industry.
“Epicor has the infrastructure in place to continue to service our industry and provide seamless integration with government agency systems,” adds Price.
“The government makes changes to legislation on a regular basis and offers limited time for software vendors to make amendments to meet these changes,” Price continues.
“Epicor understands this as well as we do, and updates its software without prompting from us.
In the sense, Price says that having a technology partner with the experience and capacity to meet these changes as and when they happen is vital.
Another factor that drew RFBI to Epicor's software its mobile functionality. RFBI sought a solution that offered mobile functionality to give staff access to client information whenever and wherever they need it.
“One of the things I think gets overlooked when organisations consider new technology solutions is the flexibility of the new system to allow you to set up your own rules around workflows,” says Alpe.
Vince Randall, regional vice president for Australia and New Zealand for Epicor Software, says that there are many challenges with providing aged care. These challenges include funding restrictions and ongoing changes to government legislation.
Randall comments, “providers also need to effectively manage a large contingent of staff and clients in the midst of general business management pressures.
Randall concludes, “a combination of residential management and enterprise resource planning (ERP) such as Epicor SLS can take a huge weight off the shoulders of aged care providers who really want to focus on taking care of people.”