By all accounts, Baptist Health Arkansas is just different.

So much so, that the key players in this historic deal for the Datamax organization don’t even refer to it as a “deal” or a “transaction.” They refer to it as an acquisition – a lot of the same due diligence is required.

So, what’s different about Baptist Health?

• 2,700 devices in facilities throughout the state of Arkansas, from Fort Smith to El Dorado
• New equipment for technicians to learn, namely Toshiba
• Untimely supply chain issues for obtaining parts, toner, etc.
• Around the clock support and up to the minute response

Thus far, the team (and there are MANY players) has shown a propensity to step up, and to tear down department walls to make it all happen. Each member has his or her own piece to the puzzle, but all must work together to make them fit.

"It became evident a year ago, after being involved with this deal for months, that we’d have to get everyone’s commitment on this. And there is no benefit regarding this account for one department or another - this is what’s good for the company as a whole long term," VP of Sales David Holzhauer said. "The way to properly manage Baptist Health had to be looked at in a totally different way. This was something that would involve everybody."

Hungarian biochemist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Discovery once said “Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought.” In that spirit, that’s what this team has done thus far. The obstacles (many of them unprecedented) are plain to see – but the thought processes shift and evolve to overcome them. In this expedition into unchartered territory, Datamax thinks differently.

The journey is far from over. No one is claiming victory yet. The challenges are still very real – but so is the cohesion. The Difference Makers are hard at work at Datamax.

Cody Simon can’t remember who said it first. But it certainly made everyone rethink this process.

“We were working hard on the RFP, and someone at some point said ‘this is more like an acquisition than winning a sales deal. But whoever said that, it changed everyone’s thinking. This wasn’t something that was going to be perfect right off the bat – it was something we were going to have to continuously work at, to continuously perfect, to make it right,” Cody said.

For Cody and David Holzhauer, Baptist Health became part of their game plan close to two years ago, when the Request for Proposal came out. COVID-19 obviously obstructed what would have been progress along the way.

“Originally, they had decided December '20/January '21 they would have everything done, but that didn’t really happen. Early on there, was a lot of go, go, go, hold, hold, hold,” Cody recalls.

By late summer, communication ramped up. More questions were asked. More players were added. “Difference making” strategies were put together by executives and managers to convince key stakeholders at Baptist Health that Datamax was a true partner who understood their fleet, and could best optimize their fleet.

“It’s like any new relationship. You’ve got to understand what people’s preferences are. What processes are they used to? What do they want to change?” Cody said.

This fall, Preston Johnson was brought on board as a Project Manager to oversee the day-to-day operations and manage requests coming in from the hospital. Preston previously worked as an IT Administrator for the State of Arkansas and has experience overseeing agencies across the state. He credits his manager Cody’s communication and willingness to explain things and answer questions along the way.

“In this position, I consider myself the quarterback for both teams (Baptist and Datamax),” Preston said. “It’s unpredictable each day. You’ve got to go in with a positive attitude, continuously check emails and stay on top of everything. Communication, response, and resolution are key.”

Cody’s excited about having Preston in this role.

“He’s very energetic, and the thing that most intrigued me about him was that he loves asking questions and digging down to what’s needed,” Cody said. “His attention to detail is very high.”

Kristen Kinkbeiner readily admits – there’s been a few “hug it out sessions” between her, her team, and other departments in Little Rock already.

It was late August/Early September when she realized that this could be happening. She began sitting in on meetings with other players at that point, and then it became “real” in October.

“Essentially, we had to do the due diligence we would normally do for an acquisition,” Kristen said. “We had to do what we may usually have for to six months to do in a span of 20 days.”

For her team, that meant creating the customer records, pulling in all the data from the RFP, and getting them into the Datamax system. They had to update every single record and validate locations, and then with the warehouse and service teams on getting a Datamax sticker on each device.

“There were a lot of machines we were unaware of, so we have been consistently adding new records, coordinating with the customer on how they needed billing set up. This is all very time-intensive.”

Kym McGee has been an integral part of handling supplies for the health organization. But every admin team member has “touched” Baptist Health in one way or another. “Literally, and I mean literally, every single person on my team has helped me update information and everything we’d needed to do for this account.”

So what makes Baptist Health so different?

“We’ve had to think differently because we’ve realized this is across all departments. It’s put a lot on Rhonda (Burton), Tony (Ashcraft), Mark’s team, and I working together. We’ve just had to mesh together more than ever.”

What’s different about Baptist Health when it comes to service? Let’s start with the manufacturer.

With this deal, Datamax took on the organization’s existing fleet of equipment, which range between Brother, Canon, Dell, Lexmark, but predominantly Toshiba.

Service Manager Mark McKinney likens the challenges associated with servicing Baptist Health to a new pair of shoes. At first, they look great. They hurt your feet for a couple of weeks, but over time they tend to get more comfortable.

“The more my technicians see these machines, the more they remember what happened previously, and they pick up tips and tricks, and we learn what to do and what not to do, they’ll only get more comfortable.”

It was late this summer when David Holzhauer called Mark into his office, and asked about working on Toshiba equipment.

Mark has all the faith in the world his technicians’ ability to learn the nuances of new equipment. The greater challenge, at least initially, lied in parts availability, and access to manuals. So he went to work.

“I started downloading manuals and parts manuals. I tried to compile a list of parts we would need right away,” Mark recalls.

With the help of a VP of service at a Toshiba dealer in Ohio, Mark received a list of parts that were used most often regarding Toshiba equipment. In working with the warehouse team, he began investigating where he could order parts from via third-party vendors. He also called on Service Supervisor Chris Williams to help lead the Baptist Health service efforts.

His team also brought in a couple of Toshiba machines as a “sandbox” project, taking them apart to investigate their inner workings.

“On one level, they function the same as any other copier. But in that process, there are thousands of other processes that need to be accounted for. These guys, they took it by the horns and they’ve done everything they can to figure this all out. With these guys’ experience, their talent level, and their work ethic, they’ve done what they had to do.”

Harkening back to Mark’s shoe analogy, Dec. 1 was much smoother than Nov. 1. The challenges continue, but the shoes are starting to feel more comfortable.

“I tell these guys regularly, I know you’re going to be faced with problems. A lot of this is out of your comfort zone. The only thing we can do is take it one step at a time. The attitude here is, ‘whatever we need to do, we’ll do it.’

Logistics Manager Tony Ashcraft tries to have a Baptist Health Game Plan every morning at 8 a.m., knowing full well that the plan may be out the window by noon.

With a client this size, it’s important that his team understands the size, and the time sensitivity involved with needs as they arise.

“We morph into whatever it is they need. When they come calling, we go running,” Tony said.

With Robert Winston as the team’s Customer Service Representative, Tony keeps a close watch daily on what needs to happen; whether it’s grabbing meters, tagging a machine, moving a machine. It’s all based on customer service. How can a job be done as quickly and effectively as possible?

“Every day, we’re reaching across departments, and have been since day one,” Tony says. “We had to develop a formula for how many parts did we want to order; the same thing with toner; we worked with sales, who had the master list; we got it to Kristen; we worked with the service department to see what levels we wanted of each item, and what parts to order upfront.”

In finding parts, Tony first reached out to all our third-party vendors to see what populates. And then, he continued to search. The real challenge? We had to order A LOT of parts at once.

“We set up a system where based on our initial order, we do smaller orders that we can get in the next couple of days,’ Tony said. “Then, we worked with the service department to determine what supplies and parts were needed where – what do we keep in Texarkana, in Fort Smith, and Hot Springs?”

Tony’s team also brought up 5 additional shelving units, and leased an additional 4,500 square foot warehouse nearby to house used equipment. His team even created a map of the parts in the warehouse, and added labeling so that technicians don’t have to struggle to find the parts needed.

All the while, he credits Robert (Winston) for “working across department lines” to fit pieces of the puzzle together.

“(As an example) Baptist has a special checklist of installation. Robert works with our service department to make sure that list is completed. He works with sales to make sure paperwork is completed and gets it to admin. He works with service to make sure a particular machine is installed and ready to go.”

There’s no doubt that Baptist Health is a different animal. And while the challenges persist, the Datamax Team continues to pull together. They continue to cross department lines. They continue to be Difference Makers.

Difference Makers, after all, think differently.