Use Purpose-Built Senior Living Technology to Preserve Knowledge Through Change

Many senior living communities are going through change right now. Maybe there’s a new leadership team post-acquisition or a persistent challenge with staff turnover.

Whatever the reason, change can be a bear to deal with. And without the right software, it’s even harder to preserve the knowledge you need to keep things running smoothly. But dedicated senior living technology can make all the difference. We’ll explain how in this piece.

A Centralized Platform Makes Onboarding Simple

Onboarding new hires can be a time-consuming process – especially when information is scattered across different systems (or tucked away in various filing cabinets). And an overly complex onboarding experience can start employee relationships off on the wrong foot. That’s something most communities can’t afford amid the ongoing staffing crisis.

A centralized platform makes onboarding much simpler. With a single place to handle everything from activity planning to resident communications, you can cut down on the number of tools your staff needs to learn.

What’s more, you can make life easier for your staff with well-built integrations that connect your core platform to the rest of your tech stack. This way, employees can reference things like EHRs and dining menus without having to switch contexts. And as employees come and go, you can rest easy knowing that onboarding won’t be a chore.

Digital Calendars and Templates Make it Easier to Standardize Core Processes

Inconsistent processes are a serious problem when your community is in flux. One person might add potential life enrichment activities to a spreadsheet, while another might jot them down in a notebook. But if that latter employee leaves and their notebook gets lost in the shuffle, there’s no way to recover their ideas.

Enter purpose-built senior living technology. The right platform should allow you to standardize processes like life enrichment activity planning: with a few clicks, everyone can add activities to a master calendar (that integrates with Google Calendar or Outlook for ease of reference). As an added bonus, your team can take advantage of Smart Aging™ technology to come up with fresh ideas based on resident engagement data.

You can also build and customize templates for a number of routine tasks, from designing flyers to digital signage. This makes it easier to keep things consistent, no matter who’s doing or overseeing the work.

That consistency is important: it can help you maintain the familiar experience that residents expect. And by meeting residents’ expectations, you can boost their overall satisfaction.

All-in-one Communication Software Gives Staff a Single Source of Truth

When you’re using multiple tools to communicate with residents and families, it’s tough to retain knowledge across interactions. At best, a new staff member might end up asking a resident to submit a feedback survey they’ve already filled out. But at worst, that employee might not know a resident prefers email over phone calls for important communications – and could cause that resident to miss a community-wide update.

All-in-one communication software provides a single source of truth for all resident and family messaging. So a new staff member can reference prior interactions before contacting a specific resident and flag any new preferences for the whole team to see. They can also quickly follow up on unresolved issues without missing important context. 

The end benefit? A more seamless experience for residents and families, no matter how your team changes.

Integrations Make Your Tech Stack Adaptable

We’ve already touched on the value of integrations when it comes to onboarding. But they’re also helpful when new leadership enters the picture. 

Many leaders have specific tools they’re used to working with. If a new dining services director prefers MealSuite over eMenuCHOICE, you can see if it integrates with your core senior living tech platform or work with your vendor on a custom integration. And depending on the vendor, you can take advantage of integrations in almost no time, ensuring minimal disruption to your team.

The result: a more flexible and adaptable tech stack that doesn’t overcomplicate the staff experience.

Dashboards Make Data Retention and Analysis a Breeze

One of the biggest advantages of purpose-built senior living technology is the power to quickly pool and analyze data from throughout your community. Compare that to the alternative: hours spent combing through various data sources – and hours more spent on manual analysis.

With the right tech, you can get a birds-eye view of your community’s operations and build out custom reports on everything from resident to family engagement.

That’s huge if you’re, say, want to get a new activity director up to speed on the state of your life enrichment programming. In a matter of seconds, you can provide direct insight into your biggest strengths and pinpoint areas for improvement.

Choose a Vendor That Adapts to Your Needs

Everything we’ve discussed so far can help your senior living community preserve knowledge through transitions. But the key is software that’s built with adaptability in mind – and a vendor that can work with you to implement tech in a way that benefits the community you have today and the one you’ll have in five or 10 years.That’s the kind of vendor Icon strives to be. Want to learn more about our offerings and our approach? Book a demo today.