Syft’s Executive Director of Product, Steve Herz, discusses key 4.5 enhancements

5 Minute Read – Thanks to input from our hospital partners, Syft Synergy’s new 4.5 release supports more efficient warehouse and distribution workflows with task information that is personalized to each user and fewer steps associated with task completion overall.

Here, Syft’s Executive Director of Product, Steve Herz, shares more about version 4.5, and how Syft partnered closely with customers to identify improvement opportunities and refine the new enhancements.

What’s most exciting to you about the Syft Synergy 4.5 release?

Herz: We took our customers’ feedback to heart and used it to greatly improve the Syft Synergy mobile application. We fully redesigned the app interface for the warehouse and distribution modules to simplify processes for receiving, stockroom, and distribution users. The app now meets global functionality standards, including uncluttered screens and quick taps on floating buttons to complete tasks. The keyboard sits just beneath the typing and calculation fields and is customizable. The app organizes and groups tasks by their status and files them in collapsible subdividers to keep the screen view clean ensuring optimized user productivity. These are significant and time-saving improvements for those carrying out day-to-day supply chain tasks.

We also enhanced the receiving function to support license plate scanning and recognition. This makes it easier for users to receive items associated with multiple POs bundled into a license plate. Our customers are really excited to have this new functionality.

How do the new and updated features improve productivity?

Herz: Streamlining and simplifying the warehouse and distribution modules helps users stay focused on the task at hand in a few ways. One is that administrators can configure screen views according to roles and user groups, so workers only see and touch tasks relevant to them. Another is task organization. We’ve made it much easier to see what’s next, whether that’s completing a task or starting the next one.

Now, anyone can pick up a device and use the app with very little training. It’s easier and cognitively intuitive to use. Our hospital partners will experience more employee satisfaction, higher performance, faster turn-around, more accuracy, and reduced costs associated with supply chain management.

What helped you identify these—and other—key improvements you made with the 4.5 release?

Herz: Syft is committed to continually raising the bar for supply chain management. As part of that work, we partner closely with our customers to gain a deeper understanding of their needs and experience with our products. For this 4.5 release (and with all releases) we sought feedback from our users, including those who are part of our forum for product co-design, user testing, and ideas. From them, we receive comments such as: “I get confused because there are so many steps to take and I don’t know what all the buttons and icons mean,” and “We need to have more ability to alter settings based on users and roles.”

We took all these suggestions to heart and applied them to version 4.5. Previously every screen displayed multiple buttons, now there are fewer buttons making it clear what the task at hand is. The secondary and tertiary warehouse and distribution tasks have been removed from the primary screen view but are easily accessed via the menu or task item swipe options. The app now automatically downloads task activities, which eliminates user cognitive disconnect from tech-oriented commands.

What improvements were made for clinicians?

Herz: Clinical users move from location to location and log into multiple computers and applications daily. Remembering login information can be difficult and logging into different apps is time consuming. Syft now supports Imprivata Single Sign On (SSO) technologies so users can automatically log in to the Syft Synergy supply capture application. This further improves supply capture adoption and workflows for circulating nurses and other clinical users.

The new 4.5 release also offers automated data integration to implant trays systems and allows hospitals to configure the frequency of data synchronization. The Syft Synergy supply capture implant details window now provides more detailed product and manufacturer descriptions and allows nurses to create emergency cases and auto-case pick items from a preference card straight from the supply capture function. Procedures and physicians can also be edited mid-case and in closed cases.

We’re most excited about offering clinicians the new mobile UI/UX in the next release planned for later this year so they too can realize the workflow improvements that our warehouse and distribution partners will experience with this new 4.5 release. Stay tuned as there is much more exciting news about that coming soon!