The downsides to working for symplr are more than I can write in a single post. To keep the post as useful as possible, I will break them down into three main indictments:
1. Systemic Communication Problems
Without exaggeration, I have never seen a company as small as symplr struggle so much with a fundamental pillar needed for success. Problems with internal communication will always result in problems with external communication.
Examples of poor communication include but are not limited to:
- Entire campaigns regarding system changes being drafted, reviewed, scheduled, and distributed without a single person in a customer facing role knowing anything about it. (Can you imagine getting told by a customer that you have worked with for months that a major feature is now missing from the product suite before you even knew? Yeah, I couldn't either until working for symplr.)
-"Strategic Enhancements" to key dashboards that customers use on a daily basis being completely modified, once again, without a single person in a customer facing role knowing about it. (My favorite was when they decided to modify the Health System dashboard with a scoring system that was baseless)
-Deciding that a product will no longer be made available or supported while the product is still being actively marketed on their website and with deals in the pipeline that are contingent on the successful delivery of said product . Shoutout to Visitor Management!
2. Addiction to the "Quick Win"
It is very obvious, symplr executives and their investors are dead set on the idea that in the course of 3-6 months, they can make huge leaps in their sales pipeline, the quality of their software (without proper testing), or conversions from competitors. The market is very mature with most, if not all, healthcare systems already having some sort of credentialing in place. Add on top of this the consolidation of smaller healthcare system being purchased by larger ones and you can find yourself re-pitching against a competitor and losing large accounts because they, of course, want a consistent product system wide.
In this environment, it is extremely important that you play a long game. symplr doesn't play this - they want to buy up all sorts of other assets and other companies without competency to combine their services or products in a promising way. Just take their Provider Management platform Cactus as an example. Once they purchased Cactus, they moved quickly to make changes on a platform that would be sunset in two years. You are literally creating your own problems to be solved within a two year period. This is not a one-off example but rather reflects a default mode of operation.
3. Lack of Executive Accountability/Unmerited Promotions and Accolades
This problems if fed directly by the first two indictments. Some executives are given free reign to invest in products, services, and initiatives that cost the company literally hundreds of thousands of dollars with no clear ROI and absolutely no accountability. For instance, on several occasions investments were made in entire site redesigns and product management was directly influenced with initiatives that were worked on in complete silos. Likewise, people who were known as complete trouble-makers in one department (embarrassing sales people on phone calls with customers, lying to customers, etc.) were given higher-paying positions in an unrelated department without any previous qualifications.
