Modus21 Helps With IT Learning Curve

The celebrated physicist Albert Einstein once said "information is not knowledge."

Einstein, who knew a few things about the topic, makes a good point. In the Information Age, with its plethora of bits and bytes of data constantly streaming forth, one could posit that it's not having the information but rather doing something with it that brings value. At least that's the concept behind the business process management provided by Modus21, a Charleston-based consulting firm whose client list includes several Fortune 500 companies as well as the U.S. government.

Business process management is a field most often described as the intersection of knowledge and information technology, which encompasses tools and techniques to design, control and analyze operational business processes that involve personnel, documents, applications and other sources of information. It's also a field that's wide open for consulting firms such as Modus21.

American businesses and governmental agencies spend billions of dollars each year to become more efficient, effective and profitable. Those billions are usually spent on software applications, networking and project management services, said T.J. Leavell, Modus21's director of development. Unfortunately, Leavell noted, there are processes that get in the way of accomplishing corporate goals.

"Thousands of dollars worth of new information processing equipment and software will be ineffective if the newly processed information doesn't get into the hands of the right people at the right time," he said.

Modus21 was founded in 2004 by Peter Woodhull and Dan Neason and has since grown to eight employees between its offices in Charleston, Jacksonville, Fla., Charlotte, N.C., and Boston, although the company occasionally brings in contractors with expertise in certain systems. The company has found success helping organizations combine their traditional IT applications with the concept of tracking business processes, Leavell said.

For instance, he said, in the human resources department, the amount of paperwork involved in managing employees and benefits can be overwhelming. "A lot of companies don't think about whether the process of working with that paperwork is causing other bottlenecks," he said. "What we do is look at the entire process and see where we can make things move easier."

One benefit, Leavell said, is that often the company can fix the problems without buying new software. "Most of the time, you already have what you need. Most companies try to use technology to be more efficient and more effective. What we do is go in and help them find ways to use what they already have, using tools they've already installed, to do the job better," he said. "Often it's just a learning curve with figuring out how new software operates."

Since its startup, the company has worked on about two dozen projects, some of which come from repeat customers. Leavell said Modus21 is on pace to see 50% to 60% growth in the next year. The projects are located all over the country and much of the business comes through word of mouth, but Leavell said the company recently has made an effort to focus on local business. Among the local businesses currently contracting with Modus21 are Benefitfocus.com Inc., a software manufacturer, and IDEA LLC, a freight forwarder and warehousing management company.

In the case of Benefitfocus, Modus21 came in to help them with a process that was not running efficiently enough and to show them ways to execute it, Leavell said. "Benefitfocus has grown exponentially as we provide innovative technology solutions for the health care insurance industry," said Joy Capps, public and analyst relations manager at Benefitfocus.

The company has doubled in size every 12 months. And as it has grown, it has invested heavily in automation and business process infrastructure, Capps said. With Modus21, Benefitfocus expects to increase its capacity of several business processes by 400% while lowering its operational costs. "As Benefitfocus excels in streamlining health care business processes for carriers, brokers and groups, we have experienced rapid growth," said Shawn Jenkins, president and CEO of Benefitfocus. "We have added 112 new associates since January of this year. As we expand our health care technology offerings, we continue to look for ways to simplify our internal business processes."

At IDEA, Modus21 helped implement a Microsoft tool that will enable the company to connect with clients in China."The reason we hired Modus21 was for our import business from China," said Tom Demuth, president of IDEA. "We have applications and accounting systems, we call them discreet systems, and they have to interface with the systems overseas so we can be connected."

The project lasted three months, and Demuth said it laid all the groundwork for connectivity."The solution Modus21 is providing will be the hub of all of our discreet systems," he said. "It holds everything together."