Financial Metrics
Profits
The profits being made by the clinic should be monitored as this ensures that the business
is able to sustain itself. This can be monitored by deducting the expenses from the gross profits. To ensure that the clinic is making a profit, the net profits should be positive.
This can change in the future if the number of patients increase or decrease where the profit increases as the number of patients increases and vice versa.
If profits increase then the strategies should be enhanced to further sustain the clinic’s growth. If the profits decrease then the strategies should be changed to encourage more patients to come to the clinic.
Losses
Along with the profits, the losses should also be monitored. Again, this can be calculated
Business strategies
The clinic’s business strategies should also be monitored (Mohamed, Syed & Prabhaker,
2009). This can be done by regularly evaluating the clinic’s processes through observation, employee feedback, and customer feedback. For example, if having more employees will allow the clinic to cater to more patients – thereby making more profits – then the strategies should be changed to allow for the hiring of more employees.
Cash flow
The net cash flow is obtained by getting the difference between the cash inflow and the
cash outflow. A positive net cash flow means that the clinic is receiving more money than it is spending. This can change as the number of customers/patients and the expenses increase/decrease.
It is important to maintain a positive cash flow (More, 2011), as cash is needed for the payment of things such as power, labor, transport, bills, and raw materials. As such, adjustments in the business strategy should be made to increase the cash flow.
Cost
Costs should be monitored by monitoring the accounting books, as well as through the monitoring of expenses. Costs should be tracked as they can increase the clinic’s losses and decrease its profits. The costs of goods can change because of changes in the economy. As such, the business strategy should be adjusted to cut costs where possible or to switch to cheaper brands of products or to suppliers that sell their goods more cheaply.
Non-financial Metrics
Quality of service
The quality of the service provided should be monitored (Mohamed et al., 2001) as this
will influence the customer’s decision to keep availing of the clinic’s service. Information about this metric can be obtained from customer feedback, and it can change if employees underperform or it can also be affected if the competitor provides a better quality of service. As such, the business strategy should be modified to address any decline in service quality.
Employee performance
Employee performance can be measured through employee performance evaluations. It is
important to monitor this metric as it can determine the employees’ level of productivity and the quality of service that employees provide, which can affect both the clinic’s revenue and the customers’ satisfaction. As such, employee performance should be made a part of the business strategy and the various talent metrics should be modified as the need arises (Forman, 2006).
Employee satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is another metric that should be measured as it can affect employee
performance. Information can be obtained through employee feedback, and changes in employee satisfaction can occur as changes occur in the employees’ work conditions and work environment. As such, the business strategy should be modified in order to address the employees’ concerns and ensure that they have a safe and pleasant work environment.
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction should be monitored, as this will determine the number of
customers/patients who will avail of the clinic’s services. Information for this metric can be obtained through observation and from customer/employee feedback. As such, the business strategy should be modified to address the customer’s complaints and demands.
Strengths and weaknesses of competitors
It will also be helpful to monitor or evaluate the strengths and weakness of the clinic’s competitors. This information can be gathered through news information, word of mouth, observation, or through networking with other professionals in the field.
References
Forman, D. C. (2006, January). Talent metrics. Leadership Excellence, 23(1), 6.
Mohamed, A., Syed, I. & Prabhaker, P. R. (2009, January 1). Business metrics: A key to
competitive advantage. Advances in Business Research, 17(1/2), 90.
More, R. (2011, July/August). What is success innovation? Ivey Business Journal. Retrieved
innovation#.UTWEFTdLlQU.
