A few years back, Computrition developed a practical study titled “The Cost of Doing Nothing in Healthcare Food Management Technology”. It has been an invaluable resource for foodservice industry professionals and we’d like to continue sharing the challenging perspective it offers.

As we all know, business decisions entail a cost (i.e. hiring employees, purchasing new equipment, implementing software technology). A factor that weighs heavy on the decision scales is budgetary constraints. In healthcare foodservices, the decision makers – Administrators – are greatly influenced by the amount of profit the foodservice department is contributing to the overall operation.

Here is a synopsis of a typical dilemma: Administration selects a vendor. Vendor drafts a proposal/contract. Everything is reviewed and negotiated. The decision remains idle. The golden question we’d like to propose is whether Administration considered the cost of an idle decision prior to not moving forward (i.e. operating processes manually, continuing with ineffective systems, etc.).

Food for thought – to truly reach a thorough decision, we suggest the evaluation process to include the following critical measures:

1. Return on investment
2. Opportunity loss when comparing multiple options
3. Cost of doing nothing

Typically, the first two are routine measures, but has much thought been given to the third? Foodservice Directors know firsthand what the cost of doing nothing entails, and that is why they are qualified to provide this unique perspective to Administrators during the decision making process. By simply considering the impact of idleness versus focusing solely on the outcome of gain, Administrators will acquire a whole new outlook.