3 ways Asset Sharing can benefit your healthcare organization

Over the last few years, the sharing economy has gained immense popularity and is projected to create an even bigger impact in the near future.

On the picture: Lieke van Kerkhoven, Floow2Health

Over the last few years, the sharing economy has gained immense popularity and is projected to create an even bigger impact in the near future, not only in the consumer-to-consumer market. Quite frankly, the success of businesses and organizations worldwide will become more and more defined by the optimized usage of assets through sharing. Why? Because there are three significant advantages to asset sharing that are hard to pass up. Organizations improve their sustainable impact, enhance their social position and reap major financial benefits. Let’s take a closer look at the unique benefits that asset sharing brings for healthcare organizations.

1. Improvement of financial health

When you share your underutilized equipment, personnel, facilities or services, your organization will benefit from an additional operating cash flow, created by the rental or sales of the assets that (temporarily) aren’t optimally being used. If you choose to use assets from colleague organizations, you will lessen your capital expenditure, giving you a larger cash flow for alternative investments.

But that’s not all. When you share your assets with other healthcare organizations around you, you will need less capital expenditure, which will result in reduced depreciation of fixed assets. The rent for using shared assets will be much lower than the corresponding depreciation. Finally, sharing your company assets will also lead to a smaller risk of the impairment of your assets, as sharing leads to higher future cash flows from the rental or sales of these assets.

2. Enhancement of sustainable impact

Healthcare organizations typically operate in a public domain, and are likely to receive public money. As a result, they have an additional responsibility to make sure their operations and expenditure do not harm the environment more than necessary. Ask yourself: “Do I really need to own this piece of equipment, or would I be just fine if I can make use of the capacity of my colleagues just a few kilometers away?

When your organization optimizes the usage of assets, less new products, equipment and facilities will have to be created. Ultimately this means that less scarce resources will have to be used. Just imagine what the impact could be if all healthcare organizations, in an industry that uses more scarce resources and produces more waste than almost any other sector in the world, would start to optimize using what’s already available.

3. Advancement of social position

Healthcare organizations operate in the center of social communities that exist of suppliers, service providers, clients, and other parties, all needing assets for their own specific activities. Creating transparency between these stakeholders, allowing them to see who has what, where and when available, can lead to new and unexpected collaborations and relationships. Additionally, being open and ‘vulnerable’ about your organization’s assets enhances your image as a trustworthy and reliable partner.

It’s time to share

Positive impact on the Cash Flow? Check. Positive impact on the environment? Check. Positive social impact? Check. Asset sharing improves the financial health of your organization, while also contributing to a more sustainable and social world. It’s really that simple. But just like all major changes, the switch to asset sharing will not be easy. The management team has to be on board and an organization has to be ready, willing, and know how to embrace this new addition to their existing business model. It will be the task of, for instance, procurement or facility managers to think along with the executives, advise them, and implement it into the core business. For the successful implementation of Asset Sharing, leaders with a vision who accept that it takes some time to reap the benefits of this revolution will have to stand up and take charge. Are you next? Just remember, every journey starts with a single step. Start with sharing. See where it takes you.

Authors: Lieke van Kerkhoven, Kim Tjoa

Lieke van Kerkhoven is responsible for business development of FLOOW2 Healthcare, the sharing marketplace for healthcare organizations, Kim Tjoa is co-founder of FLOOW2 World’s Reset Button, the leading sharing marketplace for businesses and organizations.