[Podcast] Highway to Health: “Contract Life Cycle Management is Coming Out on Top, as Healthcare Providers Increasingly Rely on the Tool”

[00:00:05] David Kemp
Hey everybody, it’s David. I’m your host of Highway to Health podcast, and, uh, thank you for being here in the past, for
being here today and continuing to tune in. We try to bring you the best in health care. And, uh, we want to celebrate
the thought leaders, the experts, the innovators. Some might even call them disruptors in our industry. And they’re
doing everything that they can to improve a lot of things that we experience in health care, namely the experience, the
access, and of course, the outcomes for health care. And that’s really why I’m excited today to have our guests on the
show. Uh, we have David Pascal, who’s the CEO of Ntracts, and we also have the senior VP of sales and client
engagement at Ntracts. Her name’s Stephanie Haywood. And today we’re going to talk about a lot of different things.
And we’re going to let the experts bring the education, the engagement, the inspiration to you, our community. And so
I’d like to welcome our guests, Stephanie. David, welcome to Highway to Health.

[00:01:01] David Paschall
Thanks for having us, David.

[00:01:03] Stephanie Haywood
Excited to be here.
[00:01:05] David Kemp
Well, we’re excited to have you. And, uh, this podcast has been almost like a guilty pleasure of mine because, you
know, we we get caught on these conversations, these zoom calls, all the time. We really don’t have a chance to slow
down and learn from each other. And so this this podcast is meant to be able to, you know, for me personally, uh, to
learn from experts like yourselves, but also to scale that education to anybody that wants to tune in. And we kind of
have a little bit of a tradition here before we get into the business, I like to ask our experts, our executives, to share a
healthy habit that you’ve implemented into your day. So, David, if you don’t mind, share with us how you stay
physically, mentally healthy for your family, the company, the community.

[00:01:52] David Paschall
Yeah. And, um, it’s an interesting question. You know, for me, it’s it’s physical activity. Um, it’s and it doesn’t have to be
exercise. You know, it it’s getting out, going on a walk, doing something to get your heart rate up every day. Um, I have
learned over time that, uh, not to short cut, you know, yourself. You know, when you’re doing that, it it to me personally,
it keeps me alert. Uh, it makes me a lot happier of a person. Uh, so even when there’s when there are those, you know,
deadlines looming, don’t shortcut it. Get out there and do it.

[00:02:29] David Kemp
I agree with you. Oftentimes we’ll have something that happens that kind of wakes us up, tells us, hey, um, you’ve
neglected yourself and your health for too long, and if we can avoid those things and build a habit, build a routine that
keeps us, um, you know, keeps our health maintained, that’s even better. Stephanie, you have anything you’d like to
share?

[00:02:50] Stephanie Haywood
Yeah. I mean, I think definitely physical activity is something for sure. I try to get out every day and take a walk or
exercise, go to the gym. But something else, I think it’s mindfulness too. Just taking that step back for a second and
being able to walk away from your computer or walk away from your phone and just spend some time thinking. Um, so
mindfulness is super important part of my day and, and, and just having the ability to, to give myself a moment of
pause. Um.

[00:03:19] David Kemp
Yeah, that’s really well said. Somebody told me, um, it’s been about a year ago, um, when I was just really busy and
didn’t have. I felt like I didn’t have time right, to do something that I should be doing. And, um, they said the urgent stills
from the important. And, um, just because something is urgent, we can’t neglect what might be even more important.
Uh, even if that thing that’s really important doesn’t have a necessarily deadline, it’s still important. And don’t let the
urgency of a task still from what’s truly important. And so, um, I think both of your answers follow that, that guidance.
And I love hearing from people like yourselves because you’re as busy as they come. Um, your executives, you’re
running a company, you’re running teams. Um, but it’s our obligation. It’s our responsibility to be at the top of our game
for the people who depend on us personally and professionally. And a lot of that has to be has to do with being mindful
and and physically healthy so that we can we can be at the top of our game when they need us. So thank you for
sharing that. Sometimes it’s a personal question. Um, and I appreciate you, you guys.

[00:04:31] David Paschall
David, I’ll add, um, you know, Stephanie and I travel, uh, around the country, you know, visiting different health care
professionals or speaking, and sometimes on a road trip, she’ll, uh, invite me to be outside of the car to walk, um, so I
can get my physical exercise, and she can get her mindfulness.

[00:04:52] David Kemp
Uh.

[00:04:53] David Kemp
That’s good. Get away from me. I need some mindfulness time.

[00:04:57] Stephanie Haywood
Very true, very true.

[00:04:59] David Kemp
It’s dual benefit. Uh, you recognizing value right away. Right there. All right, I love it, I love it. Um, let’s get into Ntracts a
little bit. You know, for those that are unaware, contract life cycle management and, um, you know, maybe before we
dig in too far, um, who wants to give maybe just the 30,000 foot view of of Ntracts and the way you partner with your
customers?

[00:05:22] Stephanie Haywood
I’m happy to. So Interaxis is a contract lifecycle management solution. We partner with health, hospitals and health
care organizations all across the country from small, you know, standalone, critical rural access facilities, um, fqhc
private equity backed healthcare organizations all the way to national organizations with presence across across the
country. Um, it’s really our our approach to partnership is really strategic alignment on your contract management, um,
and compliance and cost saving goals. So, you know, while we are a SaaS based technology solution, we go really feel
like it’s important to go a step further and create a partnership, um, with our with our organizations, we understand that
your focus is largely oftentimes not, you know, on the administrative side, right? It’s providing care to those in your
communities. And and having been in the space for, gosh, do I say it 20, 20 years? Um, you know, we recognize that
and the importance of that.

[00:06:31] David Kemp
That my introduction to this podcast, the whole theme of this podcast is exactly what you just talked about. You know,
there’s great technologies. There’s I mean, the last ten, 15 years has been this golden age of innovation in health care
and the common common theme, the common goal, um, seems to be which I, which I’m excited about and want to
celebrate, is the idea of getting these health care providers back to doing what they got into the industry to do, which is
take care of the community and the patients, and to deliver the kind of care that they’re excited to deliver. And I want to
get into how Ntracts. Is bridging that gap. But maybe before we do that, let’s talk about, you know, some of the biggest
challenges that you guys are seeing when working so closely with these partners of yours. Share with us some of the
main challenges that these these systems are facing. And how does Ntracts maybe help address those issues and
bridge that gap?

[00:07:28] David Paschall
Yeah. Um, and I’ll just start. You know, it’s always been important, uh, for contract life cycle management. Um, it’s
always been a need. Organization efficiency. Um, I think it’s never been as important as it is. You know, right now,
especially with the cost pressures that we’re seeing in health care. Um, you know, we see specific you know, lately it’s
been labor. Um, but we continue to see those cost pressures there. The when we’re talking to health care executives,
that’s on the top of their mind. Um, they’re trying to figure out a way, um, to not only get past the, you know, the next
three months, but build, you know, long terme. And, um, it’s always hard to think longer. Tum, um, you know, and and
there is a tendency sometimes to, um, cost cut your way out of these things. And, uh, these systems need to do what
they need to do. Um, but what we continue to push, uh, in the space is while you are looking short. Terme. Um, you
have to be looking long as well and invest in efficiency. And that is, you know, whether you are, uh, setting up a CRM
system to catch, uh, you know, costs that may be flying out the door, whether you have contracts that are expiring or
have expired that you’re still paying on, uh, which we see all the time, or you’re taking that next step into building in
efficiencies. Can you get contracts, uh, done quicker? Um, do you need the amount of resources to be able to, uh, to,
to, uh, solve your, you know, your, your organizational needs? And to me, that’s the big thing that we keep touching on
right now. Compliance is always a huge piece. Uh, organization is always a huge piece. But, um, that’s been a big one,
uh, lately that that, uh, we’ve been solving.

[00:09:28] Stephanie Haywood
Yeah. I think, you know, oftentimes when you’re talking about, um, the, the pressures within a health care organization,
you turn to, you’re always going to be focused on your clinical applications. Right? So then you turn to shortcutting your
technology and your IT applications. And you don’t realize sometimes the value that those are providing to those cost
saving measures, to those efficiencies that really allow you to do more. Um, so I think one of the biggest challenges that
we’ve been having, like David mentioned in talking to executives, is don’t, don’t, don’t shortcut yourself. Right, on the
technologies that are really going to add advancements to your, to your health system, that are going to allow you to do
more with less when when you are in those cost saving measures.

[00:10:15] David Kemp
And so when you know, when these organizations have a better handle on the contracts that they own and manage.
They can. It almost provides transparency in a way where they can understand the tech stack, that they have access
to, the value that they’re getting out of it. And then, David, to your point, they can decide, you know, urgent versus
important when they’re cost cutting and when they’re trying to do these things because of the pressure that they’re
under. They have insight into, you know, the current state of their organization, the current stack that they own and
make better, more informed decisions on the path forward down the road. I’ve got a question about just, you know, I
mentioned this golden age of innovation that we’re we’re in and hospitals, health systems are starting to, um, leverage
more technology than they have in the past. And it’s a lot, a lot of it’s due to the pressures that they’re under, whether it’s
staffing shortages or other things, that they have to become more efficient and scale their operations through. They’re
leaning more heavily on technology. Are you seeing some of the challenges that you’re you’re helping these providers
work through? Are you seeing those challenges tied to just the sheer volume of contracts that they have to own and
manage? I mean, I.

[00:11:31] Stephanie Haywood
Think that certainly there is a challenge around getting your arms around what the volume of your contracts within the
organization. Um, and to your point, bringing transparency and visibility into those. But I think something else is making
sure that you’re leveraging your contract management solution to help address those, those challenges, those, uh,
resource inefficiencies in some instances. I’ll use an example. You know, I’m going to take us back to 2020 when we
saw the pandemic. And I and I like to use this example because I think that was really a time when organizations had to
look at the technologies that they had so that they could continue to efficiently serve their patients when they were
going through a pandemic. Obviously, all eyes were on, you know, clinical resources and making sure that we were,
um, you were we were addressing those, but we saw clients turning to their chlm to say, okay, it’s giving us visibility.
We know what we’ve got on contract. We know how to quickly execute to get the, you know, PPE and that we need we
know that we need these contracts executed quickly, you know, using electronic signature. And so we saw a significant
shift in. Yeah. Well you’ve kind of got all your eyes over on making sure that you’re addressing the challenges around
the pandemic, using their CRM technology to address a lot of those kind of things that day to day business that still had
to get done.

[00:12:56] David Kemp
Yeah, that’s a good point.

[00:12:58] David Paschall
Yeah. You almost see, uh, an expansion. Uh, I love that, Stephanie. Kind of an expansion of what Clem is being used
for. Uh, early on. Again, I’ll say the, the, the year, the 20 year. You know, we’ve been doing this a while, but it was all
about where your contracts, who’s responsible for them, what are the dates, you know, in there and, and can we get to
them quickly. And all of that is still incredibly important. Um, but what in many cases, you know, for those systems that
are ready to take that next step, it’s can we build our policies in signatory policy? Can we start looking at some financial
terms that we will we will keep with before their, their, uh, negotiated, um, can we make better business decisions with
the data? How can we get that and put it into a manageable, uh, usage and of course, workflow. Uh, faster, more
efficient. Um, but still keeping that same quality. I think that’s that’s a big piece.

[00:13:59] Stephanie Haywood
I think what we’ve seen over the past couple of years is the innovation is only increased, right. And that technology has
only been used more and more throughout organizations as a means to addressing the, the, their ongoing challenges,
even if they’re not having financial challenges or, or, um, resource challenges, they’re seeing that technology can really
add a significant amount of value.

[00:14:24] David Kemp
I want to I want to stay on this innovation topic. You know, I’ve heard I’ve heard you guys talk about how not too long
ago you would go in and do an assessment on, you know, the current, the current processes that, you know, an
organization has, and you ask them about the signature signatory process, and they show you a cart that they will
around from desk to desk to get. We’re probably you probably still experience some things like that. Uh, not everybody
has moved past those old processes, but we’ve we’ve probably are encountering a more savvy organization, more
savvy user, which means Ntracts has to keep up with that pace of innovation and give us some insight into, you know,
you guys are leaders of your organization. How are you fostering that innovative mindset there at Ntracts, and how do
you keep your team motivated? You’ve got a proven solution. It’d be easy to rest on that proven solution. How do you
keep your team motivated to continually innovate? This is one of my favorite topics.

[00:15:28] David Paschall
Um, so, you know, for us, for for Ntracts, we like to look at the mission first. Um, we look at health care. We look at, um,
and you said it first, David. I mean, the focus of us is to take care of these issues so health care organizations can focus
on the patient. Um, and that’s that is our creed. That’s our mission. That’s where we’re going at. That’s a lot of the
motivation behind, uh Interaxis. Um, employees and what we’re, what we’re driving to. But innovation itself can come in
so many different forms, um, and come from so many different places. So, you know, when we look at innovation, of
course, you know, features, maybe it’s a product idea, maybe it’s a way to, um, get the end user to a destination, uh,
quicker, um, or more effectively. But also, you know, innovation could also come from a service process that allows for
one of our client services representatives to assist a client, uh, quicker to implement faster, uh, to share more
information, uh, and go through what will this workflow process be? So we like to take the we like to take the stance at,
um, at Ntracts that every single department is their own garage startup. Um, we’re not, uh, in, you know, we’re not, um,
just listening to ideas. I mean, we’re expecting ideas. You know, we’re expecting, uh, I started out abstract and
contracts in this space, um, you know, reading through contracts, pulling out data. And I know, you know, the
efficiencies that you can put in just from there to get that data more accurate, to get it faster. Um, and I think when you
look at every single department across the Ntracts, um, that’s what we see. It’s better at every level. Um, is the
expectation.

[00:17:26] Stephanie Haywood
Yeah, I think that, I mean, you you said it best, David, and that’s some that’s an important cultural piece. One of the
things that I love about each of our departments and the ideas that they bring is, while not all of them are always, you
know, client facing, they are all interacting at some level with our software or with our client base. So they see it and
they have the opportunity to bring just kind of a different perspective that that ultimately, you know, they can collaborate
across their their individual teams. But then we really encourage that cross collaboration across teams. So we might
have someone that’s in implementation that’s talking about a feature or something that one of their clients is doing.
And, you know, they’ll have that discussion with our product team and with our sales team about how we can, you
know, talk to our client about that need and better understanding it. So, um, it’s really important that, like David
mentioned, everybody’s kind of a garage startup, but we also talk about how to collaborate across teams to bring the
best products and solutions to our, our client base.

[00:18:29] David Kemp
Yeah. Well said. I mean, so many things pop into my head. You know Salesforce is this. 50,000 person or employee
company. There are $35 billion in annual revenue. Um the leading CRM. But if you ask the leadership team at
Salesforce about their culture, they want it to be a 50 000 person startup. They want everybody to be a part of the
innovation. Um, they want every voice heard because every voice has a different perspective and experience with the
platform, and probably have an idea or two that could be leveraged and that innovation is. And you said it, you guys
said it too is solely meant for. You know, the the improved experience for the customer, the improved experience and
outcomes for the customer. And when your customer centric, um, you know that every innovation that you, you
encounter and implement is providing direct value back to the people who depend on you. And I think that’s I think
that’s really powerful stuff. And what I’m hearing from you is what I, what I’ve heard and experienced from, you know,
the, the other leading and, and best companies in B2B and that’s, that’s exciting. That’s that’s powerful to hear. And I’m
sure your customers provide very great feedback on that level of innovation resulting in in delivering the value that they
expect.

[00:20:02] Stephanie Haywood
For sure. And, you know, I’ll just add, we’re healthcare specific, um, which is really great because we understand the
unique complexities of contract life cycle management in this space. Um, I mentioned, you know, David and I have
been doing this for 20 years. Our executive team has been doing it for, you know, an average tenure of 20 ish years.
Most of our team members have spent their careers in healthcare. Clem and I mentioned that because it’s important,
because when you bring those innovative ideas, you really have a true understanding of the path that our client
partners are on. Right? So we’re bringing ideas that are going to be beneficial to healthcare. Clem. Not these kind of
crazy out of the box. You know, let’s go down this this rabbit trail, something that’s not going to really add value. We’re
really focused on. We have a colleague that says, you know, focus till it hurts essentially. And it’s kind of a motto. It
interacts because we’re focused on making sure that we’re providing those value, that value healthcare specifically to
the market.

[00:21:08] David Kemp
So how do you gather some of that customer feedback and and get that insight from the end user and your partners,
uh, so that you can use that feedback to, to foster that and motivate that innovative personality and culture that you
have at Ntracts, maybe share a story of a piece of feedback that has shaped a service that you’re now providing.

[00:21:30] Stephanie Haywood
Um, well, I think we get it from all sorts of ways. Um, obviously we’re incredibly engaged with our our client, our client
partners. Um, so our team is interacting with them consistently, whether that’s on our support desk or, you know, our
account management account client engagement team or implementation team. So we’re constantly seeking and
asking for feedback. I got an email the other day about we were working on kind of solving a challenge in an
organization was having, um, like an internal process organization. And we brought, you know, a couple of ideas and
we said, here are the pros and cons of each. So we weren’t just kind of like forcing something down their throat. We
were saying, you know, you can do it this way. Or you can take option, option B. And here are the the pros and cons of
each. And the response back was we really appreciate you bringing us options and guiding us into what like you
recommend as a best practice, but giving us some autonomy to kind of determine what’s going to be best for our
organization. And that helps continue to show that, you know, we made the right selection in partnership with with
Ntracts, because you’re not just saying, like, this is how you have to do it. We want to provide guidance and best
practice, but at the end of the day, it’s their organization too. So we have to be mindful of that. So I mean, I think that’s
just one story or example of how we get that feedback and, and the partnerships that we have. But um, David can
speak specifically to kind of that executive feedback that we get, um, with our, our NAC. Sure.

[00:23:02] David Paschall
And, and, you know, before I go there, just one other thing to to add on, uh, Stephanie, um, trust I think trust is a is a
huge thing when you’re looking at not only customer feedback but solving problems. Um, and, you know, necessity
drives most innovation. Um, that innovation could also be problem solving. Uh, so and it doesn’t have to be this solution
focused. It doesn’t have to be software focused. Um, but to have the kind of that back and forth trust from, you know,
your client service side and the end user, the customer. I think it goes a long way to, um, have us have a service group
that, uh, it doesn’t even have to be CRM related. How can we solve your problem and how can we brainstorm to really
get here? That also drives ideas of what could be and where we should go. So I think that’s a, um, that’s a really big
piece of client services. And I think it that’s manifested in the Ntracts Advisory Council. So the NAC, as we, we like to
call it, it’s a group of, uh, healthcare professionals. Um, and it is. Is, uh, a fantastic group. They are driving a lot of of
where we’re going. We have a lot of fun together. Um, and, you know, to me, that is, you know, somewhat of a
microcosm of client service, um, asking questions, understanding what the needs are, uh, what tweaks can be made to
make life better, make it more efficient, or what are the big things we should be tackling, uh, in health care? What is
going to make the biggest difference in the space? And, you know, many times folks think of a new product or
something like that. A lot of times it’s just a tweak, you know, it’s could we be using the same solution to solve an
additional problem? So I think looking at it kind of holistically from an executive side, but also, I mean, just the end user,
it’s almost the same approach.

[00:25:11] David Kemp
You know, your answer actually reminds me a lot of. Um, Jesse Cole, who’s the owner of the Savannah Bananas? I
don’t know if you are familiar. Are you familiar with.

[00:25:21] David Paschall
The Savannah bananas?

[00:25:22] David Kemp
Okay. Um, you know, his the way he thinks about fan or customer experience is very similar to how you described it.
First of all, you have to know what their pain points are. And then innovation doesn’t always look like a new shiny piece
of technology or or automation. Sometimes, like for the Savannah bananas, it’s as simple as saying look, instead of
charging them $7 for a ticket and then $10 for a soda, we’re going to charge them a $10 ticket, and it’s unlimited sodas.
And it takes that friction point off of the ticket holder to say, okay, now I’ve got I’m going to have to budget for this many
sodas. And and now my cost of ownership is this much. No innovation to him is like, let’s make this easy for everybody.
$10 tickets, a little more than what you’ve spent in the past. You’re going to save some money in the long run, and
you’re not going to worry about your kids asking for an extra soda or an extra hot dog, because it’s all included. And his
his view of innovation, to your point, is very similar to what you say. Get the feedback and then take the friction away.
The easiest way possible for your customers. And when you do that, those customers become fans. And according to
Jesse Cole, those fans will do the marketing for you through word of mouth. And that’s how innovation can really drive a
business and growth for an organization. And you guys I mentioned Salesforce earlier. I mentioned Savannah
Bananas. Now, I don’t know if you can get more opposite, uh, on the ends of the spectrum, but uh, what I’m hearing
from you guys is what I’m hearing from some of my favorite brands.

[00:27:00] Stephanie Haywood
Yeah, I think it goes back to the, you know, like we were talking about the the having a partnership, having a
relationship with those organizations, engaging with them all the time. And then really our culture of innovation and
making sure that our team members feel comfortable bringing those ideas to the table, whether it’s a tweak or a, you
know, whole new product. We don’t look at them and say, you know, that’s a terrible idea, and we explore it, and that’s
how you that’s how you that’s how you build a business. That’s how you grow a client base.

[00:27:30] David Kemp
Let’s talk about we’ve talked about, you know, kind of where we came from, where we are. Let’s look at, you know, this
is called Highway to Health. Let’s look down the road. You know, if we’re on this journey, um, together, let’s look down
the road and, and look at some future trends that you might see emerging. If you could predict maybe what might have
some of the most significant impact on the contract life cycle management process in the health care setting. What do
you see coming down the road? What’s in the near future and beyond?

[00:28:02] David Paschall
Yeah. Another one we love we love to talk about you know, we talked earlier about organization transparency, uh,
moving to workflow and efficiency. Um, to me it’s, uh, the future is, is automation of a lot of those ideas and in many
cases the same, uh, value concepts that were before but just built in, uh, to a solution. And being healthcare specific is
so important to us, uh, because we’re, we’re solving specific health care problems. And Clem, um, many times. And
when I say automation, um, it could be understanding clause language, uh, as it currently sits in your, your system or as
you’re negotiating it, uh, and you’re building contracts. So is this something that, um, we hold standard across all of our
organizations, uh, compliance focused, you know, can we make sure that when we’re moving forward in these
arrangements, um, that we’re thinking compliance, we’re also thinking business decisions, uh, at the same time. And
we have that information. Um, AI is a huge piece of that as well, uh, being able to assist in some of those decisions and
setting them up beforehand, pulling data out of, uh, you know, machine learning, being able to pull data out
automatically, uh, and have that information to, again, where you can make better business decisions or it driving or
triggering, uh, different folks to look at it in many cases, because that’s another piece, you know, you have
transparency, but are the right folks responsible and, um, opining on on many of the decisions that we.

[00:29:53] David Kemp
Do, you know, the, uh, the AI topic, everybody that I talked to that, you know, is, is really entrenched in. The application
or the implementation of artificial intelligence in health care, talks about the need for large data sets to train that AI to be
as smart as you need it to be on the topics, the specific topics that you’re working in. There. There, doesn’t there? It
doesn’t seem. We don’t seem to have a challenge in the the amount of data that we have in health care, especially
especially in your in your world to train those AI models. It may take some time, but I see a huge potential in that space,
especially with CLM.

[00:30:36] Stephanie Haywood
Yeah, I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head when you talk about the data sets and the amount of data, um, and the
training of the AI. Right. So it’s especially in health care, it’s pretty unique. The information that’s in the contracts, the
information that you’re trying to make sure that you’re, um, getting visibility into whether that’s on the clinical or the
administrative side. So, um, AI is absolutely, um, an important innovation. And it’s going to be key. It is key, and it’s
going to continue to be key in CLM process. But that’s also not to say that it’s a magic bullet and going to, you know,
address every issue. So I think that, you know, when we talk about and we have this conversation all the time with our
partners and, and um, internally. Right, like what’s the right, what’s the right level of AI to make sure that, um, at least
Interaxis is putting out the appropriate, like making sure you’re getting value out of it. Right? Because we know that it’s
going to take a bit of time. So what are like iterative steps that can be put in place to make sure that you’re addressing
those things? And it’s definitely going to be transformative. Um, and it already is. We can see that we’re excited about
the, the, the future state of AI as well. Um, but that’s not to say that you should neglect processes, your contracting
processes, the automation that you can build into your CLM and take advantage of that, um, in partnership with use of
AI.

[00:32:07] David Paschall
Now that’s great. Stephanie. Um, one other thing. Just to piggyback, you know, when we look at, you know, the next
thing and the future, um, we love, uh, substance over flash, you know, are they common sense? Uh, solutions? Um,
they may revolutionize the space. Um. But they’re substantive, you know, and when we look at it, they need to meet the
need and not be something that sits out and, you know, you ooh and ah over when you talk about but doesn’t really
work on the other side. So and we, we take that same approach with I, you know, it needs to solve the problem at hand.
Um, not just kind of look cool over here on, you know, on the side.

[00:32:52] David Kemp
Yeah, there’s, there’s real world application right now for AI, but we’re just scratching the surface of where we’ll be in
the future. It’s just going to take some time to get there like it always does. But that’s okay. And, um, you’re right. You
know, the substance to a solution right now is where, where the value can be had for, for our partners. Um, this is, you
know, we talked about your healthy habits at the beginning. Hopefully that inspires others to carve out some time in
their day to maintain, you know, the importance of their health. I’d like to kind of start wrapping up here with another
piece of, you know, inspiration for the listeners. I’d like to ask one, you know, each one of you, um, on the best piece of
advice, professional or personal advice that you’ve, you’ve ever gotten and how has that impacted your strategy at
Ntracts?

[00:33:48] Stephanie Haywood
I’ve probably gotten a lot of advice over the years, probably some that I should have heeded better for sure. Um, so I
would say that one of the best pieces of advice that I ever got, especially as I was as I was starting my career, right,
was, you know, be bold. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Um. Constructively. Right. But, you know, be true to the
person that you are and bring that bring that person to to work with you every single day. And, you know, don’t shy
away from speaking up when you have an idea or speaking up when you know, hopefully everything that you’re doing
is is, is. Fundamentally right. But if you feel like it’s not, you know, not being afraid to speak up and, and just kind of
being bold and being true to who you are is really probably the best piece of advice that I received when I early on in my
career. And I’ve really tried to to, you know, take that into, into my, my career. And I think it’s a hopefully, um, put me on
a path and at least the path with companies that I’ve, I’ve enjoyed working with.

[00:34:54] David Kemp
Well, and those companies benefit from, you know, bold strategies and bold advice. So it’s, uh, it’s good for you. It’s
good for those around you, too. David, what about you and Stephanie?

[00:35:07] David Paschall
And I did not, uh, you know, talk about this before. Um, but I, I guess I’ll do two now because mine was. Be bold.

[00:35:16] Stephanie Haywood
Oh, gosh.

[00:35:17] David Paschall
That’s we we have the the we have the same one. Um, but I think additionally, some great advice that, you know, I
received early on was meet people where they are, uh, and, you know, understand, uh, have enough emotional
intelligence to understand, uh, where people are, uh, you know, how they are feeling, how they’re fitting in, in the team,
the value that they’re getting. You know, what motivates all of us? Uh, and that could be, you know, internal to Ntracts.
It could be, um, you know, client facing it could be family and friends. Um, but to try to meet people where you you are
and, and at least try to understand, um, uh, and it’s all about people and not, you know, you driving to go get
somewhere.

[00:36:08] David Kemp
Um, that’s I, I like I like both of those one that ties in with that that I’ve, I’ve gotten recently is. It’s not about you. And, uh,
the sooner you figure that out, the more you’ll be able to help others. And when you do help others, it’ll come back, you
know, in multiples. And so being taking your yourself out of it, understanding where that other party is in that moment
and focusing on how you can meet them where they are. I think those go hand in hand. And so I appreciate you
sharing those things. All right. Last question. And we’ve we’ve talked for about 30 minutes here. People are going to
walk away understanding more about CRM, how it applies to health care, where they can start finding value, what’s
coming next. If they could walk away understanding one thing, how would you sum it up? They’re walking away from
this podcast and you want them to walk away with one thing on their mind. Well, how would you sum it up for them?

[00:37:10] David Paschall
You know, I think my answer will be clean focused, but also you could relate it to a lot of, uh, life situations that you may
be dealing with. But to me, it’s take the first step. You know, wherever you are. You know, we talked about the, the
wide, uh, evolution of CLM. There are different healthcare organizations, uh, in different spaces and different, uh, you
know, areas as far as CLM, whether it’s taking that first step to get your contracts, uh, in a system where you can see
them and kind of understand and have that transparency, or if you’re working on, uh, sophisticated workflow that is
going to reduce your days in, you know, in contracting, take that first step, you know, understand where you’d like to
go. You don’t have to boil the ocean. Uh, but what’s the first step that you want to take to get better for your
organization? Uh, and again, uh, same thing in, in life. You know, we always want to try and set these large goals. In
many cases, it’s best to break those down into steps that you can take, uh, and then just focus on the first one and get
there.

[00:38:20] Stephanie Haywood
Yeah. I don’t know that I’d have anything else to add. I think it’s, it’s well said and, and important to just kind of like think
about things, you know, accomplishments don’t happen all of a sudden. It takes time. It takes a lot of hard work. One of
the things that I actually thought, David, instead of saying, be bold, you would say something about grit because, you
know, you always talk about making sure that, you know, you have grit. And I mean, I think that’s really important and
that’s what I would that’s what I would leave, um, leave our listeners with, you know, I have a strategy. Take it step by
step. Don’t be don’t be scared to step outside the box and do what you think is is best for you.

[00:38:58] David Kemp
What I’ve enjoyed about our conversation and and listening to conversations that you guys have had elsewhere. Is
your realists. You don’t you don’t, uh, you don’t claim that everything’s going to be perfect and it’s going to go, you
know, perfectly smooth, and everything’s going to be ideal in everything. Um, you’re there’s going to be bumps along
the way. There’s going to be tough choices to be made. Um, and I from from everybody that I’ve listened to and talked
to at Ntracts, you guys recognize that? You prepare your community for it, and through grit, boldness and strategy,
you’re able to overcome it together. And I appreciate you sharing a little bit about the company, the industry, and
inspiring our listeners along the way. So you are welcome back anytime. I really enjoyed this.

[00:39:46] Stephanie Haywood
Thank you.

[00:39:48] David Paschall
Really appreciate it. David. Thanks for having us.

[00:39:50] David Kemp
All right. Thank you all.