Sansio Case Study
- Headquarters: Duluth, MN
- Acquisition Date: December 2021
- Vertical Market: Healthcare EMS
- Visit Company Website
Background
Based in Duluth, MN, Sansio is a leading SaaS organization that provides web-based decision support solutions to the Homecare and Fire/EMS industries. They are prominently known for being one of the leading providers of electronic patient care record software, but also have a growing Fire RMS solution and several other integrated applications that round out the portfolio. Sansio was founded in 1997, originally under the name ScanHealth, and between the years of 2013 and 2016, Sansio was acquired by Physio-Control, followed by Stryker Corporation, both of which were primarily medical hardware focused companies. Sansio is a carveout of Stryker’s HealthEMS and HomeSolutions.net lines of business operating as Sansio going forward. Upon acquisition, Stephanie Patterson moved into the role of General Manager after working with the organization for 10 years on the professional services team in several different roles.
Decision to Sell
Sansio joined Volaris Group’s Healthcare portfolio in December 2021. The business struggled to grow under previous ownership due to constant competing priorities with hardware objectives. As a part of Volaris Group, Sansio joins a portfolio of 150+ software businesses that collaborate and share best practices regularly. Patterson says, “We feel very fortunate and relieved to be a part of a software-only organization where our products are our number one focus.” Since joining the Volaris Group community, Patterson and her team have seen many improvements within the business and company culture.
Post-Acquisition Success
As a part of Volaris Group, leaders maintain full autonomy over business decisions. Volaris provides support through experienced financial and legal guidance so that business leaders can focus on what they do best.
After joining Volaris Group, we immediately felt the empowerment of running our own business again… The overall autonomy that we feel has been so refreshing for us.
In addition to expert guidance, Volaris also provides best practices on measuring business performance. Sansio’s leadership team was introduced to standard metric objectives along with extensive training options, resources, and 1:1 support throughout the post-acquisition process. Within a few months, the team was able to gain and understand a snapshot of Sansio’s health as well as a clear understanding of their path forward in continuing their success. “Volaris doesn’t throw metrics at you, tell you to figure it out, and walk away. They support the entire process which includes making sure there is an understanding of why they measure what they do,” says Patterson. The proven track record of success across 150+ software companies gave confidence to the leadership team in understanding how the business model works and why its effective.
One of the most valuable perks of joining Volaris’ global community is the availability of best practices, strategies, resources, and tools among the other software businesses in the portfolio. Within the Healthcare market, and even outside of it, Sansio is able to learn from the successes of matured businesses and work together with others that may be going through the same challenges. At the department level, Sansio has already seen successful transitions to more efficient pricing strategies, improved technical support models, sales and marketing efforts, and more. They have been able to make business decisions with confidence knowing what tactics and strategies have been successful with other businesses before.
Another major advantage of being a part of the Healthcare portfolio is that Sansio is able to identify customers in common with the other business units. This helps position the businesses to partner together in their sales and marketing strategy efforts. Examples include tag-teaming a tradeshow or conference, identifying new opportunities for product integrations, or introducing new connections. It opens a world collaboration between business with a common goal. In addition to improved business focus and performance, Sansio has seen a lot of progress in building back their culture and morale.
We’ve been able to get our staff in roles that they can truly excel at, we’ve been able to reprioritize our product roadmap and accelerate our plans for innovative product features, and we’ve been able to design and build our marketing strategies from scratch. All of this has created so much momentum for us.
With 33 team members, Sansio’s staff totals over 344 years of experience within their company alone. Over the last several years with previous ownership, the team lost their empowerment to make decisions and provide input, which in turn, lowered job satisfaction company morale. With the support of Volaris Group, Sansio’s staff has new career growth and talent development opportunities that may expand beyond the business unit itself, in addition to opportunities for significant training and development that may have otherwise not been a possibility. In taking on the new role of General Manager of Sansio, Patterson is most excited about, “The privilege and opportunity to lead a very talented group of people back to a place where they feel valued. For the first time in almost a decade, we are excited for the future of the business again.”
Volaris Group is excited to continue to support the growth of Sansio and their talented team members. With access to resources, best practices, and a global network, Sansio is looking forward strengthening their position in the marketplace while building and maintaining their company culture.