Impact as the True KPI: How Laura Westley Is Bridging the Gap Between IT and Health Technology
The health technology field often demands advanced degrees and specialized training as prerequisites for success. Laura Westley, however, carved out success by forging her own way forward.
With no formal background in tech or business, Laura secured a notable position for herself at Outset Medical in the capacity of Staff Business Analyst of Quality Systems. What sets her apart? A unique blend of self-taught skills, unrelenting curiosity, and a capacity to bridge different disciplines.
Laura Westley is a testament to the power of adaptability in the ever-changing landscape of technology and healthcare. With 23 years of experience as a consultant, Westley found herself transitioning into a full-time role that specialized in bridging the language barrier between IT jargon and end-user accessibility.
It was a mixture of fate and an ever-present curiosity that pushed her into the industry.
"I never set out to be a staff business analyst. I actually didn't even know what that was for a long time," Westley revealed.
Westley worked her way up through various roles in different companies until she found herself learning about ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning systems) from a co-worker, who would later become her husband.
Her journey eventually landed her a consulting position at Outset Medical. "I did an evaluation of their system, suggested changes to ensure quality compliance, and eventually moved into a full-time role overseeing quality systems,” she recalled.
Her unique background, combining IT expertise and consumer touchpoint discernment, helped her mediate between devs and clients. "My greatest strength is asking the users for their requirements and then translating them into something that can be used on the system side," she states.
Westley believes her role in quality systems is about much more than just compliance; it's about impacting lives. At Outset Medical, the team develops devices that clean people's blood—a job that requires stringent quality controls.
"What we do in IT on this business analyst side directly affects someone out there, keeping them safe," she emphasizes. "I welcome the FDA checks. It's about quality and safety."
In her line of work, the impact of quality management systems (QMS) cannot be overstated. Prior to implementing ComplianceQuest (CQ), Outset Medical used a different system that posed significant challenges to reporting, scalability, and quality assurance. The quality systems team often ran into problems generating essential reports and dashboards vital for analyzing complaints, issues, and overall business insights.
Since transitioning to ComplianceQuest, a cloud-based QMS natively built and run on the Salesforce platform, Laura and the quality systems team have experienced improved efficiency in their processes, leading to heightened team morale.
“Now that we're on ComplianceQuest with that Salesforce backend, it's much easier to get the data we need. I used to have to deal with reports all the time. I would sit with users for hours developing new reports in our old system.”
Thanks to ComplianceQuest, Westley and her team have improved everyday productivity, efficiency, and data health. Ever a future thinker, Westley continues to keep her finger on the pulse of all things tech.
She is currently looking forward to the upcoming Salesforce conference, where she hopes to glean insight from discussions revolving around AI and the limitless potential it holds for the future. To Westley, AI is the next step in data analytics and compliance control.
Laura has two pieces of advice for those aspiring to venture into a similar career path: Be curious and don't hesitate to ask for help. "Being curious gets you a long way," she advises. "There are lots of things that I didn't think I could do until I did them."
