Three questions with Garri Garrison: 3M CES and HIMSS

July 16, 2021 / By Garri Garrison, Kelli Christman

I sat down with the 3M Health Information Systems Division President Garri Garrison to talk about 3M CES, HIMSS and getting back to meeting in person.

The highly anticipated 3M Client Experience Summit (CES) kicks off next week with more than 2,400 clients planning to attend. What are you most looking forward to next week?

3M CES is one of my favorite events of the year because it gives us an opportunity to connect individually with our clients to better understand what challenges they are facing. There are so many conversations that happen in sessions and in the hallway (when we’re in person!) between 3Mers, clients and their peers that can influence our strategy and our roadmaps for years to come. Gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges our clients face, how they are using our solutions to overcome these challenges, and most importantly where there are the gaps in technology, is one of the greatest takeaways from 3M CES. This year we’re excited to show our clients what we’ve done over the last 12 months to expand our capture to code capabilities, create more time to care, and where our vision lies for the future. I cannot wait to see our clients virtually this year, and in person next year in Salt Lake!

HIMSS is just around the corner and it is in person this year! What can people expect to see at our booth?

The theme for HIMSS this year is “Be the change.” Our focus is on changing administrative processes from burdensome to easy automation. The value our clients are experiencing from automating processes like coding is phenomenal to see. We have three clients presenting their success stories at HIMSS this year, so make sure you check out their sessions. In our booth, you’ll be able to see the progression of automation we’ve made over the last year as well as our vision for the next 12–18 months. Our team is so excited to see our clients and friends in person this year, so make sure to stop by our booth and say hi!

As we begin to ease back into a “new normal,” what are you hearing from clients about things like in-person events and meetings?

The primary thing I hear from almost every client is that they’ve missed personal interactions. Relationships are so important, especially in health care, and you can only do so much virtually. 3M CES and HIMSS are great ways for us to see our clients in person again, but more importantly, we’re beginning to hold meetings at our client sites again. While we accomplished what we needed to virtually over the last year and a half, nothing replaces that in-person experience. Being on-site with a client gives us more personal look into their culture and allows us to meet more people from their teams to get a better understanding of how we can help them overcome the challenges they are facing.

Garri Garrison is division vice president for 3M Health Information Systems.

Kelli Christman is senior marketing communications specialist at 3M Health Information Systems.