People of PointClickCare: Deborah Beatty

Let’s all give a warm welcome to the star of this employee spotlight, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Deborah Beatty! Let’s get to know Deborah by starting off with some rapid-fire questions.

Rapid Fire 🔥 

• If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be? I think there is no one perfect place. In a dream world, I would divide my time between Toronto, London, and the Maldives (or somewhere beachy!)
• Cats or dogs (or other)? We have both in our house.
• Favorite TV show? Last year it was Call My Agent, and I am currently watching L’Agence. Guess I am a sucker for shows based in Paris.  
• Favorite activity? In the winter, I love cross-country skiing. My husband and I will often go out with our covid puppy, and there is nothing better than intense exercise in the quiet of a snow-covered forest.
• Winter or summer? Although I enjoy winter sports, I prefer not to be cold…so I’d say SUMMER!

What is Corporate Strategy?

Corporate strategy refers to the set of choices an organization makes around the products and services it offers to a targeted set of customers and how those are different from its competitors.

But what does that mean for the day-to-day life of a corporate strategist?

Deborah says a typical day includes three important tasks. “First, our team spends a lot of time working with other teams. It’s our job to partner with key stakeholders across the company to ensure we are aligned as a company on both our strategy, as well as our annual plans to execute towards our strategy. Second, we work with data to help inform the decisions we make as a company, so we spend a lot of time doing research, gathering, and structuring data points and conducting analysis in excel. Data and logic are at the heart of decision making, and it is our job to help bring forward data and help structure the logic to enable our executive team to make decisions. Lastly, we produce a lot of PowerPoint documents to present both internally and to the board. Structured, easy to absorb slides that tell a clear story are important to helping everyone understand our strategy.”

The Heart of an Organization

For as long as she can remember, Deborah has had a passion for strategy. “I started my career as a strategy consultant and still love thinking about and analysing strategic choices to this day!” She mentions that her favourite part of corporate strategy is how integral it is to an organization. “It’s at the heart of what every company does—and it is critical to a successful organisation.”

Deborah also told us that being on an influential team is incredibly rewarding. “The Corporate Strategy team gets to interact with many—if not all—of the teams across our company through our annual planning process, and on different research projects we support. I really enjoy being able to connect with so many smart and passionate people and gain an appreciation of the work that they do.”

Why she Chooses PointClickCare

Throughout her career, Deborah has held several strategy roles, as well as built and managed digital businesses, and says joining PointClickCare was an easy fit as the vision and culture of the organization resonated with her on a personal level. “I love knowing that our business helps people, and that our company is focused on enabling better health outcomes. Healthcare faces many challenges and needs technology to help solve them. I also really appreciate working for a company that looks out for—and appreciates—its people. It’s easy to see why people “bleed green” here!”

Ask Deborah

Building a successful career takes grit, determination, and passion. Luckily for us, Deborah possesses these characteristics and more. For Deborah, being a successful leader is about humility, vision, and continued curiosity. She says she implements this in her own leadership style by constantly asking questions. “By asking questions, you can potentially: 1) deepen your own understanding of the topic, 2) empower someone to think outside of their role or to solve their own problem, 3) get another opinion and potentially expand your own point of view, and 4) drive discussion to help ensure buy-in to the decision being made.”

Deborah also has advice for up-and-coming female leaders. “Be sure to find peers and mentors who can help you navigate your career. Having someone advocate for you, push you, give you honest feedback, and/or help you work through a problem is extremely valuable.”

Deborah’s Nomination

Deborah was nominated for the Life @ PointClickCare blog series by none other than our President, Julieann Esper Rainville. In her nomination, Julieann mentioned Deborah has lived an incredibly interesting life and many would benefit from hearing her story. When we asked Deborah about this, she said, “I think Julieann is referring to my eclectic work and life profile. I love learning about and exploring new places, and that passion has led me to move frequently. I have lived in Toronto for about half of my life and the rest has been spent in: Papua New Guinea, New Jersey, Boston, New York, Sydney, Paris, London, Riyadh, and most recently Dubai.”

She also mentioned that her career has fed her passion for adventure by allowing her to travel so frequently. “Many of my jobs have also involved travel. While in Dubai, I was Head of Planning and Partnerships at Apple for all of the Middle East and Africa. Despite having to travel in Lagos and Nairobi with machine-gun armed soldiers at my side, I was inspired by how technology was, and still is, helping people improve their lives—whether by accessing financial services for the first time or using telemedicine to deliver care to remote villages. Seeing how technology helps those in need is partly what inspired me to join PointClickCare when I moved back to Canada.”

Deborah may be settled in Canada for now, but she is still an adventure seeker at heart who hopes to one day experience a new city again. “In the future, I am looking forward to the possibility of PointClickCare expanding internationally. I will be the first to put my hand up to help us take our technology to other countries when the time comes.”

Thanks for sharing with us, Deborah!