Case Study

Carmichael Helps Dental Practice Go Digital

October 5, 2021
Dental Practice

Project Overview

When Gary Leonard, DDS started his dental practice in 1984, he had a specific mission: to offer outstanding service to adults who needed general dentistry services, cosmetic attention and dental restoration. His six-person team and referral-only practice allows him to concentrate on patients’ dental issues, which keeps him energized.

“I enjoy every aspect of my work because I get to do different things every day,” he said. “I especially like doing cosmetic bonding because patients see an immediate improvement in their smiles. That gives me joy just as much as it gives them joy.”

However, the technology needed to support his active practice made him anything but happy. In the past, he had been sold dental practice software by a company that was acquired and left him without support. He had “support” that took a full 24 hours to call him back.

Only rarely could he get a technical specialist onsite to address his issues. He also felt he was being upsold regularly, which created an ongoing cycle of disruptive upgrades and expensive new hardware installations.

With his previous IT support company, Dr. Leonard found himself spending considerable time explaining the systems he used in his practice – usually during his day off. “Either myself or my staff had to be there explaining everything in detail. Just about the time they would start to understand, a new person would come in and we’d have to start over – and we had to do all this when the office was closed,” Dr. Leonard said. “Often, they still could not fix the problem. It was a lot of work on my end and it was never easy.”

In that first visit, we talked about everything from the cloud to the phone system to physical security. They showed me how the cloud could handle all the office systems securely, and I was sold.”

Resolving IT Problems on First Visit

This disappointing and costly trend reversed itself when Dr. Leonard was referred to Carmichael Consulting Solutions for IT support. “Carmichael responded immediately to my call and even fixed several of my issues during their initial visit to my office,” Dr. Leonard explained.

Not only did Carmichael bring secure cloud-based solutions to the table, Dr. Leonard quickly discovered that he could afford what Carmichael was recommending. “When I purchased a new server, desktop computers, a laptop computer and a security backup system, it was reasonably priced and Carmichael configured all of it.

Today, Dr. Leonard is concerned with securing his practice at night. “We have had some problems with people breaking into cars in my parking lot,” he said.
“I know my data is safe inside the building and I want to be equally confident about premise-based security. Carmichael is looking into security cameras for us and coming back with recommendations, which saves my staff time.”

Download PDF – Carmichael Helps Dental Practice Go Digital

Results

Problem resolution and upgrades are basic elements of IT support; however, the real payoff for Dr. Leonard has been Carmichael’s ability to keep his systems up and running consistently. “Our practice is all digital and when the computers are down, we cannot examine or treat anyone,” Dr. Leonard said. “With Carmichael supporting us, there is no more lost revenue due to downtime.”
In just six months, Carmichael has upgraded Dr. Leonard’s office systems seamlessly and moved his technology platform to a secure cloud. “Based on my experience, I think any small- or medium-sized business with a computer needs to consider Carmichael for support – even if they are selling produce,” Dr. Leonard said. “Carmichael only sells you what you need and that’s why I would recommend them to anyone with a computer.”

They also installed security cameras to protect the office inside and out,” Dr. Leonard said. “Now, I have the Carmichael team fixing our problems –often in minutes. Their response time is incredible.
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