After introducing Ismile into her practice, Seb Evans asks Su Rai how she has found the computer system.
Seb Evans (SE): Why did you choose Ismile in the first place?
Su Rai (SR): Ismile had more marketing functions to use.
We had another system before and we couldn’t really use it for sending out marketing emails, texts and things like that. We didn’t have that function.
So it was really for the marketing and to help keep our patients up to date with newsletters.
SE: How has Ismile helped you with your marketing?
SR: Ismile automatically sends out recalls and information, such as their appointment reminders etc. It’s created so that we can decide what interval we wanted to send the reminders out. So we said we’d like it to go a month prior to the patient’s appointment and then two weeks before if they haven’t booked. It has the ability to be more precise with recalls. Before Ismile we sent a blanket recall each month, this is much more tailored.
In terms of Ismile’s ability to communicate with our clients, lets say we’re sending to people who are interested in facial aesthetics, we can search and target women, for example, within a certain age group and send only those people a newsletter, a text or email. So it’s much more targeted.
The other thing we didn’t have before is the reports I can generate. I can find out which area of the practice is doing well and produce reports to prove it when we have meetings. I can look at how much profit we’re making; we can even look at who is worth what. You can see much more clearly areas of concern or areas that are doing well. We can produce management reports, finance reports, customer relationships, I can do any queries. For example, I can find out what we’ve sold in terms of sundry items, whether it’s worthwhile doing it, whether it’s worth selling toothpaste and if it’s not viable.
SE: What is Ismile like to work with?
SR: My assigned consultant is like my best friend, I speak to him so much.
So they’re very good. I speak to him probably at least once a week for various reasons. Ismile has recently upgraded. When we first got the software we went back to them with what we considered as our improvements. They’ve listened to what we’ve said and when they do then upgrade and make any changes they take into consideration all the things they’ve had feedback on.
Some they’ve taken on board and so yeah they’re very good at listening and making sure it works for you. It’s a more personal service I think.
SE: What does the team think of Ismile?
SR: They love it. Obviously everyone was nervous at first because you’re changing from something you know like the back of your hand to the unknown.
A consultant from Ismile came down and gave us a teaching session, which was a day, when we first set the software up, which was a year and a half ago. It was fairly daunting but actually it’s really quite easy. It’s similar to all of the systems in terms of the booking and the diary. The other things, the actual day to day bits, the dental charts are easier to see, the periodontal charts, which we didn’t have before, it has got more clinical stuff on there for people to use.
I would say we probably had maybe a month of staff errors, a few hiccups and niggles but it wasn’t very long. To be honest I’ve been using it for a year and I’m still finding little bits that I didn’t know about. It sounds awful but I’ll call Ismile to talk me through something and actually you realise there’s a lot more opportunity you didn’t realise there.
SE: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
SR: We love it and we love Ismile. They’re very nice people, they’re really helpful and it’s so nice when you’ve got a query and they’re happy to take that phone call, it’s so much nicer than being at the end of the phone listening to music you don’t want to be listening to.
For further information on Ismile practice management software, visit ismiledental.co.uk.
Dr Su Rai is the principal dentist at ABC Dental Surgery. Su is a firm believer in a preventative and ethical approach to achieving healthy, aesthetically-pleasing teeth and gums. Su trained at Queen Mary University London, where she graduated with distinction. She has continued her professional development and training including; certificate in restorative dentistry, Invisalign, facial aesthetics and is currently undertaking a diploma in implant dentistry.
