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IT Services For Animal Hospitals & Vet Clinics (Questions/Answers)

Searching For A New Computer Services Company For Your Veterinarian Clinic Or Animal Hospital?

If you haven’t read our veterinarian server crash story we posted recently, it was sad and touches on what happens to vet clinics who mistreat and abuse their IT framework. They cut corners on IT prevention and data backups. And then it all comes crashing down all around them.

In our story, IT Service rescue attempt, for the veterinarian, was offered. But in the end, the recommendations were declined by the clinic, and subsequently, both of the clinic’s hard drives crashed, and data recovery was impossible. It was quite a mess.

When thousands of veterinarians across the USA, just like you, are burdened down with business, staff, mistreated pets, cruel owners, and homeless animals, it is easy to forget your IT system can be vibrant when cared for, or on its last legs when misused, abused or neglected.

Which 6 IT Framework Burdens Hound Thousands of Veterinarians Daily?

When you survey Veterinarians, no matter what part of the country their clinic is in, a consensus about the six things they want out of the information technology keep coming up:

  • Alleviate the Burden – Technology should make your life easier, not harder.
  • Maximum Productivity – Get an IT plan that keeps your office efficient.
  • Safety and Security – Secure your records to prevent hackers and viruses.
  • Go Paperless – Save money and search patient records with ease.
  • More Hours in the Day – Stop wasting valuable time fighting with technology.
  • Control Costs – Proactive IT management for a monthly fee. No surprises.

As you read the list, it is understandable how a vet’s frustration would swell over the heavy burden; just so that they can maintain their IT framework all by themselves. Without knowing the six IT success steps, they continue to dig a deeper hole for themselves.

What Are The Six Veterinarian’s IT Support  Success Steps?

When a Veterinarian feels there is no end in sight, from the IT woes, a vet friendly IT company can put together a six-step process that will give the clinic owner, their staff, and volunteers smoother IT success and remove any the framework burdens that slow the business down.

The six IT success steps will also save the staff time and prevent technology failures, so the vet, his staff, and some of the volunteers can focus on caring for animals and keeping their owners happy.

The six immediate areas, to develop IT success, which your IT consultant would address are:

  • Email and Website
  • Security and Firewall
  • Printers and Network
  • Upgrade Workstations
  • Data Backup and Recovery
  • Optimize Server for Hardware & Software

Corralling this group and putting them through the process, your clinic starts to experience more freedom, while your staff focuses on their feline or canine duties.

What Is The Next Step In IT Services For Animal Hospitals & Vet Clinics?

As a Veterinarian clinic owner, always pressed for time. You could find yourself dropped in the middle of emergency surgery on a dog; Maybe your clinic is full of walk-ins, and you’re short on staff, and the lobby just got packed with anxious pet owners; all at a moment’s notice.

A Veterinarian friendly IT Company, working with Vet clinics, understands chaos can erupt at any moment when it comes to owners and their pets.

A vet friendly IT Firm knows you want to spend less time dealing with paperwork and technology, and more time loved by pets and trusted by their humans. So, your first meeting might look like this:

  • Step 1 – Schedule a listening session
  • Step 2 – Tell us about your goals and technology
  • Step 3 – Create an IT Strategy Success Plan

Do you recall the last business meeting, with any vendor, that was as easy as 1, 2, 3?

Where Do You Go To Get The Best Veterinarian Computer Support and IT Services?

As you review your IT infrastructure, look at the number of times you get pulled away. Searching to find out what is wrong now, only to discover your server crashed, and the backup server is whimpering and needing help too. Don’t become another veterinarian server crash story

Be that Veterinarian clinic owner, who focuses on a movement to rescue abused and homeless animals no matter the cost. And leave the IT framework burdens to Veterinarian friendly IT Firms.

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Comparing Top Veterinary Software Options (Product Information/Reviews)

Reviewing the Highest Rated Software Applications for Veterinarians

Exploring the features and capabilities of the industry’s top-rated veterinary software solutions

There’s no getting around it – vets are some of the busiest healthcare professionals around. They face unique challenges too, like determining the health needs of their animal patients and communicating relevant and important information with pet owners. Managing appointments, handling emergency visits, and maintaining detailed animal health records is a constant balancing act for veterinary practitioners.

Technology is making it possible for vets to get things done more efficiently and treat animals more effectively. Particularly, specialized veterinary software plays a huge role in helping veterinary practices optimize their entire operational effort. Software designed particularly for veterinary practices are equipped with countless features to help make the lives of veterinarians easier by streamlining processes and organizing critical data.

However, like in many other industries, software options for veterinarians are seemingly endless. There are countless options on the market, all with different capabilities and features, and all claiming to be the best option. So, how is a veterinarian supposed to decide? We’ve decided to review some of the highest rated veterinary software options on the market to help your clinic make an informed choice.

Best of the Best: Reviewing Top Veterinary Software Solutions with 5-Star Ratings

In order to find the best veterinary software solutions for your practice, it helps to have a side-by-side comparison of some of the market’s leading options. So, we’ve narrowed down some of the best choices as ranked by the software experts at Capterra. Read on to check out some of the best and 5-star rated software solutions for veterinary practices.

  1. Pet Desk

Pet Desk is totally focused on client communication and is a great add-on for veterinarians who already have a trusted operational software solution in place. Pet Desk is designed to relieve your overloaded staff and efficiently streamline your workload. Pet Desk allows your team to very easily manage appointment reminders and confirmations so that both your clients and schedules are kept up-to-date seamlessly. Pet Desk offers options to communicate with your client base via email, texts, postcards, and a mobile application.

Simply put, Pet Desk allows you to maintain a personal touch with your clients while still leveraging technology to minimize tedious work for your staff. Pet Desk offers the ability to send personalized messages, promote and manage loyalty programs, and connect your clients with online review platforms. With Pet Desk, your clinic gets the best of both worlds – the streamlining efficiency of technology and a personalized and consistent connection with your clients.

You can find full product descriptions, pricing information and user reviews on Pet Desk here.

  1. ezyVet

ezyVet is a top-of-the-line Cloud-based software solution for veterinary practices. ezyVet is your one-stop shop for everything your practice relies on including managing clients, booking animal appointments, scheduling reminders and confirmations invoicing and finance management, inventory management and control, lab integrations and more. ezyVet also has huge integration capabilities with other Cloud solutions that veterinarians rely on like XERO for accounting and Smart Flow for treatment management.

The true benefit of ezyVet is that it’s a truly connected and integrated solution. It is designed specifically to effectively manage referrals, and emergency specializations, and optimize the treatment experience for all kinds of veterinary practices including small animals, mixed animals and equine. For Cloud-friendly veterinary practices, ezyVet offers an all-encompassing solution that centralizes everything your team and clients require.

You can find full product descriptions, pricing information, and user reviews on ezyVet here.

  1. V-Tech Platinum (VTP)

V-Tech Platinu is a 25-year veteran with a reputation for being both the most cost-effective and efficient veterinary software solution on the market. With round the clock support and team training included at no extra cost, the value offered by VTP is hard to ignore. In fact, any software updates, training modules, additional workstations that your practice requires are included – at zero additional cost to you.

VTP also offers dynamic and organized documentation and reporting solutions and offers integration with Paperless, Paperlite and countless other digital reporting solutions. VTP offers seemingly limitless customization capabilities and intuitive reporting solutions. Even better? The platform has endless options for Server, Cloud or Hybrid server set-ups, meaning you can implement and customize the solution to suit your server infrastructure.

You can find full product descriptions, pricing information and user reviews on VTP here.

  1. Onward Vet – five stars

Onward Vet is the beautifully designed and easy-to-use Cloud-based practice management solution that comes equipped with built-in client communication tools. Celebrated for its comprehensive nature, Onward Vet offers veterinarians a cutting-edge and state-of-the-art paperless platform with big-time integration and optimization power.

Onward Vet is designed specifically to centralize resources and processes for your practice. From the Cloud-based Onward Vet platform, your team can take advantage of countless features including: SOAP and surgery noting tools, inventory control, invoicing, appointment and schedule management, prescription management, lab and device integration, referrals, reporting and treatment planning. Onward Vet also offers optimal integration with Avimark, Cornerstone, Intravet, Impromed, VIA and more.

You can find full product descriptions, pricing information and user reviews on VTP here.

  1. VetBadger

VetBadger offers a truly dynamic and easy-to-use Cloud-based veterinary practice software solution. The platform is designed with role-based task management features, meaning its easier than ever to keep your team connected and working efficiently day in and out. The designers of VetBadger believe so much in their platform that they even offer you the option to give the software a test-drive free of charge.  

The VetBadger platform is designed with efficiency and organization in mind. Client communication and charting are made easier than ever with two-way integrated email, text messaging and fax capabilities that sync directly with medical charts. VetBadger platform also has seamless QuickBooks integration, meaning you’re able to manage inventory, invoicing and all other financial details in real-time.

You can find full product descriptions, pricing information and user reviews on VTP here.

Making a Choice: How to Select the Best Veterinary Software Solutions for Your Practice

At the end of the day, only you and your team will have a solid idea of which veterinary software solution is the right fit for your practice. The first step to finding the right solutions is working to understand the particularities and unique needs of your practice.  What’s most important to your practice? What are the redundancies or tedious tasks that could be better managed with technology?

By asking yourself these questions and determining your unique needs you’ll be able to compare those needs to the features outlined and provided by each solution above and countless others on the market. The best advice we can give is to go with your gut. Do your research and choose a solution that can be customized to meet your needs and the needs of your patients, and team members.

If you require some additional guidance and consultation for your search, never hesitate to check in with an experienced IT consultant. Specifically, reach out to a provider who has experience providing IT support for veterinarians. Consultation and guidance from an experienced insider can help take the stress out of your software search and ensure the veterinary software your select will help optimize your clinic experience.

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Blog Technology News Vet

AVIMark Support & Tech Services For Dallas/Fort Worth Vet Clinics

Connecting The Dots With The Right AVIMark Support

Veterinarian practices are some of the busiest medical facilities we’ve ever seen. The flurry of furry patients, the beeps and buzzes and chirps of the various machines, and constant movement throughout the facility.

Many of these offices operate as independent small-to-medium sized businesses, like real estate offices or law firms, with all-encompassing teams dedicated to daily operations. The veterinarian, or multiple veterinarians that share oversight, might hire an office manager to lead administrative responsibilities to delegate non-medical tasks.

Veterinary medicine, while similar in theory to other specialties, presents its own unique set of challenges. Compared to other medical fields, the majority of veterinary practices take a more internalized approach in several ways:

  • Run basic labwork right in the clinic
  • Dispense most medication directly to the clients without using a pharmacy
  • Process payment for care at the time it is received
  • Perform surgical operations at the same location
  • Treat emergency medical cases in between routine appointments

While veterinary medical practices do differ from human medical offices in several ways, both still share some of the basics:

  • Maintaining electronic health records (EHRs), including:
    • Patient information, like the name of patient (and human caretaker)
    • Test results
    • Examination notes
    • Medical history

Does Your IT Services Company Have An Understanding Of The AVIMark Software Solution?

Like with any other professional organization, veterinary office managers oversee payroll, staff hiring and training, and structural organization of the office. The office manager might outsource accounting needs to a third-party vendor, or might process payroll, billing and collections processes themselves. Before you picture a person sitting at a desk, surrounded by tall, messy stacks of paper – receipts, memos, records, notes, and various other communications – even the smallest of clinics has converted to practice management software, like AVIMark.

Practice management software is just that – software to help manage a practice, designed to be easy to use and function with modern technology, like cloud solutions, and grows along with a thriving practice to accommodate increasing patient load, additional care providers, and integrates with major veterinary vendors.

If you’re using AVIMark, you’re already a fan of the built-in tools for most aspects of record-keeping, to make running the veterinary practice as smooth and straightforward as possible. If it doesn’t make running the practice easier every day, there are steps you can take to help.

AVIMArk Tune-Up Help In Dallas

In an ideal world, technology just works all the time, and there are never any problems. When technology is working correctly, users don’t have a “Wish List” where hardware or software isn’t performing.

In the real world, users face issues sometimes, like slow connections, running out of storage space, data breaches, or viruses. Customer databases for veterinary practices – or literally any business – can grow quite large, and maintaining records and transactions for every interaction takes up a lot of digital real estate, requiring a pretty powerful machine to store and operate your business details. This requires a close look at three poignant areas:

Where your data is stored

Whether your data is stored on a device at your location, stored at another location and accessed via a network connection, or stored and accessed through a cloud solution, access is crucial. If a veterinarian can’t see the medical history of a patient, they’re at the mercy of their memory, and if the clinic is large with multiple providers or the patient hasn’t been seen in quite some time, the doctor can’t see the full picture of the animal’s health, impacting medical care.

Internet speed is a factor here, as well. Quick access to data is undeniably important in a busy practice, and users don’t want to be delayed by the spinning hourglass waiting for data to load. Faster speeds help larger file sizes load promptly, which is especially helpful when a patient has a lengthy care history.

How your data is protected

How secure is your connection to your data? Protecting your data protects both your business and your patient base! Not only should you have a method in place to protect your data from external threats, but also processes in place for internal resources to safeguard their actions to prevent becoming a threat themselves.

Secure connections can involve several factors:

  • Data encryption
    • Translates data into a code that can only be translated back with a “decryption key”, or password.
  • Domain controller
    • A server that processes authentication verification when a user enters login information to access protected data on a Windows domain.
  • Complex passwords
    • A password of eight or more characters, using a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
  • Remote monitoring
    • Working with a managed IT services provider (MSP) gives veterinarians the peace of mind that systems are protected from these internal and external threats through 24/7 remote system monitoring, giving the MSP the opportunity to address threats immediately and minimize impact.
  • Security updates
    • Maintaining the highest level of security possible is your ultimate goal. The easiest way to achieve this is to keep all elements of your system up to date and install security updates as soon as users are notified.
    • Tip: In the same way an MSP can monitor a system remotely, MSPs can run security updates remotely so that the user doesn’t need to be interrupted at their task and run the security update installation.
  • Email safety and Web filtering

Ongoing support

Support and training are two pretty major elements for any software, and AVIMark is no different. New hires can be trained for daily AVIMark use by existing staff, especially for the nuances of the clinic, like how data is entered or organized, but technology isn’t perfect. Rather than lose productivity from your busy day, partnering with an MSP can also respond to problems with your software to help get you back to business as usual.

Time To Call In The Veterinarian IT Services Company

Working with an IT company specializing in Vet Clinics puts the technology maintenance in the hands of a valuable resource while letting veterinarians focus on medical care.

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Server Crash Ruins Veterinarian’s Summer Vacation

Why Backups & Strategic Business Continuity Planning Could Help You Keep Your Vacation

Why proactive data backup and recovery solutions are the only way to protect your continuity

So, about that vet clinic we mentioned above – here’s a bit of history. They’re a veterinary clinic based in Dallas/Fort Worth and they were relying on a less-than-ideal server situation. Their primary server and IT infrastructure were stuffed into a small closet with little to no ventilation.

Unfortunately, this vet clinic experienced a hard drive failure. Because the vet clinic had decided not to invest in Data Magic’s monitoring solutions, the hard drive failure went unfixed. Low and behold, not much later, the clinic’s second hard drive failed in a RAID 5 configuration which resulted in an entire server crash. The worst part? The veterinarian was just about to leave for vacation.

After reaching out to Data Magic, our team of professionals strategically suggested that the clinic invests in a $150 Datto Alto solution. This solution would have essentially taken care of some basic local storage and would have implemented a Cloud back up for up to 2TB of the vet clinic’s data.

However, unfortunately, the clinic decided to decline this solution as well as other solutions offered by the Data Magic team. As a result, the veterinarian missed their vacation to try and address the crash and eventually had to hire a friend to try and do damage control on their network systems.

For us, the moral of the story is to trust and work with the industry professionals that you’ve left your network in the hands of. While additional investment can seem like a pain, it’s far from unnecessary. In fact, these upfront and initial investments could end up saving you big time in the long run. This client’s story has us thinking it’s probably time to go over the basics of backups and business continuity planning to ensure you and your team recognize their importance.

  1. Do you have backups in place?

First things first, does your organization or business have backup solutions in place? Think about all the data you collect, store, and share. If something were to happen – like a cyber-attack or a server crash, do you have recent data backups in place to help you avoid disruption and limit downtime?

Whether your network operates on physical server infrastructure or Cloud servers, there are countless options available for data backup and data recovery solutions. The key is that you don’t wait until disaster strikes to start thinking about backup technologies. Being proactive is the name of the game when it comes to backups and business continuity.

  1. If not, are you afraid of the additional investment?

Now, if you answered no to the first question, we want to try and get down to the reasons why. As mentioned, proactive backups can make all the difference between disaster and recovery. Have you been putting it off for as long as you can remember? Think about it for a second and try and put your finger on why.

Many times, organizations put off backup solutions because they don’t want to spend the upfront investment. However, please believe us when we say, this initial investment will be much less of a strain on your bottom line than trying to rebound after facing disaster unprepared. Without backups in place, if your data is lost, stolen, or held hostage, you may lose all of it – forever.

In today’s connected world, this means your business could be forced to start from scratch – not to mention the potential legal costs associated with stolen customer data, compliance penalties or unfulfilled service contracts. Does that upfront investment for backup solutions still sound unreasonable?

  1. If you do have backups in place, have you tested them?

This next section is really important. Now, all you readers who are feeling proud of yourselves for having backups in place – here’s our next question: have you tested them? We hate to break it to you, but even if you have the most sophisticated backup solutions in place, they’re meaningless if you haven’t tested them. Here’s why.

Backup solutions are designed to restore your most critical data as efficiently as possible. In case of disaster, you should have a detailed plan for what data needs to be restored and in what order. In order to ensure that your plan is executed effectively in the case of disaster, you must make sure you’ve deployed some test runs. Without testing your backups, you’ll never know for sure if your data recovery effort will go as planned.

It’s not just enough to test them once either. In fact, your organization should have a regular schedule for backup testing. Ideally, you should be backing up data and testing the backup every time new data is entered into your company network. However, this is understandably unrealistic. Instead, you should work with your team to come up with a backup testing schedule and stick to it with dedication. This way, you’ll constantly be reassured that your backup solutions are locked and loaded.

  1. Have you developed a strategic business continuity plan?

We’ve touched on this in the other categories, but we really can’t stress just how important proactive planning is when it comes to business continuity. In order to ensure your company is prepared to bounce back from disaster, you and your team need to take proactive steps and plan ahead for the worst-case scenario.

First off, train your team to be your strongest line of defense against cybercrime. Make sure they know how to identify threats and who to report problems too. Also, be sure you have a strategic business continuity plan in place that explicitly states how each team member will contribute to the restoration effort. A strong business continuity plan makes considerations for your company data at all end-points, so make sure to spend the time and resources necessary to prepare yourself and your team.

Backups & Business Continuity: Your Ticket to a Stress-Free Holiday

Simply put, the best way to protect your company network and your business continuity is to plan ahead. Don’t make the same mistake as our client. Don’t put off implementing backup solutions that will help you maintain continuity and keep your vacation plans.

The moral of the story is, you need to make a consistent and explicit effort to keep your company network running and your business data protected. Think of business continuity planning as your ‘cyber-emergency’ response plan. If you’re about to head out on vacation and disaster strikes, you should have a plan in place that allows you to enjoy a worry-free holiday while your team and tech support works to restore operations at the office.

Finally, make sure to put your trust in IT industry experts when trying to develop a strategic business continuity plan. The right IT services consultant will have an insider perspective and will offer countless resources to ensure your business continuity strategy is proactive and reliable.

While IT investments may seem like a pain, trust us when we tell you that they more than pay for themselves over time. Even better? When you partner with a strategic IT consultant, you’re investing in more than tech solutions. You’re investing in the expertise, experience, and business value that only a professional IT services consultant can offer.

Did you find this article informative? We’re happy to help! If you liked this, check out these other articles we think you’ll love

https://datamagicinc.com/finding-the-right-managed-services-provider-questions-answers/

https://datamagicinc.com/microsoft-common-security-threats-questions-answers/

https://datamagicinc.com/cyber-theft-a-real-threat-to-small-businesses/

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