The Dental Practice

Anderson and Broadberry Dental Care is a busy, 5 surgery, mixed NHS/private practice.

The IT Requirements

The practice intended to migrate from Practiceworks Arthur, to SoE EXact. Arthur had been used as reception software only, and the practice intended to go “fully clinical” with EXact software installed throughout. A smooth transition to full computerisation was vital, with visibility of the existing data until the SoE conversion. Furthermore, the practice manager and principal dentists recognised the value of investing in a stable, high end IT system for their infrastructure, and chose Dental IT Limited to provide it.

The Dental IT Limited Solution

Dental IT Limited installed CAT5e cabling throughout; this was carried out over a weekend to avoid disruption. Once this was in place, we installed the dedicated server, backup systems, switch, printers, scanners, and Internet access hardware, again over a weekend. Using virtualisation technology, we were able to migrate their existing Arthur server, across to the new server, without any downtime or support issues – it “just worked”. We also rolled out SoE EXact, as well as NHS licensed versions of Office 2007 Professional, and discounted Anti-Virus software. When the practice went live on the new system, there were no support issues of any kind, and the migration to the new infrastructure was smooth and trouble-free. Some weeks later, Dental IT Limited assisted in getting the conversion data to SoE, and supported any issues that came up when the practice went live with their new software. The SoE trainer described the installation as “spot on”, and did not have any problems with any of the hardware environment. In 4 of the surgeries, the dentists chose Apple iMacs for their workstations, (reinstalled with Windows XP Professional). This has been very successful, as these machines not only look great, in the modern dental practice treatment room, but take up less surgery space, less worktop and cabinet space, are quieter than a typical PC tower, and require less cabling. In addition, we installed and configured a bespoke Dental IT Limited SMS system, which allows the practice to send SMS messages using their own mobile phone, sourced from whichever network they choose; this means that their text messages usage can cost less than 1p per message, compared to 5-10p per message from other third party providers.

The Outcome

The practice has benefited from stable, predictable IT since the migration – indeed they have not suffered even 1 minute of downtime from the server, or any of the workstations. Dental IT Limited look after their system proactively, handling all updates, remote backup, system maintenance and monitoring for them. This busy, successful practice is able to concentrate on their work, and their business, without the worry of data loss or downtime.

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