When you start your planning for an extension or a new site you need quality advice from an experienced IT consultant who understands the particular requirements of dental practices. It is important to get the best advice from the earliest planning phase. You may need to consider:
Structured cabling
How many points overall will you need? It is vital to get this right. It is very difficult and messy to have to add more points later after the plastering and decorating is done. Do you need a server cabinet or a comms cabinet? Where will the server or comms cabinet be located? Do you need points for IP based phones, wireless access points, IP based CCTV? What is the specification of the cabling required? Who will do first and second fix? How will you test it? What is the labelling scheme? Is there are warranty on the cabling? Do you choose CAT5e or CAT6 or shielded?
Email and domain
Does this site have a new name or an existing one? Are you getting a new domain? Where will the emails be hosted? Will you use email for internal communications or Teams or Slack or something else?
Second screens, information screens?
Will you have any of these, where will they be located, and what connectivity will they have to the rest of the network and other services?
Squat, refurb or extension consultation
Servers
Do you require a server and what specification should it be?
Where will it be located?
Workstations
Do you prefer more traditional tower/monitor or newer "all in one" designs? Will these be wall or desk/cabinet mounted? Will the power and cables run through cabinetry or from the wall? How many do you need? What specification and warranty should they have? Do they need to run 3D imaging? Do you need to have video and audio conferencing capabilities?
WiFi
Do you require reliable enterprise grade WiFi capability everywhere? Do you need a secure "guest" network?
Printing and scanning
What are your printing and scanning requirements?
Phone system
Do you require phones in every room including surgeries? Do you want any "walkabout" phones, and do your staff need wired or wireless headsets?
CCTV
Will you require CCTV coverage?
Have a project in mind?
Dental IT offer a free of charge, no commitment, remote audit to any dental practice. To contact us about this, or get a quote for support, or for any other enquiry, please complete this form and we will contact you back.