• Written by Michael Noah
• Tagged as Blog

Veterinary clinics are delicate business units. At the core of the clinic’s operation is the veterinary software or also sometimes called practice management software (PMS). Veterinary software is linked to all the departments and it tracks the diverse set of activities carried out in a typical clinic. Starting from appointment handling, client and patient file creation, recording vitals of the patient, saving EMRs, managing inventory, billing, payment… it goes on. There are 100s of things that linked to the veterinary software. It is the central unit of a veterinary hospital. Can’t imagine what the clinic will do without it. Even if the veterinary software is down for 1 hour, the clinic staff go crazy. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that a veterinary clinic is as good as it’s practice management software.

Having said that, an underperforming vet software can act as a dead weight for your clinic. Thus, we bring to you 9 obvious signs that your veterinary clinic is in desperate need of a software that will help in growth and transformation. But, let me warn you, do not jump the gun right after reading this, consider consulting with the entire crew and then arrive at a decision. Here are the 10 signs:

1. There is no scope for marketing

Is your PMS not helping in marketing your clinic? No! Marketing is at the core of growth for any veterinary clinic. Without marketing, there can be no growth, period. Now you may think that your service is good enough to retain clients. They even spread good words about your clinic to others. But, then there are other clinics with good service as well. The competition is cut throat. If you don’t invest in marketing, you lose.

2. It is not cloud-based

Cloud has been the single biggest technology trend that has gone mainstream in the last 10 years. More than 50% of veterinary clinics across the United States have already switched to a cloud-based solution. Why? Because the cloud is far superior to the standalone software. There is no worry about data storage, infrastructure management, and maintenance. Cloud is also cheaper in cost. Are you still stuck with an old-school software?

3. It is impossible to understand

It is not a new thing. We all have been through it. Learning a new system can be difficult. All good software cover the modules in great depth, hence it may take a good amount of time to understand. However, just think about the 48-year-old nurse Jenny. It may become just too challenging for her to use the software. Therefore, you are not advised to choose something that is not intuitive. My recommendation here is to see if you can explore the software and use it by yourself, not with anyone’s assistance.

4. Is it a brand name?

When you search for ‘Veterinary Software’ on google, you will see more than 100 names. But, if you check with your peers about which software they are using, you will get only 3 to 5 names. What happened to rest? The answer is simple, they are not good enough. To be honest, there are only 6 veterinary software brands that are being used by more than 80% of the clinics around the world. These software brands have grown over time and met the clients’ expectations right. It is high time to check if your software is a top brand in its space.

5. The customer support is far far away

I remember one of my clients explaining how she suffered a huge loss in her practice. She was using a cloud-based PMS which was launched a year ago. She was among the first set of clients that came onboard with the software. One day, she witnessed a severe malfunction with the software, the financial data was showing wrong. The billing and invoicing were totally wrong. By the time she realized, the clinic had either overbilled or underbilled to their clients for the previous 3 days. When they tried to reach helpdesk, she didn’t get a proper response. Finally, they had to shut down the clinic for the next 7 days and they did an immediate migration to VETport. How is the support for your software? Do they provide 24*7 assistance? Is it free? Are you able to call them any time of the day? Are they proactive in resolving your issue? Are they offering different channels of communication like Phone, Email & Chat? You must ask yourself these questions.

6. No new feature for a long time

Are you seeing no change in the software? Is it the same old software since last decade. Essentially this is not a very big problem as long as the clinic operations are smoothly running. But, one day will come when your clinic will become old school just like your software. If your clients feel that your clinic is not keeping up with the latest technologies, they will simply choose to go elsewhere. Ask your software vendor what are the new features they are coming up with.

7. Too expensive

Apple devices cost more than any other mobile phones. In turn, they provide the value in terms of quality, brand name, service, etc. Same is true for veterinary software, the pricing is as per the value. But, is it just too expensive? It doesn’t make business sense to spend more than the return you are getting from something. As a golden rule, take a benchmark of 2%, that means you should never spend anything above 2% of your clinic’s revenue on the veterinary software. This consists of all the separate software tools you are using your vet practice, including PMS, Emailing tool, Appointment tool, Accounting software, etc. For example, if your clinic earns $100,000 every month, then you shouldn’t spend more than $2000 on tools like Practice management software, accounting suite, appointment management tool, website, etc. Please keep in mind that this doesn’t include the marketing expenditure. As per me, $100 to $200 is a reasonable expenditure for a single vet practice.

8. No integration with other tools

In a veterinary clinic, there are different systems like In-house Labs, POS, Inventory management, accounting system, etc. A veterinary software must integrate with each of these tools and act as a bridge between the disparate units of a vet practice. If your vet software is not able to do that then consider other options.

9. Add-on Tools

Does your software has add-on tools or a marketplace where you can purchase additional modules like Inventory management, customer loyalty program, boarding, wellness, etc. And to be honest, only VETport offers that kind of facility.

Switching to new veterinary software can be cumbersome. It involves considerable investment of time and money. The staff may take some time to get used to the software. Sometimes, it takes about 3 months to fully understand new vet software. Hence, the decision makers must be very cautious while going for a migration. At VETport, we ensure that the migration process goes smooth without any disruption in day to day activities of a clinic. Also, at the same time, we train each and every staff of the clinic, till the time they get smooth hands on the software. The best part is, training is totally free of cost when you choose to go ahead with VETport.