Technology Convergence: The Maturing Market

The world has changed a lot in the last ten years. It’s easy to remember the days when you would get your music and movies from the local store down the street, take your film in to be developed at the drug store, and had to pull into a visitor center to buy a local map to get around. Today all of these things might seem like a waste of time with the new phones, tablets, and Internet everywhere and the type of access we now have. Information is everywhere and there are a variety of devices to access it, capture it, and share it in a moment’s notice.

So how does this affect the dental technology market? This can be split into the three main areas through which technology today impacts the practice.

Accessing Information –

The access to patient information as it relates to insurance coverage, past procedures, clinical notes, existing conditions, and other details that are kept in an electronic format are getting to the point where the expectations of the patient is for you to have all of the needed information at your fingertips. With most systems today this is possible.

Capturing Information –

The ability to quickly capture and store information whether an X-ray, photo, patient questionnaire, or procedure notes has developed by leaps and bounds. The automation and ease of the process has been the largest area of improvement.

Sharing Information –

This is the key focus for technology today. This is the heart of the cloud movement. The ability for the information that is collected to intelligently interact with related information to make decision-making faster and speed the business of dentistry.

These things have led to a major change in the world of dental technology. The ability to purchase individual parts of your technology from multiple partners is getting harder and harder. This is due to the real success of technology in the practice being based on the integration, not the individual parts themselves. The solution that allows all of the information and interactions that are collected act together in one seamless solution is the best option for most any practice.

So what is Henry Schein’s role in this ever-changing environment and world? We see our role as three-fold. We first need to find and partner with the best software and hardware vendors in the industry. Second, we need to create a complete and integrated solution so you receive the best converged offering for today and also to prepare you for the future. Third, we need to implement and support the right solution for your practice end to end. At Henry Schein we feel we have the best total solution for your practice today and are working diligently to improve it so we can continue to be the best partner for you.

Please contact any of our expert Sales Consultants or service technicians to hear more about what we can do for your practice.