One thing I have always been passionate about since I started my career in IT, and even more so in Dentistry is the ‘circle of blame.’
What is it?
You have probably been stuck in it and not even realised it has a super cool moniker.
So your practice has a problem and reports it to the PM (or whoever usually deals with the IT issues). and then this is where you leap onto the circle of blame, sometimes it’s almost impossible to get off once it has started spinning.
So, you report the issue to the IT team who promise to investigate and get back to you.
The IT Team report back and say they have looked at it their end, and the problem is definitely with your Practice Management Software (PMS) and you have to call them. The roundabout starts to speed up.
You dig out the number for the PMS support desk and give them a call, as is usual, they dial into the computer to run a couple of tests. This time they tell you that in their opinion the issue is with the network and you have to call your IT providers. The roundabout is going faster and faster.
You are exasperated, you don’t need this, have a massive pile of work already on your desk, you just want to get on with that and finish at a reasonable time tonight.
You are stuck on the roundabout now, deep in the circle of blame. All you can do is call the IT team back and see if someone different will have more of a plan on how to help you.
Of course this example is with the PMS, this could easily be the same with the X-Ray software.
This is where we are different. The early parts are identical, someone tells you of the problem and you make the call to your IT team. If this is us, this is where we step in. We take full control of the issue. You go back to the mounting pile of work that is your regular job and we will manage each stage of the issue on your behalf, reporting back with regular updates and ultimately then when the job is complete.
This works well because we ARE your IT guys, we will investigate the issue fully and then call the relevant software provider (either PMS or X-Ray) and deal direct with their support teams. They can’t tell you to call your IT team because that is us, so they will then have to work with us, together, to resolve the problem.
It is just such a simple plan that it works.