What about 3rd Party Integration Support?

Wow, that’s a technical jargon title (my apologies).   As odd as it sounds, this matters.  You may be using a 3rd party integration that may not work with your selected Cloud solution.

What I am trying to get to here is that if you use a service like Sesame, Televox, Patient Rewards Hub or others, they ‘plug-in’ or ‘integrate’ somehow with your Data.   In a traditional office Practice Management Application (PM App) you would have your Data on a Server in your office, and these companies would typically have an ‘Agent’ (a small program) running on one of your office computers.  The Agent’s job is to reach into your Data and extract the information that company needs to provide the service (for example a list of patients that need to receive a reminder of tomorrows appointment),  then transfer it back to the company to do something with it.  Typically this transfers out over your Internet connection.

You need to ask those companies if they have an integration to work with the Cloud solution you are considering.   It would suck to find out after you make the change that the patient rewards system you like very much can’t work with your Cloud choice.  Find out in advance.   I don’t know the answer for all the options and services (It will take some research, but maybe that will be a good topic for a future blog post).

Some of the 3rd party integrations you might be using that fall into this category are:

• Sesame Communications
• Televox
• Patient Rewards Hub
• Gaidge
• Demand Force
• …  and there may be others

Stop and consider if you have something like this as part of your existing network, and if so be sure to ask.

In this multi-part series I am trying to help educate you to the issues surrounding the issues of Cloud based solutions offered by Dental Practice Management software companies. By arming you with the questions to ask and the context behind them you should be empowered to better evaluate the products and how they would benefit your Practice. You can find a link to all the Parts of the Series back on the Index in Part 1.

Up Next in Part 8 of the Series I will discuss Will Changing to the Cloud require a Data Conversion?

If you need a little help with your Practice, this is what MME Consulting does. Just give us a call at 866-419-1102 or check us out online at www.mmeconsulting.com.

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