She also provides an experienced locum service for veterinary clinics throughout Australia.
Claire migrated her business to the VisionVPM practice management software solution in late 2017, after qualifying in animal biomechanical medicine midway through the year. As a veterinary locum to general practice for a number of years, she was familiar with a wide range of veterinary practice solutions, including VisionVPM™ and RxWorks™.
She had seen firsthand how these software solutions offered the tools necessary to computerise an entire practice workflow – from appointment booking and front desk administration through to consultations and patient follow-ups. She saw how this functionality was able to improve practice efficiency, which in turn translated into greater profitability.
With this background knowledge, Claire understood she needed to introduce automation and innovation into her business to help make it a success. She pursued enquiries with us after weighing up the pros and cons of each solution she had worked with during her time as a locum.
Claire explains she was initially trying to run her small start-up equine biomechanical business using a manual process incorporating Microsoft Excel and Word. She managed all of her financials in Excel, which she then sent to her accountant; she had never used a software solution for accounting previously.
“I was using Word documents for my forms, which was extremely time-consuming,” she says. “And I had no client database apart from basic data in Excel. I only had a few clients, as I was just starting out in parallel to my locum work.”
Realising she needed to introduce efficiencies to her business, Claire spoke to fellow veterinary professionals and then contacted us to discuss which solution would work best for her. “After considering my business type and needs, the solutions consultant I spoke to suggested VisionVPM would be ideal.”
“I was a bit reluctant at first, as it seemed bigger than what I needed for my little business,” she continues. “But the consultant encouraged me to look at it from every angle and it turned out to be just perfect. The answer to every question I asked ticked a box.”
Because Claire’s practice has a strong equine component, VisionVPM was a particularly good fit. This is because equine practices face unique challenges compared with small animal practices, including inaccurate inventory counts due to multiple storage locations, or complex accounting when billing multiple owners, stables or trainers.
It can also be difficult managing a business when spending a lot of time in the field and VisionVPM saves time, streamlines practice operations and keeps medical information readily available, even when Claire is on the road. Customised fields are also available specifically for the equine industry.
Claire was very impressed with how well the roll-out of VisionVPM went, and particularly with the fact that our team was there hands-on to help implement the solution. The expert team had the right knowledge, skills and experience to deliver the service and support crucial to get the system up and running for her.
Initially, though, she had some reservations. “I am IT proficient, but definitely not an expert, and I was quite concerned about having to learn a new system,” she says.
“I needn’t have worried. The training process was set up in two phases, so I never felt overwhelmed. Sal [our consultant] came and set everything up and gave me a two-day training course. It was seamless and really easy. I didn’t have to worry about the implementation. Everything was thought about and taken care of during implementation,” she adds.