Web-Based Dental Lab Software for the Digital Age
Written by Jeff Noles, posted February 22, 2012 • Blog
At SoundBite Technology, we believe the dental lab industry is changing in fundamental ways, and we’ve designed SoundTrack software to help dental labs adjust to these changes. Foremost among these changes is web-based software delivery. With only a computer and an internet connection labs can now easily manage their businesses without the burden of hardware or software management. Dental labs shouldn’t have to focus on IT problems—they should be building beautiful restorations.
The most noteworthy change in the dental lab industry relates to the manufacturing supply chain. The industry is quickly shifting to a “general contractor” model of client management: one lab owns the client relationship but multiple labs—or “subcontractors”—may help complete cases with additional services like CAD/CAM milling, design services, implant components, coping manufacturing, etc. Therefore SoundTrack includes specialized collaboration and supply-chain management tools.
With the rise of tablets, smartphones and medical apps dentists are increasingly looking for more information and “self-help” web-access so they can enter new cases, track existing cases, and view billing information. Thus, SoundTrack includes carefully designed doctor portals with detailed information that reduces customer service or billing calls in addition to building doctor trust through transparency.
Dental labs need a tool to connect all the old and new technologies in the dental lab supply chain: hand-crafted restorations, CAD/CAM scanning and milling machines, outsourced design and manufacturing services, etc. Therefore in addition to conventional in-lab management, SoundTrack allows integration to outside machines and software through custom-built “web services.” We also provide access to smartphone apps.
When it comes to using a software platform every day, it needs to be easy to use—and easy to understand. Therefore, SoundTrack dashboards incorporate uncluttered designs and the intuitive navigation of smartphone “apps”—because software shouldn’t look like programming from the 1990’s.
Finally, modern labs frequently manage multiple lab “brands” or sales channels to maximize their sales potential. Therefore SoundTrack enables our subscribers to manage multiple logins for different client types.
These are the primary operational and technological design considerations we’ve used in creating and launching SoundTrack to the dental lab industry. We continue to work with our subscribers collecting their feedback to improve SoundTrack and keep it at the forefront of dental lab management software.