ONLINE BOOKING (& MORE)

JENNY PHILP & PETER OSBORNE

EXPERIENCES OF USING A BESPOKE WEB-BASED PMS

WHO WE ARE

PETER OSBORNEDIRECTOR OF USABILITY

DATANAUTS LTD

JENNY

PHILPCLINICAL DIRECTOR

VET’S KLINIC

WHAT WE’LL COVER

• Background & context

• Online booking

• & More…

– In-appointment checkout

– The Pet Log (a very different clinical record)

• What we’ve discovered

• Future directions

BACKGROUND

• New-bulid practice in

Swindon

• Conceived as a

“revolution in pet care”

PRACTICE

• 4 vets

• 10 Nurses

• ca. 6400 clients

• Profitable at 14 months

after opening

KEY OBJECTIVES

• Provide industry–leading

customer service

• Use modern methods and

technologies

• Be accessible and

affordable

• Be honest and transparent

THE KLINIC

TECHNOLOGY

• Technology underpins our key

objectives

• Reduce overheads by streamlining

practice administration

• Increase cost-efficiency through

smarter allocation of resources and

implementing smoother processes

A FULLY ONLINE PMS

• No need for on–site servers (reduces costs)

• Staff can work remotely

• Less of learning-curve

• Give clients direct

access to their data

• Incorporate ‘new’ ideas

CLOUD

PLUS BESPOKE

NEW IDEAS = BORROWED IDEAS

status updates

flexible pricing

online registration / customer self-service

ONLINE REGISTRATION

• Client can register at a time that suits them

WHAT IT MEANS FOR CLIENTS

WHAT IT MEANS FOR STAFF

• Reduced workload No data entry required

• Receive correct contact details Most of the time

ONLINE REGISTRATION IN PRACTICE

THE OWNER DASHBOARD

ONLINE BOOKING

KEY CLIENT BENEFITS

• Able to book 24/7

• Able to see all available

appointments across a week /

month

• Can choose between rapid

access and / or continuity of care

THE NEED TO BE ‘SMART’

• Clients are not clinicians. Don’t

understand:– Which procedures require a vet rather than a nurse

– Which procedures are incompatible with one another

• Booking system needs to do the ‘thinking’

for them

SMART BOOKING IN PRACTICE

Let’s add our first

procedure – dog booster

& kennel cough

Incompatible

procedures

are no longer

selectable

FLEXIBLE PRICING

• Easyjet-style yield management

• Clients can get cheaper appointments by:

– Being flexible about who they see

– Booking further in advance

HOW IT WORKS

• Most procedures have a minimum and

maximum price

• Prices go up as consult session

occupancy increases

• Minimum until 20% filled

• Maximum after 70% filled

• Dynamic pricing between 20-70%

HOW IT WORKS

WHAT IT MEANS FOR STAFF

• In theory:– A more even spread of appointments

• In practice:– Doesn’t account for:

• Emergencies

• Client preferences

– Less certainty about workload

– Potential damage to the vet’s ego

BUSINESS ADVANTAGES

• Can manipulate ATV by

adjusting the algorithm

rather than headline price

VARIABLE PRICING IN PRACTICE

… and a

convenient time to

visit

Choose

your vet…

Prices and

availability update

MAXIMIZING TRANSACTIONS

• As part of the online booking

process, clients are offered

additional procedures (e.g nail

clip)

• A helpful reminder and low

pressure sales

• 100% reliable

• Additional items sold at full price

ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES SCREEN

COMPLETING THE BOOKING

• Online prepayment

– Reduced Debt (<2%)

– Fewer missed appointments

– More secure cashflow

• Instant confirmation client choice of email and / or SMS

• Additional reminder sent automatically 24 hours before appointment

WHAT IF I FIND ONLINE BOOKING DIFFICULT?

• Staff will talk clients

through the booking

process

• Staff can send a ‘smart’

booking link

• Can book by phonenon-discounted

AND MORE…

IN-APPOINTMENT CHECKOUT

HOW IT WORKS

• Procedures are paid before appointment

by credit card

• Credit card details are stored

• Additional charges are reviewed with client

at the end of the appointment

• Payment is taken from card on file

• Client and pet can go straight home

EXPRESS CHECKOUT IN PRACTICE

ADVANTAGES

• Provides a smoother checkout

• Reduced front-desk workload and

less stress

• Vet has responsibility to discuss

payment with client

• Lower bill–shock

THE PET LOG

THE PET LOG /1

• ‘Facebook-style’ timeline for pets

• Main clinical record

• Updated in realtime using iPads running

our Klinic app

ADDING ITEMS TO THE PET LOG

ADDING ITEMS TO THE PET LOG

THE PET LOG

PET LOG /3

• Detailed, user-based audit

trail

• Something most practices

would want, but…

• 99% of the pet log is

available to clients – in real

time

OPEN HAS ADVANTAGES (ONCE YOU GET PAST THE

FEAR)

• Most practitioners are worried about clients reading

notes, but…

• Data Protection Act already gives them access

THE FEARS

THE ADVANTAGES

• Encourages high standard of note writing

• Instantly changes the relationship between owner and vet

– Openess = trust (empowering the owner)

• Reduces misunderstandings between staff & owner

WHAT WE’VE DISCOVERED

YOU WON’T GET EVERYTHING RIGHT FIRST TIME

• When you do something radically

different you will make mistakes,

but…

• Web development is quick

– Bug fixes in hours

– Minor new features in a few days

– Major new features within weeks

BUT FLEXIBILITY ‘MEANS’ FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTY

• Some things will be a lot

more complicated than you

think they will

• There’s a need to flexible

with the budget

• Sometimes have to reduce

feature scope (or delay

implementation)

OTHER ISSUES

• Printing labels

• Legacy components (e.g

SAGE)

• WiFi issues (within

surgery)

• Clients will try and game

the system (or make an

honest mistake)

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

THE WEB IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING

• Internet access patterns have changed since 2012

– Mobile use is much more common(and 4G coverage has improved)

– Social networking has become a useful communication channel for businesses

– User advocacy has an increasingly important role in marketing

MAKE USE OF COLLECTED DATA

• We have detailed data on:

– 6,000+ owners

– 12,000+ pets

– 27,000+ appointments

– 70,000+ individual procedural steps

– 375,000+ pet log entries

• We now want to use this information to

gain even more business insight

HOW CAN WE USE THIS INFORMATION?

• Standard KPIs

– Average time between

booking and arrival

• Assessing individual

staff performance

• But, danger of finding

correlations rather

than causation

EVOLVING THE PLATFORM

• Mobile app

• Leverage social

advocacy

• Extend the web platform

through to other group

activities

v.2.0

PS: IT’S NOT A PRODUCT

• We involved in an ongoing

project not a product

• Paradigm shift from

bundled DVD-ROM

• Optimized for a single

practice

• Commercial PMSes

require many more

compromises

www.vetsklinic.co.uk

THANK YOU

www.datanauts.co.uk