You are busy in surgery, the waiting room is full, and your practice manager is out for the day. And then … your receptionist says the computer system is down. The problem is serious, but the solution is not. It’s just a call or text away. With pute.us Managed services, you have your own IT concierge on call 24/7. We asked Jennifer James, Director of Business Development & Consulting, to tell us more.
Q: What are pute.us Managed Services?
A: We manage everything attached to electricity as a service. Concierge managed services is like IT support on steroids. For veterinary practices, it’s as easy as chatting with us on our app. As one of our customers said recently, “When I send a SOS message, pute.us delivers.”
Q: What are the benefits to veterinary practices?
A: An industry-experienced support team that has a strict focus on veterinary management and operations, thus reducing a learning curve that you would have with a standard IT company.
Q: When you troubleshoot everything that is attached to electricity, what does that include?
A: We manage everything attached to electricity for you as a service. If your radiology machine goes down, we contact the radiology company for you on your behalf. If your phones go down, even if you do not have our phones, you contact us and we will reach out to the phone provider. We say, “The answer is yes; what is the question?” It can even be as simple as if you have a lamp in the building that has just burned out its light bulb, we will ask a couple of quick questions and get replacement bulbs to you.
Q: How are your services particularly useful in this time when veterinary practices are struggling with staffing issues?
A: Your time is valuable. We allow you and your staff to focus on your roles in the practice, in essence reclaiming valuable hours so that your team can spend more time on patient care and practice management.
Q: How might a typical day look for one of your customers using your services?
A: We get contacted at the earliest point of a problem to avoid ballooning into a much larger and more time-consuming issue. We take it from there and reach back out to the facility when problems are resolved.
Our services are not just troubleshooting. For example, we might need to add a workstation to reception. Many IT companies will put together an estimate and sell you the workstation. Sounds easy, right? It is not quite that simple. Do you have a data drop? Do you also need a new phone? Is your credit card terminal wired or wireless? Do you have third party applications such as VetPawer? We handle the workstation, the setup and consulting throughout the project to gather all the necessary information to make sure you are fully functional.
Q: How do you handle requests for special projects that are outside the scope of “everything attached to electricity?”
A: Special projects to us are things like building a new facility, doing a remodel, adding a new practice management software or piece of equipment. We handle these within our concierge services membership. Our goal is always to work with the practice to make things run as smoothly as possible so that you can focus on your patients.
Q: What is the financial payoff for the practice?
A: We act as a virtual on-staff IT tech at less than half the cost of one staff employee. From an efficiency, ease-of-mind and ease-of-use standpoint, the services are invaluable.