Look carefully at the monthly fees per workstation as well as the initial cost. Look at their prices for cloud storage.
Look carefully at the whole package: phone lines, do you want automated SMS reminders? do you want to integrate with an accounting package? do you want to integrate with a practice management (compliance) package? rad reading software (do you have 3d or just 2d images?) do you wish to scan in models to store them on the cloud?
SOE is structured in a sensible way but it gets slower. They told us to purchase more ram. Faster for a while but soon slowed up again. Very helpful IT support line once they answer your call but long waits on hold. Have spent many lunchtimes and after work hours sorting out IT problems. Sometimes due to waiting on hold, sometimes due to SOE, BT, Microminder, Gendex, Satelec Acteon and the dental companies who supplied and installed the equipment telling me 'phone the other guys'. Try to get your installation done by one company at one time. This will save you so much time and stress. Even a day's delay is horrible when you have a full appointment book.
Dentally seems much faster to me (but may also slow down).
Radiographs: dentists need them to be easy to access, easy to read and easy to show the patient. 3d imaging: sending and receiving referrals is via cloud-based document-sharing, not email. Make sure all surgeries have highspec screens for best chance of diagnosing caries. Do a comparison: identify caries on an apple iPhone screen and look for the same caries on the same x-ray on an old computer screen.
In my ideal surgery there would be no keyboard but an easy-wipe tablet. Voice recognition is getting much better these days.
A specialist scanning company gave us a quote. Scanning in all the old notes and rads was so expensive that ours remain in a back cupboard. At first we had to 'go fetch' an old file a lot but now hardly ever. Also, the extra info scanned in would have made SOE even slower.
Good luck!
