Now that we are on the other side of the pandemic, we are seeing the benefits of the rapid digitization that occurred in the last year. It was a positive outcome from a grim time in the world, and it will ultimately help our recovery. Many industries innovated new ways to reach customers during the pandemic, even if their business model relied on in-person services.
The most obvious in-person industry is healthcare, which has been undergoing digital transformation with care delivery innovations such as telehealth services, with the help of healthcare tech companies. One such company, SRS Web Solutions Inc., was developed as a response to the shortcomings of the healthcare industry.
CEO Samad Syed’s experience with outdated healthcare processes after a major surgery compelled him to find a solution. He encountered the fragmented and siloed healthcare system with communication gaps across departments, and the tedious paper processes that were prone to human error. He recognized a market need to make healthcare more efficient—and then he set out to make it better.
Now, SRS Web Solutions Inc. is bringing digitization and remote access to a different in-person industry: dentistry. While the medical field has been working to digitize over the last few years, dentistry has still largely been paper-based and in-person.
Most dental practices today are spearheaded by single entrepreneurial dentists or small groups of dentists. About 77 percent of all dentists owned their own practice in 2017 according to the American Dental Association. Through SRS Web Solutions, dental practices are able to digitize their operations affordably and keep up with the rest of the healthcare industry. Their platform, mConsent, is focused on improving the customer experience through technology—digitizing patient intake forms, insurance verification, and enabling video consultations remotely.
What we can learn from Syed’s story is that entrepreneurs who want to succeed should look to leverage technology to improve customer experiences. That includes making things more efficient, convenient, more secure; in short, better for people. Entrepreneurs in any industry can apply this way of thinking by asking what areas of their industry are in most need of innovation. With the shift to digitizing in-person businesses, here are three areas we can look to take a page from Syed’s story and apply across industries.
Automate essential everyday practices
Digitization streamlines tedious processes, allowing employees to focus on delivering care. In dentistry, this process was remarkably impactful in terms of efficiency. Dental service providers were able to automate most essential paperwork—mountains of intake forms—freeing up healthcare professionals’ time and enabling them to focus on point-of-care visits and treating patients.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur in the dental industry or not, automation is most effective when it’s applied to everyday processes. Whether you’re filling out paperwork for clients or storing documents to reference later, digitization can improve the accuracy of menial tasks, and allow employees to be more customer-centered.
Meet customers where they are
During the pandemic, digitization made it easier for companies to reach their customers by providing alternative platforms for interaction. Post pandemic, this still rings true. Many of us experienced shifts—or even major changes—in our routines, and some of those changes are part of our new normal. Digitization and virtual meetings make it possible to reach customers even if their new normal is remote. We have seen this expand across industries, and the dental industry is catching up.
In a similar fashion, it’s important that entrepreneurs evaluate the best places to meet their customers—especially for in-person companies. Dental practitioners have adopted systems like mConsent to make this possible for their clients while acknowledging that a hybrid system is required—you can’t do a root canal remotely. For other in-person businesses, meeting customers through digitization may mean social media outreach or online ordering with in-store pick-up.
Ensure customer-data is secure
It’s important that customer data is protected in our digital world. In order to embrace digitization and promote a positive customer experience, entrepreneurs should ensure that their tech-based processes are secure and safe. For healthcare providers, special care has to be taken to ensure that all digitized processes adhere to industry standards like HIPAA.
But even if your industry doesn’t have strict data protection rules like the healthcare field, it’s imperative that customers know they can trust you with their information. When searching for digital tools, prioritize data security and make sure that customers know their information will be safe. Transparency is key to business success in a digital world.
Digitization has transformed how we do business, and entrepreneurs must keep this in mind to stay ahead in their industries. Companies like SRS Web Solutions have shown us that digitization can transform any industry and make the customer experience more powerful, even if they are miles away. Entrepreneurs that identify a cavity in their industry and innovate to fill it by transforming the customer’s experience will win the lion’s share of business over competitors—and that’s something to smile about.
