Tech-Buying Lessons

When Jmi Bassett opened her dental office in August, she wanted to distinguish her practice with high-tech tools like the Gendex CB-500, a $200,000 machine that takes digital 3-D x-rays.

What’s more, she wanted a computer in each room so she could access that information anywhere. But this kind of technology raises both financial and technical challenges.

HB: Did you already know what kind of technology you were going to use before you opened your practice?

Yes. After my residency, I worked in the most high-tech office you could have worked in. So, I had a clear vision of what kind of practice I wanted. The problem was executing it, finding the right vendors, the right people to implement all your systems, and stick within your budget, too.

HB: How did you find the right consultant?

A lot of research. A lot of calls. Talking to other dentists. Talking to tech friends, people who knew about networking and some of the dental software we had. And that’s how we found our consultant, Jon Lim – through a friend of a friend. And he was kind of what we were looking for.

HB: It’s interesting that you chose not to go through a dental-equipment vendor to network your systems.

A lot of the vendors we were thinking of going with had given us good quotes, and we were comfortable they could do a good job, but their prices were a little high for us. So that’s why we kept on shopping.

Jon still gave great quality service, but he was more willing to work with what we had. So, while the other companies were building custom computers or buying super top-of-the-line computers, with Jon, we were able to purchase our own computers.

We received other quotes from other vendors and they would say, “You can go through me and I’ll get everything for you.” But they would up-charge you for the equipment and for going on the phone to order it for you. Luckily, Jon understood what we wanted. He told us, “You can get on the phone with Dell yourself and I’ll give you a list of what to order.”

HB: Networking this high-tech equipment didn’t require dental expertise?

Not really. It’s all computers. It has nothing to do with the industry, basically – it’s software and it’s a PC. Jon understands the computer side of it; he doesn’t have to understand the dental side.

Jon Lim, Lim Pacific Inc.
jon@limpacific.com
225-7618