A: Because the cloud is just better, quite simply. Most of us turn to the cloud already for everything from personal email to banking to booking flights. With cloud-based software, you don’t need to install and manually update software on multiple hard drives to access your practice management tools. All you need is an internet connection and a web browser. Cloud-based software eliminates the many hassles associated with network maintenance, data backup, security, and a variety of other consuming tasks that are best left to a specialized software vendor. All of these important tasks are performed in the background—simply log in to access the latest and greatest version of your practice management software.

When people think of the cloud, they often look towards data storage, and while this is true, the cloud offers so much more than storing pictures or documents. Before we look at the specifics of how the cloud can benefit dental practices, we should also consider the benefits of the cloud in other instances and applications in general. Relative to traditional in-house software and storage, the cloud offers greater flexibility, robust efficiency, and strong strategic value that drives decisions and operations. 

Because everything is connected online in the cloud, there’s more room to scale and grow. With the flexibility that the cloud offers, users can access information anywhere and anytime as well as having new services that improve their existing workflows. This leads into the efficiency of the cloud as users can securely send and receive information throughout the entire organization or to their customers and clients. Considering both flexibility and efficiency, this allows for organizations to get more value out of their operations, as there are many tools to help the organization grow and help make better business decisions moving forward. 

When it comes to running a dental practice, however, the cloud can definitely steer dentists and the entire team in the right direction. By using a cloud-based dental practice management solution, early adopters have discovered there are many benefits, some of which include improvements to patient care and the patient experience, overall team efficiency from the front office to the clinical side, and increased revenue streams from uncovered opportunities. 

On the imaging side, having the power of an open-architecture imaging solution is powerful as all locations in a dental practice can utilize the software that is compatible with major imaging hardware and practice management solutions. This means the days of using fax and sending sensitive information in an unsecured way can be a thing of the past. 

Even if it seems complex, it’ll make things a lot easier for the IT team by having one centralized platform that can be used by all team members in a dental organization. The data is under greater protection from hardware failure, viruses, and natural disasters as cloud-based systems have 24/7 constant monitoring. Lastly, having a cloud-based solution grants immense opportunity for growth as pushing out innovative updates and adapting to certain situations can be a lot less pressuring than traditional systems. 

The easiest part? All you need is a reliable internet connection. After that, all the features and tools are at your dental organization’s disposal to operate like never before.