June 2007

Do Computers Make You Smart?

We would have to say probably not, particularly if smart meant your native intelligence. But, without a doubt, computers can help you to work more efficiently and more successfully and by these definitions make you and your business ventures smarter in every way.

We will travel to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada next month to meet with users and prospective users on July 18 and to give a workshop at the Dental Technicians International Association Conference on July 19. At the DTIA conference, we will talk about six innovative ways that computer software can help dental laboratories to succeed. These are:

• Associating scanned prescriptions and graphic images with cases
• Making outsourcing work for you
• Communication, information, education via the Internet
• Better doctor-lab communications through online prescriptions
• Synchronized software systems
• Using technology to add personal touches, extra coordination

We hope to see you there...be sure to give us a call if you plan to come. Let us know if you need driving directions. Please note: For the DTIA Conference, there are still a few VIP special offer spaces available that include the conference plus 3 nights accommodations at the Residence Inn. If you would like to book one of these, please call Nicole or Harpeet at 1-800-874-4133.

Summer Slowdowns

For the USA's Independence Day on July 4, our offices will be closed, but we will check in on our telephone answer call service and our email for those in other countries. Our offices will be on reduced staff while several of us head to Canada July 17-20, so we ask that you not plan any major changes or installations during that period.

Here in the northern hemisphere, we are facing the start of summer slowdowns as many people head out for vacations in July and August. If you have been wanting to get started on implementing a new computer system or a new feature such as scanning, this can be the best time of all to do it. In almost all instances, the small amount of money and time you spend now can reap much greater savings throughout the year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can DentaLab for QuickBooks be run on Apple Mac computers?

A:Yes, one of our prospective labs experimented with running on his Mac, using Parallels Desktop 2, and DentaLab for QuickBooks ran successfully.

Q: Can you somehow copy doctor preferences that you set up for one doctor in a group practice to others in the same group practice?

A:Yes, you can use the clipboard feature that is part of the Microsoft Windows operating system to copy and paste from one doctor to another. In fact, you can copy text from any spot to another within a Windows session. Simply highlight the text you wish to copy and press CTRL/C to copy to the clipboard. Then navigate to the spot where you want to paste the text and press CTRL/V.

Q: Is your software designed to run on wireless networks?

A:When we design our software for multiple concurrent users on networks, it does not matter if the network is wired or wireless. We have found in some labs, the setup for wireless works just as well as wired systems. Others, however, have experienced problems with consistent transmissions. Keep in mind that wireless technology depends on radio frequencies and having sufficient signal strength to overcome interference is critical. Unless you have someone on staff with knowledge and experience, we recommend that you work with a local hardware/network organization to purchase and install your equipment.

Having a Web Presence

Just as once it was considered a business basic to be listed in the telephone book, it has come to be expected that businesses will have a website that at minimum lists their contact information such as name, address, telephone numbers and email addresses.

We have had a web presence for many years, continually updating its contents, and three times completely revamping it to keep up with the latest technology. We invite you to take a look at our new look at www.mainstreet-systems.com. If you would like to see the building where the DentaLab support team works and Dr. Lipkin, one of the dentists who is guiding us on development of DRX-Online, go to www.indianvalleydental.com. And also definitely worth a look is www.intuit.com for the latest on QuickBooks products and tutorials.

We have added a new service to setup and design affordable websites for dental laboratories and dental offices. You can see a sampling at our website under Products and then Web Design. For these, you would provide us your own text for the Home Page and Contact Information. We would recommend that you have at least one page for your Services and Products. These three fundamentals would provide an excellent starter for your web presence. The fee for registering your domain name plus web-hosting is $120 (USD) per year. Our one-time fee for a 3-page starter design similar to those shown on our website is $400 (USD). If you determine you would like to add more pages, more photos and/or downloadable PDF forms, we will work out the schedule and fees with you.

Cross-Links

While on the topic of websites, we would like to offer to place a link to your website on ours if you, in exchange, will place a link on your website to ours. When we check on the statistics for our website, we find a very large number of clicks into ours from a myriad of countries and sources. Particularly if you are offering a specialty to other labs and would like to have them outsource to you, having a link on our site can be a good thing. Our numbers are 1-800-257-4535 and 1-215-723-7041. Please call if you would like to discuss the possibilities.

Special Reports for Your Customers

One of the beauties of working with QuickBooks is that as you delve more and more into its capabilities, you can find excellent worthwhile features that are not evident at first glance. One of these is creating special reports for your customers from the already existing standard reports. For example, if you are working with a dental group and have specified this in the Type field for each of individual dentists within the group, you can begin with one of the standard accounts receivable reports such as Open Invoices or Collections Report. Next request it by Type, specify the date range and the fields you would like to show, and then modify the Heading to personalize it , such as "June Review for Dental Health Partners" to send to the group practice.

Better yet, you can specify that this is to be a memorized report and then recall it, change it slightly and send it every month via standard or electronic mail. All of this can be done in a matter of minutes and can add a very professional cut-above service to your accounts.

QuickBooks Goes Open Source for QBE

Intuit announced on June 15 that its Enterprise version for mid-market users will soon be able to run on servers using Linux open-source. The new, free Linux Database Server Manager application will allow QuickBooks Enterprise (QBE) to operate on Linux servers, whereas previously companies running on Linux had to have a separate Windows-based server to house the QBE database.

Dental RX
We have been working with dentists on an alternate version of DentalRx that will be web-hosted and offered as an online service. The initial version will be for the USA and will include ADA insurance codes and dentist notes and preferences. Our goals for this second version remain the same:

• Easier-to-read prescriptions
• Provide accuracy and consistency
• Fewer errors due to misunderstanding between doctors and labs
• Convenient tooth chart and calendar
• Secured access
• Time and cost-saving features

And much more...look for this in 2007

Call 1-800-257-4535 or visit www.mainstreet-systems.com to learn more about Mainstreet Systems and our software designed specifically for dental laboratories.