Understand the cost and benefits when you choose to use cloud-based dental software and why traditional dental software have failed dentist expectation.

1. Moving data to the cloud can relieve you of heavy reliance on physical storage you are solely responsible for.

Research shows that human errors account for 52% of data breaches, the most common of which is ‘general carelessness.’ The risk of human error can be particularly high when dealing with patient data. Many offices do manual backup improperly until problems occur; most offices transfer data daily to a USB, and any mistake during this process such as losing the USB on your way home can harm your practice.
PHIPA, Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, requires access control to data storage facilities by locking door or the use of access cards. So any Ontario dental office that fails to implement such physical protection upon their local server can be held legally responsible in cases of data loss.
A cloud-based dental software, without requiring a server in your office, does not need dentists to shoulder all the legal obligation and high costs of protecting it.

2. The cost of using a cloud-based dental software is likely to be lower than a desktop version.

The cost of a typical desktop dental software over five years can add-up to $47,000 that includes initial setup fee, monthly maintenance, training, and separately purchased features such as Appointment email reminders and remote access. All manual updates and data backups take administration time that could have been spent on treating more patients. Some offices also have to hire an IT specialist to deal with such complicated software-related issues. On the other hand, our iKlyk dental is up to date 24/7/365, requiring no upgrades or data backup, and reducing the need for technical expertise in the office.

3. Besides data security functions within the dental software, the right cloud service provider also adds value to practice management.

iKlyk partners with Microsoft Azure, who also hosts sensitive data for corporations including eBay, Boeing, and Apple iCloud. Azure stores data on redundant servers in multiple locations, which means even if one server goes down, your data is still safe and your dental software never goes down.
An IT giant like Microsoft also provides economies of scale at minimal expense. Rather than relying on one IT staff member or at most the support of a single dental software company, you have arguably the best expert team to make sure your patient data is safe. From ensuring physical security of data centres to preempt loopholes through ethical hacking, Microsoft Azure has employed many layers of protective measures.[/fusion_text]

About the Author

Feda Bashbishi is the CEO and co-founder of iKlyk Inc., a Canadian dental software provider dedicated to raising the bar of quality in dental practice management software, patient privacy, and data security. Feda Bashbishi holds an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University as well as a Master of Science in Software Development from San Jose State University in California. Prior to establishing iKlyk, for years, Feda has worked on enterprise level cloud-based applications. You can connect with Feda through https://goo.gl/ZLJiRV or email at fedab@iklyk.com.