by Burkhart’s Proven Solutions Center helps dental practices make the right equipment decisions.
Dental teams today have more and more solutions available to address patient care and practice management. That means finding new ways to integrate multiple devices, systems and software. For some practices, this is easier said than done.
Burkhart recognizes technology integration can sometimes be disruptive to the dental practice and recently created a digital equipment testing and evaluation center in its Tacoma, Washington corporate office called the Proven Solutions Center. In partnership with manufacturers, They test and evaluate digital dental equipment using key performance indicators. Helping their clients make more informed equipment purchase decisions – including the equipment’s ability to interface with other systems – gives them peace-of-mind, reduces their downtime and supports their success.
Solutions Center goals
With the Proven Solutions Center, Burkhart accomplishes three goals:
- Helps clients determine whether certain types of equipment integrate well with other equipment and/or software.
- Expands the knowledge and skills of Burkhart associates to be able to provide better client service.
- Works with manufacturers to develop a remote platform to resolve clients’ equipment issues in a more timely and cost-effective manner.
More informed decisions
One of the many benefits the Proven Solutions Center offers is to provide clients with more informed product purchases. “The Proven Solutions Center serves as a quality assurance function that supports our clients to ensure the quality and consistency of dental equipment we offer,” says Michael Norton, director of equipment and technology sales at Burkhart. “We expect this will make practices more efficient and profitable and help doctors deliver a better patient experience,” he adds.
“Over the last couple years, the Proven Solutions Center has tested, evaluated and supported the launch of new technology products, as well as certified existing technology solutions, to ensure our clients have a positive practice experience with their technology purchase,” Norton continues. Since its inception, the Proven Solutions Center has tested and evaluated digital equipment and technology for a variety of products such as 3D cone beams, CAD/CAM systems, air compressors, sterilizers and 3D printers.
“Not only do we test manufacturers’ equipment for our clients, we also evaluate the equipment software and occasionally test how the software interfaces with other third-party software,” says Chuck Greenfield, corporate service support manager at Burkhart. “We even determine what kind of support the manufacturers provide for a specific product. We call them with product questions because we want to make sure there is a good support structure in place for our clients.”
Burkhart’s director of technical services, Shannon Bruil, likens the Proven Solutions Center to providing a Consumer Report-like service to dental clients. “To help our clients, we have taken the Consumer Reports concept and applied it to our test center,” he says. “We have come up with report cards on various products and how they perform.”
No more costly downtime
“We are excited to be working with manufacturers who are developing software and embedded sensors for their equipment to communicate and exchange data through the internet,” says Norton. Burkhart sees the opportunity to eventually serve clients remotely as the technology develops. “With this rapidly growing technology, we want to be able to better service equipment in a more predictable way for our clients. This will enable our service technicians to consistently show up with the right part at the right time, which will help our clients avoid costly and disruptive downtime.”
An exceptional client experience
One of Burkhart’s goals is to consistently provide an Exceptional Client Experience, which means consistently delivering service that is impactful and valuable to clients. They will continue to expand their reach by testing and evaluating equipment and technology their clients purchase to help them make more informed purchase decisions that will ultimately support their continued success.
Editor’s note: Provided by Burkhart Dental
Shaded Box: Certified products
Burkhart has partnered with a handful of manufacturers to test their equipment. Evaluation typically takes 3-6 months. Examples of manufacturers with products that have been certified include: Planmeca (Emerald Scanner and PlanMill 40 S), Kavo Kerr (OP300 Panoramic CBCT), 3M (True Definition Scanner), PreXion (3D Excelsior CBCT), and SciCan (Statim G4).
Shaded Box: One proven solution
“My experience working with the Burkhart team at the Proven Solutions Center was nothing short of amazing,” says Keith Huang, vice president, operations, PreXion Inc. “As a manufacturer, we worked with the PSC to make sure our product met Burkhart’s expectations so there would be no surprises down the road for our future mutual customers.
“The whole process of getting our product to the PSC, setting it up, evaluating and testing with Burkhart was a breeze,” he says. “During the process, we learned what they liked and received suggestions as to what the market needs and wants. As a result, we were able to collaborate and work with Burkhart to make our product that much better and ready to launch.”
