OpenDental Support Fees

For users or potential users.
Post Reply
Nate
Posts: 164
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:36 pm
Location: Kansas City, MO

OpenDental Support Fees

Post by Nate » Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:14 am

Jordan-
I am a proud and loyal Open Dental user for 7yr. I have remained on the support plan the entire time. I know some offices may not stay on the support plan or update often but I like the support you offer and it seems your staff is growing as well as the software program. The 3 biggest advantages I found for initially selecting Open Dental was its Open Architecture, the low initial cost to get started, and the personalized attention that you offer. Now it seems that the bigger practice managment companies are pushing their software more at low or no cost and have even lowered mothly support fees. I dont believe their product or service is as good and that could certainly be why they have made this move. I always recommend your program to friends and other dentist I meet. I know you offer a discount on support after 12 months but would like to ask if you have ever considered offering a lower cost for the most loyal of your customers. For example maybe an even futher discount after 5 or 7 or even 10yrs of continuous support? I would imagine most offices that have had the software for years, like ours, dont use support very often. We typically only use it after an upgrade which we may do 2x per year.

Anyway, just a thought that I would hope you would consider.

Thanks,

Nathan B. Klein DDS

bcpayne
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:00 am
Location: Pueblo, CO
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by bcpayne » Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:11 pm

I imagine the fees paid for support are the big contributor to the continued development of the software. I personally love the fact that new features continue to be added all the time. My fear, although unfounded, would be stagnation of the software development which would take the cutting edge nature of this software away. We very rarely use support and haven't even used our allotted training, but I am happy to pay what I do. I would even pay more to see faster development of many of the awesome feature requests. I know I could put money toward the features I want the most, but the teeny tiny socialist in me wants everybody to contribute to the software I get to enjoy :D .

User avatar
jordansparks
Site Admin
Posts: 5739
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:59 pm
Location: Salem, Oregon
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by jordansparks » Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:24 pm

Believe me, we are always thinking about how to lower the monthly cost. A few of the most likely ways that this will happen are:
1. A "lite" version that has less features, so less than can go wrong and less settings and options to be trained on. This will probably be the web version.
2. A plan where you get minutes to use, very similar to a cell phone plan. But this requires complex software on our end to track minutes. It also has the potential to cause arguments about minutes.
3. As you suggested, some sort of rebate or discount for users who have proven that they do underutilize our phone support.
4. Opening a call center in the Philippines. Users could pay less somehow to use that for primary support. I'm dead serious. Wages there are less than $5/hr and this will translate to very real savings. We can do this with high quality if we directly run the call center ourselves instead of outsourcing. We have already done significant preliminary work, including retaining lawyers and sending staff to scout physical locations. We will run 24/7/365 operations.

Our main goal at this point is to at least not raise the fee.

I know ES offers a free version, with a number of tricky restrictions and exceptions. But I'm not aware of Dentrix doing so, unless you include Easy Dental. And SD and PW are not doing it to my knowledge.

I would really rather that nobody put any money at all on feature requests. But some people have insisted that they want to pay to move features along more quickly.

We are very aware that our success depends on our loyal customers. We appreciate each and every one of you.
Jordan Sparks, DMD
http://www.opendental.com

User avatar
Jorgebon
Posts: 502
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:25 pm
Location: Mayaguez, PR
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by Jorgebon » Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:38 am

The problem with a foreign call center is that your competitors will have a field day bad-mouthing OD support to prospective customers. Another alternative would be that you credit a customer that hasn't used phone support for a year or whatever time period you decide with X% of the support fees paid.
Jorge Bonilla, DMD
Jorge Bonilla DMD
Open Dental user since May 2005

murmsk
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:14 am
Location: Monmouth IL

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by murmsk » Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:01 am

I am perfectly happy paying the support fee to keep support as is. It is in all of ours best interest to keep the revenue stream sufficient for continued development . Good support has become one of the hallmarks of Open Dental and is worth a few dollars.

steve
steve

Tom Zaccaria
Posts: 353
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:09 am

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by Tom Zaccaria » Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:16 am

For God's Sake stop acting like a bunch of weenies!!!

The monthly support makes the program better. Just pay it and move on.
Consider it internal marketing when your patient base sees all the cool things OD can do.

Look at the big picture.

drtmz

User avatar
Rickliftig
Posts: 764
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:50 pm
Location: West Hartford, CT
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by Rickliftig » Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:24 am

I agree with Tom Z. No problem here either. I figure this is also the cost for continued development and version improvements. It keeps a happy and competent staff available at all hours in Salem. OR. And as you all know, they do go the extra mile when you need them too.

if I didn't want a monthly fee, I could drop support (like many Dentrix and Softdent doctors have). But then you end up with a very static system and a different business model. To generate cash, the company has to advertise heavily for new users which takes away from development and support. It's one of the reasons that we adopted Open Dental in the first place - we wanted an independent company that put its users first and we wanted an open system that would never lock us in to proprietary systems.

Rick
Another Happy Open Dental User!

Rick Liftig, DMD FAGD
University of CT 1979
West Hartford, CT 06110
srick@snet.net

Jay
Posts: 272
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:01 am

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by Jay » Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:55 am

I think, of all the recurrent expenses our office has to incur, paid support for OD is the least bothersome and the one we pay with utmost willingness. As I have posted previously these guys go above and beyond to troubleshoot the network, the PC and even any third party software that you might be running. No one follows a script or has an eye on a ticking clock. There is a certain old world innocence in this approach which is in contrast to representatives who say, "Not my problem" which is too often the case nowadays. And in a weird way the OD (and the XDR) approach is infectious in that we try to treat our patients the same way instead of saying, "Not my problem."

I have nothing against overseas call centers in other matters but I am sure HIPAA considerations will somehow arise and I don't want to force Jordan's hand to take that route. So as Tom said, "For God's Sake stop...!!!"

These guys offer the most dynamic product of its kind. Let's not change that with our short-sightedness.

faverymi
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:51 pm

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by faverymi » Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:56 pm

Im very happy paying the support fee.

Excellent staff. Amazing customer service.

Would I like a lower fee? Everybody wants to keep more dollars in the wallet

If that's gonna make some oregon workers loose their job. I will probably find another way.

Keep the jobs in america. Otherwise we are going to have no country.

Maybe we should move to asia. I guess that's where the patients are going to be. We may do 2 sufarces for 20 bucks and crowns for 200 bucks.

My 2 cents.

Pruce Dental
Posts: 290
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 2:39 pm
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by Pruce Dental » Wed Feb 20, 2013 3:06 pm

"For God's Sake stop acting like a bunch of weenies!!!

The monthly support makes the program better. Just pay it and move on.
Consider it internal marketing when your patient base sees all the cool things OD can do.

Look at the big picture.

drtmz"

Ditto!!!!

I was paying 3 times that much in Softddent/ KDI support fees for a program with zero development for years at a time...Their (Softdent) support was horrible...The only thing I ever called for was to report bugs which they would not fix....

The OD fees are VERY reasonable...
Robert L. Pruce, DMD
www.prucedental.com

boboffice
Posts: 89
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:11 am
Location: Poway, San Diego County, CA

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by boboffice » Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:21 pm

Count me among those happy to pay the fee. In my opinion the OD folks earn and deserve every penny.
Robert Marcus DMD
Univ. of CT '93
Poway, CA

User avatar
jordansparks
Site Admin
Posts: 5739
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:59 pm
Location: Salem, Oregon
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by jordansparks » Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:47 pm

The rumor is that Dentrix already has a call center in the Philippines. Come on, wouldn't it be nice to be able to call us on a Sunday, or on Christmas, or at 11 at night? I realize that highly-paid American staff can never be completely replaced. What Dell did was to bring back their call center to the US for their business customers, but to leave their call center in India for their lower-paying consumer customers. I think there's room for both approaches. I feel bad when we don't have an affordable solution for a non-profit that's operating on donations. There are customers who are barely scraping by trying to serve children in schools, elderly in nursing homes, rural areas, and so on. There are also customers in poor countries like India who we cannot help at all. We give them the software for free, but then we cannot afford to support them at a reasonable price.

Oh, and we're up to 36 employees now.
Jordan Sparks, DMD
http://www.opendental.com

teethdood
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:39 am
Location: Visalia, CA
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by teethdood » Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:56 pm

36 employees :o

Does that include your dental office staff as well? Are you still practicing dentistry? at least part time? I think it's hard to get back into dentistry hand-skill wise once you quit for an extended period
Philip H. Doan, DDS
http://www.kaweahdental.com/

User avatar
jordansparks
Site Admin
Posts: 5739
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:59 pm
Location: Salem, Oregon
Contact:

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by jordansparks » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:06 pm

Oh good lord no. I haven't touched a drill in three years. We left the old building behind and moved on. 37 employees now.
Jordan Sparks, DMD
http://www.opendental.com

sam-I-am
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:58 pm

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by sam-I-am » Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:33 am

My two cents: when I have a problem with opendental, the person on the other end actually seems to know something. I can't say the same for my experiences with other dental software. I consider the support fee a bargain.

sandi
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 3:44 pm

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by sandi » Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:34 pm

OD support is great value for money , any dentist in the West who complains cant be serious about running a viable business and is in the wrong business, this is healthcare afterall. Could be like the dentist who used paper clips for permanent posts and was caught out :D

Of course in the Developing world it is a different matter and they could be helped via call centers in their cost sphere. Im sure that would increase take up massively (considering the population split) and propagate the program very widely. Thats what Id do anyway.

stjames70
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:24 am

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by stjames70 » Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:36 pm

I second and third those opinions that we should continue to support OD development through our support fees. We call support one or twice a year and we upgrade maybe twice a year, yet, OD is fast, easy to use and never bogs down our VMs running Windows 8. OD is an elegant program and I just wish it was OS X native (a request I have made to Jordan for the last nine years running now). Well, you can't always get what you want....(OS X solutions are expensive and support is prohibitively high)

User avatar
irfan
Posts: 216
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:09 am

Re: OpenDental Support Fees

Post by irfan » Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:48 pm

$100/mo isnt bad for the most important thing in my office.

Maybe just upgrade pricing for people not on support that need an update? Per issue billing for people not on support?

Or at least more feature votes for long time users!

Post Reply