Tip Tuesday #3

WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED?
With Windows XP going end of life in 3 months time you should already have plans in place,  if not you should seriously be thinking about upgrading your hardware soon. When you do upgrade do you need the very latest hardware to replace it? The answer is probably no, and currently neither SOE or Carestream officially support Windows 8 anyway, although I'm sure that will change in the next few months.  Questions you should ask before committing to spending are :-

1.       Do I need to buy brand new hardware?

Many clients are buying refurbished machines to save costs, these typically are around half the cost of a brand new computer and are Windows 7 Professional HP Small Form machines. For peace of mind, they also come with a 2 year warranty (most new computers only come with 1), and they run the current versions of Exact and R4 along with MS Office and Anti-Virus more than adequately.

2.       Where in the practice do I need to locate the BEST hardware?

E.g. an x-ray PC is far more important than a surgery computer that gets used twice a week. Consider mixing the hardware that you buy, a common purchase model amongst our clients is to use new hardware for managers, principals and digital imaging equipment and refurbished machines everywhere else.

2.       What version of Microsoft Office do I need?

Although you can't use Office Home and Student or Office 365 with Exact or R4 there are still massive savings to made by buying Home & Business over Professional - do you really need Publisher or Access? In most cases I highly doubt it!

3.       Installation - who is going to configure and install the new computers for you?

Are they experienced in dealing with the intricacies of Dental Software and Digital imaging?  Do you have a pre agreed list of installation requirements and parameters?  Can they install at a time that suits you and your practice?  Can they support you after the initial job if you have any queries or issues?

Badly planned and executed replacements can lose your practice surgery time. Just Tech IT can personalise your installation requirements to suit your individual needs.

Please contact us using any of the methods below to discuss your requirements for leaving XP behind, or get in touch even if you just want some free advice......