Making the Right Choices for Your Technology Infrastructure and Optimal Efficiency

DSOPro: Tell us about your company and your role in the DSO Technology Summit.

I’m the director of communications for Sunset Technologies. I have been here for about 7 years and Sunset’s been around just over 20 years. It is a technology, integration, and cybersecurity organization specifically serving the dental sector. We provide tailored technology solutions and understand the critical importance of “uptime” to our clients. We ensure that the practices remain consistently operational, allowing them to deliver patient care and maintain optimal efficiency. We help them with scalability, security, and provide continuous support.

We are more than a technology, support, or integration company. We help our clients to understand that technology is an investment in their growth, rather than an expense. We try to ensure they have all the knowledge they need to make the choices that will improve their practice while using the most innovative technologies that fit well within their technology infrastructure. We want to be their partner when it comes to making choices about technology and to help identify the best ones for their businesses.

This is the fourth year Sunset has hosted its DSO Technology Summit and the theme is “The Right Design.” This meeting is intentionally intimate, generally below 75 attendees, so the conversations are really in depth. Attendees walk away from our conference with confidence, new ideas, and a plan for their next steps.

DSOPro: What do you mean by “uptime”?

“Uptime” is the idea that the technology in a practice is running at peak performance, at its highest efficiency. When it comes to technology, and their environment, the reality is their uptime is tied directly to their bottom dollar, to revenue growth. They cannot grow their revenue if their systems are not running at peak performance. There are many pieces that are connected to uptime, it’s not just whether their computers are on or off. It could be a security issue or simply using systems that are just too old. Computers are designed to last only so long and, unfortunately, a lot of practices say that if they’re still running, they will continue to use them until they’re not. But if it’s not running at peak performance, they’re not able to get patients in and out as quickly as they could. If they’re not able to get as many patients in and through the system, their revenue will decrease. So, our goal is to keep them operating at peak performance to drive revenue as much as possible.

DSOPro: Who is your target audience for the DSO Technology Summit?

All DSOs are welcome, as are all independent dental practices. We started in the independent dental practice arena but began to support DSOs about 5 years ago. The conference is geared toward both. The information we’re sharing can be tailored to whatever the offices need. Some of the larger organizations, like DECA Dental Group, Heartland, and Aspen, have attended our conferences. But honestly, the information presented is probably most beneficial for small to mid-size practices. From the independent dental practice up to about 100-125 offices is usually where we see the best growth for our attendees.

DSOPro: What is the typical partnership arrangement with your clients?

We provide a lot of opportunities for our DSOs and independent dental practices at these events. Some of them come every year. They say they wouldn’t miss it and that they get the best information from it, but they may have never actually been a client, which is completely fine with us. We are quite happy to share the information. The reason we started the DSO Technology Summit was because when we went to other conferences it didn’t seem like the idea that technology requires integration was part of the conversation. There’s a lot of fantastic technology out there, but nobody’s talking about how they integrate and whether they natively work with each other. That is Sunset’s superpower, we do integration really well. We ensure that the hardware and software work together in the most efficient way possible.

Sometimes companies go to events and think something is great and they must have it. They buy the widget, whatever it is, and then want to know if we can make it work. Well, sure we can, that’s our job. But we must tell them it doesn’t innately work with the software and programming they already have within their infrastructure. The best features demonstrated at the event may not run as effectively within the infrastructure they have. So, the idea is to have these conversations with us, or whoever your technology team is, before you buy something. If they want an intraoral camera, we may suggest three or four systems that will integrate easily with the programming they have. To be the best partner we can be we need to be in on the front end of those conversations.

A lot of people look at their technology budget as an expense. We’re trying to change that mentality and explain that it truly is an investment. The investment they put into their technology, and the integration of it into their infrastructure, will help with their long-term value should they want to sell, grow, or have better EBITDA. It will help with integration when they want to grow and when they become a larger organization. As they’re bringing new practices in, if their systems are running at peak performance the way they should, it will be easier to bring other locations on board.

DSOPro: Tell us more about this year’s theme and the significance of strategically designing infrastructure.

Strategic design is figuring out what you’re going to do and how you’re going to get to that end result. It requires designing a plan to reach the goals. It’s not just using support services to run the company. It is strategically designing how you are going to run it.

DSOs can’t function without technology and without support for that technology. So, let’s make how you are going to grow your organization part of the conversation. Let’s make it a concerted effort and keep the focus on peak performance.

Each year we have a different theme. This year it’s “The Right Design.” We’re focusing on how strategic design principles can optimize technology management for DSOs. We’re talking about seamless integration, minimizing downtime, reliability and resilience, proactive maintenance strategies, scalability and sustainability, user-centric designs for efficient support, and data-driven design for predictive maintenance.

Last year was all about integration. We focused on the idea that it’s more than just integrating technology, it’s integrating many different aspects. It’s more than just what’s in the chair. The year before that, the theme was the digital lifecycle of the patient. We were looking at the technology footprint before the patient gets in the door. How do they make their appointment? What happens when they’re in the chair? What happens when they’re done? How do you start back with RCM again?

There are many ways technology touches the dental practice. “The Right Design” is critical to its success and efficiency.

DSOPro: What are some of the highlights for this year’s Summit?

It’s a day and a half program with a welcome reception on Wednesday evening. The event is casual, enjoyable, and energetic, and we are thrilled to have Brian Colao, Director of Dykema Dental DSO Industry Group, returning as our emcee. We have a full day planned on Thursday followed by a great dinner Thursday night. Our theme for that is Escape to Margaritaville: A Night of Island Vibes, because the conference is being held at Margaritaville Nashville. Friday is a half day, ending just before lunch.

We have some great panels this year. Cybersecurity has become a huge part of the infrastructure design process. We must prepare, prevent, and navigate responding to cyber incidents. We’re excited to have the VP of IT for Riccobene Associates Family Dentistry, Brian Mullenix, Director of Cybersecurity and Compliance for Planet DDS, Liz Duncan, and the CIO of DECA Dental, Robert Boone, on a panel together. That’s going to be a fantastic conversation.

Another cybersecurity-themed program is on deconstructing cyber threats. We’ll look at safeguarding the practice through analyzing past incidents. We will take a backside look at what happened. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but what can we do to put some things in place to help the next person going through it so they don’t have the same issues? CIO of DentalXChange, Scott Checkoway, Cindy Klein, CIO of Affordable Care, and Sid Singh, CEO of Rectangle Health will lead this discussion.

We have another panel focused on navigating the vendor maze and strategies for managing multiple partnerships. We address all the things we are bombarded with by all the different vendors we are working with and how to manage that. The president and co-founder of Complete Specialty Solutions, Santosh Patel, Ron Kerensky, CIO of SGA Dental Partners, and CTO of Nuvia Dental, Jacob Irving, will be speaking on that panel.

We also have a Women in DSO panel led by Dr. Aman Kaur, Founder and President of Women in DSO, which we include every year. There are two afternoon workshops, one for our DSOs led by Jill Nesbitt of Optimize Dental to discuss “The Decision-Making Process for Technology Investment: Aligning with the Right Design,” and one specifically for our vendors, led by DVIN’s Eileen Day. As you can see, there will be lots of different conversations to be had and we cannot wait to share them.

We also have two keynote speakers: Patrick Jacobwith, the CEO and General Counsel of Sunset Technologies and our CTO, Yaron Baitch, who both work with InfraGard, which is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and members of the private sector. InfraGard has a higher clearance for information gathering when it comes to what’s happening with the FBI and what can be shared with the general public. They will talk about some of the things they’re seeing, like the differences and similarities between these attacks, and how to design your programming and your infrastructure to ensure you are utilizing all the resources available to keep your practices safe.

DSOPro: What can you tell us about the vendors attending the summit?

We have amazing vendors. And we still have a couple of opportunities for others to attend.

The current vendors include eAssist, bill.com, PlanetDDS, DentalXChange, Rectangle Health, and Practice by Numbers. There will be some additions before the meeting. Because we are a small organization, we keep the number of our partners small as well. One of the things we do differently is having everybody in the same room, keeping it intimate on purpose. As a matter of fact, they’re sitting at the tables with our DSOs so that they can initiate in-depth conversations in real time.

Attendees can ask what their organizations are doing to protect DSOs or to explain how their services and products work within an office design to make it more productive and efficient. We help them develop a close-knit relationship. We keep our ratios at a level where neither our partners nor our vendors feel overwhelmed.

DSOPro: Is there anything you would like to add?

We do the DSO Technology Summit only once a year but are looking at holding smaller regional master classes throughout the year. We plan to announce starting this in November and doing it again probably next April or May. We hold the DSO Tech Summit in Nashville because it is relatively in the middle of the country, and the master classes will be offered out west and potentially in the northeast. So, keep an eye out for those in case you can’t make it to Nashville or are looking for a different kind of conversation.

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About Michelle Hambidge

Michelle Hambidge helps organizations succeed by managing communications with targeted audiences through strategic channels, and at the appropriate time; with the aim of engaging people, managing reputations, and achieving business goals. Michelle is an entrepreneur and founded C&A Consulting Solutions in 2002. She has multiple roles, which she fills through C&A.

Michelle is currently the Director of Communications for Sunset Technologies. Sunset is a nationwide organization that provides technology integration, security/cyber, compliance, and operational support specifically in the dental space for general and specialty practices, emerging groups, and DSOs. Michelle is the strategic leader for the organization’s internal and external communications activities, including the company’s annual DSO Technology Summit. In addition, over the past two years, she has spearheaded Sunset’s launch into the DSO market and supported the establishment of Sunset’s DSO Division.

Michelle serves as the Director of Operations for Women in DSO and Executive Director for the Dental Integrators Association (DIA), both non-profit national organizations. Women in DSO is a gift of love and support that Michelle enjoys pouring her heart into. She manages the internal demands of this rapidly growing organization of exceptional women. For DIA, Michelle orchestrates their Annual Conference and Midyear Meeting and has had the pleasure of supporting the members and board of directors for more than 12 years.

Michelle brings almost 30 years of results-driven communications, event planning, and business development through campaigns that engage people, manage reputations, and achieve business goals. She has spent the last 15 years honing her skills in technology and cybersecurity for the dental market. She brings a rare blend of corporate and relationship-based business to each engagement. Michelle’s liaison with clients and customers includes Pentagon and Department of Defense officials, media, donors, top-tier clientele, and c-suite members. Starting her career with one foot in the legal field and the other in entertainment with Walt Disney World, Michelle is unique and authentic.

Sunset Technologies

Sunset Technologies is the premier provider of tailored technological solutions and support for the dental sector, specializing in seamless integration and innovative advancements. We understand the critical importance of uptime—ensuring that your practice’s systems are consistently operational, allowing you to deliver uninterrupted patient care and maintain optimal efficiency. Demonstrating a solid commitment to scalability, security, and continuous support, we empower practices to achieve maximum uptime and serve as trusted partners, guiding businesses through the complexities of technology, compliance, security, and operational excellence. Our mission is to propel your success by keeping your practice running smoothly and efficiently, allowing you to stay at the forefront of industry innovation. At the same time, we navigate the challenges and provide robust solutions for your business needs. Sunset Technologies ensures you can Rest Assured, knowing that your uptime is our top priority.