Case Studies –> Body Active Chiropractic Clinics

With 2 clinics already operating in the south east of England, and looking to expand, the clinical director of Body Active decided he wanted to update the clinic's IT by implementing new clinic management software with a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connecting the clinics to allow sharing of files and appointment bookings. At the same time, existing hardware and software were to be updated. Companies were invited to tender for the new hardware and VPN environment.

Initial savings

After selecting DGT Technology as the clinic's IT partner, our analysis showed the hardware initially quoted was not appropriate for the clinic's small business environment. DGT Technology were able to achieve significant savings on hardware by specifying a more appropriate solution.

Evolved

The existing network environment had evolved organically over a number of years, and was a complex mesh of differing hardware technologies, a wide variety of software, and differing versions of the same product.

Security

DGT Technology installed new internet routers with firewalls and VPN capabilities in each clinic to secure the network perimeter, and then set about standardising and simplifying the internal network. A standard anti-virus and anti-spyware package was installed to all PC's with centrally managed updates and reporting. Some of Body Active's staff were able to take advantage of the new secure encrypted VPN environment to work from home using resources on the clinic's network.

Backup and restore

A backup and recovery plan was written, featuring almost instant on site backups with off site backups stored at the other clinic. DGT Technology's monitoring software automatically alerts us to any problems, or potential problem with the network, VPN, backups, or any other aspect of the clinic's operations. All the normal IT operations of the clinic happen automatically with no manual intervention or effort on the part of the Body Active staff. The data is restored periodically as a test to ensure reliability of the backup and restore procedures.

Reports and documentation

The clinic has a regularly updated IT manual, including full details of their IT environment and operations. The clinic also receives regular reports with statistics detailing the IT environment, with DGT advising of any potential issues. All reports and information, including contracts and accounts are available at any time by logging into the DGT Technology website and accessing the secure customer intranet system. DGT Technology also act as a virtual IT director giving advice on upcoming technologies and how they may be applied within the clinic to improve the service, or to save money.

Budget

By subscribing to the Total Care service, Body Active are able to easily budget for their IT running costs, and are confident that their IT environment is being professionally managed. Should an IT problem arise, someone will be available to quickly and efficiently solve it - anything from a crashed PC to full disaster recovery.

Find out more

To find out more about the Total Care service and how it could benefit your company, please call us on 0845 257 9698 or email us at sales@dgt.uk.net.

To find out more about Body Active Chiropractic Clinics look at their website, www.bodyactiveclinics.com.

December 2005