Global Hearing elevates their processes & workflows with Manage

The Global Hearing Aid Clinic team believes that better hearing leads to a better life. This Canadian-based retailer offers a patient-centered, quality-driven approach to hearing care. They work with customers to diagnose and find solutions for their hearing needs using state-of-the-art equipment and the most advanced technology. Based in Toronto, Ontario, they have two urban private practices with six employees. They opened their first clinic in January 2003 and added a second clinic 10 years later.  

Global Hearing started up with a very basic database system that didn’t meet their business needs. In 2013, they transitioned to Simply Hearing (now Auditdata) and the Aurora solution, which worked well for them for years. Now, they’re transitioning to the Auditdata Manage solution (upgrading from Aurora) to access more robust, modern features, functions, and integration to NOAH data.

We sat down with Stephen Jones, Business Manager at Global Hearing, to discuss the company’s experiences with Auditdata’s solutions and to learn how it has improved their service delivery and daily life.

Global Hearing’s original database system was so basic that they couldn’t pull workable reports or even pull data into an Excel spreadsheet. As a result, they spent significant time and effort manually gathering necessary information about customers and products. They had to manually pull reports/data for their marketing efforts, inventory, and other critical business functions, which was a time-consuming, overwhelming, and often inaccurate way to perform these tasks. 

Additionally, their old database didn’t have a scheduling tool, so they had to manually schedule appointments for all clients and audiologists, a process that was inefficient and prone to errors. This original software stopped being supported by the manufacturer and was eventually discontinued.  

Global Hearing’s owners, therefore, needed a new IT solution to support their operations. They were pleased that Aurora offered similar functionality to their previous solution, and included more tools and features to help them elevate their processes and workflows.  

According to Jones, the team considered Aurora to be “a step forward because Aurora had new functions and greater flexibility that the team really appreciated.” 

💻 Reports for marketing initiatives and warranty expirations

One major benefit was that the team could use Aurora to pull reports directly into Excel. This function made it much easier to do a variety of their day-to-day tasks, from executing marketing initiatives to checking warranty expirations. Aurora allowed their staff to view much more comprehensive information within the reporting system. And Aurora’s automated reporting saved so much time – and reduced errors and headaches – versus their old manual system.

⏱ Appointment scheduling and notifications

Aurora’s automated scheduling system was another game-changer, making the scheduling process centralized, streamlined, and efficient. Global Hearing’s employees found Aurora simple to use, and it saved them significant time, effort, and hassle. 

While Aurora offered automated appointment reminders to notify customers of their upcoming appointments by email or text, Global Hearing never used this feature. After polling their clients, they discovered their customers didn’t want Global Hearing to share their personal data for marketing, which Jones said is a common sentiment in Canada. Instead of using automated alerts, their staff called each customer personally to remind them of upcoming appointments. This approach provided a personalized telephone touchpoint, which customers appreciated.

While Auditdata originally offered to host Global Hearing’s data on a cloud server, the team was more comfortable keeping their data hosted on their own server, using limited features in Aurora, and working in NOAH separately. And, for a while, this approach worked well for them.  

Recently, they decided they wanted to upgrade to Auditdata’s Manage solution to get more features and functions, plus integration to NOAH. Auditdata Manage is based on the Aurora solution but has been upgraded. With the transition to Auditdata Manage, they’re getting seamless integration through Bridge, a NOAH integration, plus a variety of other functions and benefits, as well.

Global Hearing is enjoying more reporting options in Manage, and Jones said that it is fast, easy and accurate to pull information for their marketing campaigns and other customer related efforts. Jones added that he has been very impressed with the quality of reports they can pull out of the Manage software. This approach is much more efficient, and they no longer spend hours manually filtering data.

“Before, we couldn’t do certain things. For instance, if we wanted to do a mail campaign to people in our database, we couldn’t pull a report in our old software, so we’d have to manually go through and make our own spreadsheets, which would take a few weeks.” Jones explained. “In Manage, we can pull the reports, filter out specific data, do an Excel mail merge, and have our mailers ready in the same day.” 

One of the biggest IT changes moving forward is that Global Hearing is moving from being an “on-premise customer” – hosting data on their own server – to a “hosted customer,” where Auditdata will host their data on a secure, cloud-based Microsoft Azure server.

Now, Global Hearing’s staff can quickly, easily, and accurately pull data from both offices and update information seamlessly via the cloud. This gives them the ability to care for their clients joining them in either clinic. Both the staff and the clients now have full access to client data, better flexibility, and the ability to deliver a more personalized service.

As mentioned, Manage also elevates their scheduling. Now, their bookers can easily view and update the schedule for clinicians in both clinics and block out time for a more efficient use of resources. Not only is this process more streamlined, but Jones said they “rarely have a mistake” in their scheduling now. Additionally, if a clinician is out sick, out of the office due to a snowstorm, or for any other reason, it’s simple to reschedule their daily appointments and notify customers directly of the change.

There’s also an option to schedule specific equipment and sound booths in the Manage software. This feature allows staff to see when sound booths and particular equipment are being used and reserve them for specific appointments. Jones said they’re not using this feature, but they may need to utilize it when they open more clinics.

“You really need to have the functions in this software – pulling reports, scheduling, working within the scheduling framework. I have a ton of things I’m doing in the clinics. It makes a difference,” Jones explained. “When it comes to a Practice Management Software, your time is worth so much more than the cost of the database.”   

Jones raved about how user-friendly and intuitive the Manage software has been. Jones and his team are looking forward to using the various functions in Manage to help them boost efficiency, elevate their workflows and processes, and continue to offer extraordinary customer care.

Jones praised Auditdata’s onboarding and support from the very beginning of their relationship and said the Auditdata team has always been available to assist them.  

Auditdata also offers e-learning, videos, and online support materials so customers like Global Hearing have a wealth of information about their solutions – and answers to their questions – right at their fingertips.

For more information about Auditdata’s solutions, including Manage, please contact us.