New Enhancements in Sycle.net, and Coming Soon - Sycle Pro!
Carolyn Smaka: Hi Ridge! Sycle.net recently introduced many new enhancements – can you give us an overview?
Ridge Sampson: Absolutely. At AudiologyNow! in Orlando, we introduced a new, wider screen version of Sycle. We are preparing for some new functionality and as a result we also decided to make Sycle wider and centered on the screen. We’ve also rounded the corners of each section.
In addition, we have released a new calendar functionality. The scheduler now enables you the ability to drag and drop appointments between different providers or different days. It is similar to the way Outlook works, where you can easily and intuitively move things around. We received feedback from professionals using Sycle that they wanted to have the option to sometimes double-book an appointment. For example, maybe you have an appointment coming in at 9am, that may or may not take a half hour, so you want to book another appointment at 9 or 9:15. The new calendar allows for it and can be customized based on each practice’s needs. Some practices may want their staff to have the ability to double-book or triple-book appointments, while others may not, and that can easily be set up in Sycle either way.
We have gotten really positive feedback about the calendar functionality from our customers. It is especially helpful for offices that have a more complicated schedule and have providers blocked out at certain times. They tell us that the new calendar functionality has improved the efficiency of their front office staff.
Carolyn: Sycle has always been known for quickly implementing enhancements based on feedback from Sycle users.
Ridge: Whenever we release new features, we encourage our customers to come back to us with what they like or dislike, or other needs that they have. We do try to move quickly on the feedback and make changes to the software. Even though we have a lot of industry experience and a lot of software experience, the real proof comes when the software is used at the customer level.
Carolyn: We are always hearing from professionals who are looking for resources and assistance when it comes to marketing. What is new with marketing tools from Sycle?
Ridge: Sycle’s approach is based on the idea that if you can manage your current patient relationships, you can really grow your practice. We have developed a system that makes it very easy to stay in touch and do what we call patient retention marketing to keep your patients coming back to your office. With all the competition in the market right now, you do not want your patients wandering in to another outlet and ending up purchasing their next set of hearing aids there. Our system allows you a lot of flexibility - you can print letters within your own office or you can send them to our mail house to be printed without even touching them. You can create all of the mailings within the Sycle interface. You do not have to do a mail merge or go outside of Sycle. You simply define the parameters for the mailing list, and you can even set a frequency and trigger.
Carolyn: That sounds so easy. Can you give us an example of how this might be used?
Ridge: Sure, let’s say you wanted to send out letters every six months to remind patients to come in for a clean and check of their hearing instruments. You can set that in Sycle so that your front office person has a mail queue. Every month, they review the people that need a clean and check letter, press a button to send them all to the printer, and the letters will go out. With this system, these types of marketing activities do not fall through the cracks, as is often the case in busy practices. With this system, you no longer need a tickler file, postcards or other reminders – it essentially takes care of itself.
We have also just integrated with CallSource. A lot of practices use CallSource to track the effectiveness of their marketing. Basically, we can now link up from a marketing piece like an advertisement, to the telephone call to the appointment, all the way through to the hearing aid fitting. You have access to all the information you had in CallSource, and it is now matched up with your Sycle data to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
Carolyn: What kind of support does Sycle offer for professionals who may want assistance setting up some regular marketing activities?
Ridge: We have a fully staffed technology support team and customer experience team, which we recently expanded to better meet the needs of our growing customer base. They are available to answer questions, and to assist and support you. You can reach them by telephone or email, and will get a response right away. They can also send you instructions or a short video to show you or your staff how to do something. We also have a full time trainer who can provide more in-depth training as needed.
Carolyn: Tell me about the all-new Sycle that is underway.
Ridge: In late summer of 2014 we will be releasing Sycle Professional. For the past year we have been working with a UI/UX designer, which is user interface and user experience designer. UIUX designers look at software applications and determine how to make them more user-friendly. Our UI/UX designer looked at all the various work flows in Sycle to reduce the number of clicks that it takes to do certain actions, and to streamline the processes overall. In addition to all these changes that will be integrated into Sycle Professional, it also has a completely fresh new look. The new look will be aligned with new branding we are releasing later this year as well.
Carolyn: What if we already like the look of the current Sycle?
Ridge: Then you will really love the new look. We have made small changes over the years, and we certainly release new features all the time. These updates are seamless for our users since all they do is log on and those updates are available to them, without having to install anything. This will be the first time in our 13-year history that we will have a whole new look, and we are really excited about it.
Carolyn: I’ll look forward to hearing more about Sycle Pro this summer. Thanks for your time, Ridge.
For more information, visit Sycle.net or the Sycle.net Expo Page on AudiologyOnline.
