How to switch clinic systems without losing photos

Moving systems is the part owners dread most. In the reviews we read, painful onboarding and data moves came up 21 times across 9 products, and 4 owners said their data was held back when they tried to leave. This is the checklist we would use for any switch, whichever system you pick.

Before you sign

• Ask your current system for a full export now, and open it. Check that photos and signed forms are in it, not just a patient list.
• Read your contract’s renewal and notice terms. Some clinic contracts renew on their own for another 12 months.
• Ask the new vendor exactly what they move: patients, notes, photos, forms, packages, memberships and future bookings.
• Ask who does the move, how long it takes, and what happens if something is missing.
• Ask how you would leave them one day, and what their export includes.

During the move

• Pick a quiet week, not the week of a promotion.
• Keep the old system open, read-only, until the numbers match.
• Compare counts old against new: patients, appointments, photos and forms.
• Keep patient messages switched off in the new system until go-live, so nobody gets a test reminder.
• Open a dozen patient records end to end, photos included, and check them by hand.

After go-live

Watch the first week of reminders and online bookings closely, and keep your old export somewhere safe. A good switch is one where nobody on the team has to ask where something went.

Where Sovica fits

Sovica moves patients, notes, photos, forms, packages and future bookings for you, with a report of what came across, runs alongside your old system with no messages to patients until go-live, and lets you export any time.