Guys,
Yes, Carlos called me last week to tell me about the beta too. I one sense it was very "nice" of them to call and I always like to hear from Carlos in particular. He's a great guy and has taken extremely great care of us over that last year and a half. Nancy and I just sincerely like him. But anyway, it did strike me as odd, not just because of the hey there's a good beta out there to try which was the first time we got a call like that too, but because we were in the middle of that whole weird falling out over what had happened to us from a previous beta and our data. I was intentionally avoiding calling him and tech support because I thought that I was supposed to do such to maintain our "peace agreement".
After what happened to us over the winter, now I'm a bit hesitant to put our office and data in harms way being a beta site. I've yet to really hammer out with these folks the difference in the type and style of the relationship between a vendor/developer and their beta's verses that of the vendor and a standard customer. As I've said before beta's and vendors have a mutual, symbiotic relationship and the level and response of support should be different for beta's. I know, I used to beta test top quality pro level Audio and Video gear when I worked at old FNN years ago.
Both our VAR and the actual company, be it SONY or Ichagomi or who ever, were available to us very strongly and quickly. I once saw SONY take a VTR deck off the floor of the Jacob Javitts convention center, away from the sales staff so we could have a relplacement for a day or two until our proper deck arrived. Now Jon and AC certainly are not a hugh SONY type company and do not have the resources to be such; BUT unfortunately in modern, sue happy medicine, where we really do need to be ready almost all the time because someone's health or life may just be on the line, we are much like my old business..... The News is at 6, curtain is at 8; are there any questions??? What ever it takes to be up and running, no excuses.
Now we don't pay AC nearly enough for this type of support, yet this is the world we live in as providers. Some how we need to find a way to reach a point where we can be in a good place to support such extreme expectations on us all while not harming our well intended vendor. Can it be done, I'm not too sure, but we should try and find a way to try and balance it all out and attempt to get close, right? I personally have suggested to Jon to reconsider his support plan and price structure. The last thing I want to do is shoot my goose who is laying my golden eggs. Of all the people I do give money to Jon is probably one of the most deservant of our funds. Honestly at times I feel he even deserves more for such a product. I even suggested perhaps a mutli-tier structure and fees according to the level of support one chooses. I like almost all AC users see his continued sucess and my own, because his remaining dominant in EMR's makes the program I use something to be accomidated and incorperated as these programs begin to be weeded out in the market place. And a well thought out, reasonably priced vendor for us little guys better survive or we'll all be in a lot of trouble.
But I for one would like to know who will fix my data or rebuild my database in my time of need next time I do have an issue. I also want to know that if and when any one of us gets hurt or we are out of commission because we were beta testing, that the cavalery will be there for us in our time of need as well. These are not the expenses of tech support and the fees paid that are associated with them, these are the costs of R&D to design and work the kinks out of a product that we are mutually working together on. And in the end, he owns all the rights while we are assisting him in designing a better product. We may use it, but he owns it...
Now I totally admit that there are reason to beta. We all feel like little kids in a candy store when the newest stuff comes out and we get to see some of our ideas or needs incorperated into the final design of the product. It is a mutually beneficial relationship when it goes well. But I would like to see some of these ideas better laid out in a clearer way so we can all continue to move forward together in positive fashion. Now as I read what we get from support other than friendly native english speaking techs it really doesn't say much at all. No less the fact that there really is nothing laid out that covers folks who are exposing themselves to a higher level of risk by beta testing the product. When combined with the new EULA, we really don't have much to stand on. Hopefully this can change in a positive way so we can all continue to work together to develop and use a great EMR with a good vendor. As said in another thread by BERT, Jon was on the top ten list of great things about AC, I hope and I and think he wants to say there. That was what has alway made AC different and special; the man behind the company and his highly ethical policies.
Sorry for being so long winded and thanks for listening. Let me know what you think....
Paul
