As the dental market surpasses $150 billion and private equity-backed investors continue to fuel rapid growth within the space, there is a pressing need to efficiently collect and analyze the vast amounts of data created by dental offices. Just as an office that’s overspending can hurt your organization’s bottom line, so can costly department silos and blindspots that bleed dollars away from top line revenue. Factor in Deloitte’s latest Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) Survey which found “analytics and data management tools” to be the top item on procurement managers’ wish lists, and it’s not too hard to envision a data-driven procurement process where accurate reporting leads to a streamlined supply chain and lower costs.

While finance teams continue to grapple with ever increasing data sources in the front office and the back office, the ability to efficiently aggregate, consolidate, and evaluate data across all offices in a network is still a challenge for many group practices and dental service organizations (DSOs). Some DSOs are managing hundreds of dental offices across several states. And as market pressures lead to cost reduction opportunities, the dental groups who can figure out how to effectively harness the full power of their spending data will be set for success as they turn supplying their business into a competitive advantage. 

This is where a procurement platform that provides a single source of truth (SSOT) environment serves a valuable purpose. As today’s dental practices cast aside “the old way” of doing business for more agile solutions like e-procurement, DSOs can begin to take ownership of their spending data with a single source of truth for all their offices, paving the way for a data transformation that lowers costs across the supply chain.

What does a “single source of truth” mean for dental?

“Single source of truth” is a data storage principle for always gathering a particular piece of information from one (and only one) place. In terms of dental procurement, a single source of truth (or SSOT) environment means being able to link the various aspects of the dental procurement cycle – including orders, purchases, receipts, invoices, etc – within a single unified platform that collects and stores all data and activity for the organization. 

Imagine a procurement ecosystem where every purchase of dental supplies, from impression trays to printer paper, is digitized and cataloged into a cloud-based application. Every associated string of data for the purchase – vendor, category, order number, packing slip, invoice, etc – is also stored. And this process is done automatically, across each office in your organization. Whether your dental organization has 200+ locations or 2 dozen locations, one unified platform for purchasing and paying for dental supplies creates a single source of truth with actionable insights for better decision making. 

Benefits of a controlled SSOT procurement process for dental practices

The benefits of a single source of truth procurement process for dental practices include:

• Real-time data for every office. A single source of truth helps you to efficiently, and more importantly, accurately, manage your business at a fast pace. Gone are the days of waiting for lagging reports and indicators to make purchasing or payment decisions. A single procure-to-pay platform instantly stores data as soon as an activity occurs.
• Removing department silos. A single source of truth environment connects procurement and accounts payable (A/P) departments with one system for every purchase. Internal teams can exchange process information with supply chain stakeholders including 3-way invoice matching that links A/P and procurement departments with dental office staff to drive complete payment transparency. 
• Cost reduction, control, and efficiency. A single source of truth delivers more accurate reporting on your organization’s spend down to every office, supplier, order, and invoice. Collecting this data for every office in the organization provides valuable insights for potential savings while helping achieve cost reduction goals through control and efficiency. 
• A holistic view of the organization. A single source of truth procurement process solves the problem of rogue offices “flying dark” within the organization and allows CEOs and CFOs to orchestrate the information flow between offices and departments in order to make smarter business decisions that drive the bottom line. 

CureMint’s single source of truth for dental practices

CureMint, the leading procure-to-pay software for DSOs and dental practices, provides a full-suite solution for managers and practice owners to configure a single source of truth environment for their dental organization. For every purchase, intelligent automation triggers the transfer of critical information between Procure and Pay modules, documenting every action simultaneously across multiple dental offices and departments. And CureMint’s all-in-one platform securely stores data information in the cloud so that decision-makers can access it at any time, from anywhere. 

Ultimately, a controlled single source of truth procurement environment is possible for any dental practice regardless of size. From well-established DSOs to emerging group practices, CureMint’s dedicated Success team works hand in hand with project stakeholders to make transformational change easy and facilitate smoother pivots toward a data-first procurement system. 

Want to see how CureMint builds a single source of truth for dental organizations? Sign up today for a free demo.