Dental clinics need to go digital too, this M’sian team aims to impact 300 in the next year

[Written in partnership with Supernewsroom, but the editorial team had full control over the content.]

Last we spoke to Malaysian point-of-sale (POS) system provider Aoikumo, the brand was supplying its services to clients in the beauty, medical, and wellness fields.

Around that time, however, CEO Kevin Nair had already expressed his interest in serving dental clinics to Vulcan Post too.

Just under a year later, he was proud to share that they’d achieved that goal. Within 1 month of launching their new POS system, kumoDent, 15 dental clinics had already come on board.

Tweaking the system

It all began with enquiries from players in the dental industry who’d caught wind of Aoikumo’s POS system being used by beauty and medical service providers in 2019.

When the MCO hit in 2020, the Aoikumo team felt it was an opportune time for them to divert some development attention towards a proper dental POS system.

But if Aoikumo’s existing POS system was able to serve beauty, medical, and wellness service providers, why did they have to go the extra mile to create a new system just for dental clinics?

Kevin replied, “We were missing the dental and periodontal charting, and at the same time, the patient journey, which is the flow from the point the patient reaches the clinic up to billing, differed as well.”

Did you know: Periodontal refers to anything relating to or affecting the structures surrounding and supporting the teeth.

“Other than that, Aoikumo had way more features than what the dental clinics required, such as the package control, marketing module, tiering commissions, etc.”

Despite these differences, the team’s goal was still to have both kumoDent and Aoikumo share the same platform.

This was so that their available kumoSan (for staff management) and kumoBiz (a lite version of the POS system to ease business operations) apps could also be used by kumoDent subscribers, negating the need to develop more separate ones.

However, this plan came with a caveat. “We had to ensure that whatever we were doing would not interrupt the existing Aoikumo clients when kumoDent was launched,” Kevin shared.

Thus, the team spent the most time on tests to ensure that their architecture could hold up with the addition of kumoDent.

Taking care of their clients’ customers

kumoDent is not the only dental clinic POS system in Malaysia though, as there are overseas competitors offering their services here too.

But Kevin believes he and the Aoikumo team have their USPs down-pat. Creating the most high-tech, efficient system would still mean naught if the people meant to use it can’t figure it out.

With kumoDent’s main users being nurses and doctors, the team ensures that whatever new features and functions released are easy to use. At the same time, they provide easily-accessible help and support.

Then there are also the value-added services within the Aoikumo ecosystem which include the aforementioned kumoSan app.

On the customer-facing front, Aoikumo has a MeTIME Wellness app for patients to book appointments through, check past transactions, and more.

Some upcoming plans to improve it include adding an over-the-app purchase function that lets patients pay for treatments on the app itself.

And because as they say, knowledge is power, kumoDent provides patients with post-treatment care writeups that give advice on how to care for one’s teeth after a filling or a wisdom tooth removal, for example.

This end-to-end care has proven popular amongst kumoDent’s targeted clientele, and today, dental clinics make up about 10% of Aoikumo’s overall outlet subscribers, with Kevin noting that it’s still a growing number.

In focus and on track

Within the next year, Aoikumo aims to onboard a total of 300 clinics to kumoDent. The team has set aside budgets to ramp up their sales and marketing efforts to increase awareness and to strengthen their brand identity.

Following these efforts, Kevin said, “We are still on track and confident that we will hit the target by next year.”

As for other growth goals, he replied, “Regional and international expansion, if the situation permits, as well as increased adoption of the MeTIME Wellness app to ease patient bookings and purchases.”

Though the possibilities are endless, Kevin and his team are choosing to focus on kumoDent and Aoikumo first, but won’t shut out other verticals within the medical and wellness industry in the future.

• Learn more about kumoDent here.
• Read about other Malaysian startups we’ve covered here.

Featured Image Credit: Aoikumo