Texas
Laser hair removal came upon the scene in the spring of 1997, when the first effective laser for removing body hair was approved by the FDA. Smooth Solutions was founded to offer the highest quality laser hair removal at the most reasonable price. In order to meet these two needs, Smooth Solutions needed a state of the art data management and information system. This system had to be easy to use and develop, sophisticated, network capable, and able to handle our expected growth.
Laser hair removal was new, so there were no examples upon which to develop systems. It took Smooth Solutions over two years to develop the internal pricing and data collections systems they needed to support their operational needs. At that time, they were processing approximately 700 client visits per month and generating 1,400 receipt line items alone in their data collection system.
In the summer of 1999, they developed a new computer system that would replace our outdated software; this was to be their fourth generation Smooth Solution system and would be the first to effectively support their complete operation. They switched development from their previous Macintosh development environment to Helix® RADE. "We choose Helix for its features and because Helix could support our expected growth," said founder Dr. Steven Finder.
Prior to this switch, they had limited experience with Helix, dating back to the late 1980s. During the next several months, Dr. Finder learned Helix and developed an application that would run his most critical systems and incorporate additional features as needed. "In just the few months, our Helix system has significantly changed our operations," he said. "It gave us the information we needed to quickly understand operations, evaluate client information, and manage the decisions that increased our growth rate by 30% this year. This has made us the single busiest laser hair removal clinic in the country."
Helix loaded easily and converted the older data with minimal difficulty. The application tracks clientele, consults, log entries, treatments, receipts, proposals, and pending actions. It also calculates bonuses for Smooth Solutions' referral program, productivity statistics for marketing, and various discount plans.
Helix has standardized Smooth Solutions' service and product data. "I believe some of the best features of Helix are the abilities to maintain large interrelated data sets and to control the customer user interface," said Finder. "Our database manages product inventory for multiple locations; we recently opened our second location in Victoria, Texas and are actively expanding to Dallas, Texas. All these locations are based on the same Helix system."
Finder expects that they will eventually add other major features to their Helix application. "I have yet to have a server crash in the entire time I have had the system up-and-running (even with constant tweaking). Our Helix Servers have worked without a glitch. Both servers run on an iMac with up to seven clients, which are a mix of iMacs, 603e clones, a couple of Quadras, and an iBook connected through an AirPort."
"One of the features I like best about Helix is the effortless method by which I have been able to setup multi-user network operations," said Finder. "Setting up our data networks was as easy as 1) loading the Helix Server and the application on the Server computer, 2) loading the Helix Client on client machines, 3) launching the server, and 4) telling my users to go use it. Helix did everything else. When my users launched their client software, there was the system ready for them to access, with all the forms, reports, and features I built into it."
Smooth Solutions leads the industry in laser hair removal operations in the country, and they have just started expanding. "There are some competitors who have more lasers spread over a number of cities, but no one does the volume we do on a laser-by-laser basis. Someday Smooth Solutions will be a household name across the country. That's our goal and we expect Helix to be a big part of our competitive advantage."