Is technology the greatest liberator the optical profession has ever seen or the threat to the profession’s very existence?
This is a question that has been echoing around meetings and seminars this autumn. Technology poses an interesting dichotomy for optics and vexes both clinicians and the business-focused members of the profession.
The more white coat orientated optometrists see some refraction automation as technology that will set them free to spend to create a strong relationship with their patient. The more fashion-focused operator is using technology to reach out to the world by building a dream people want to buy into. Conversely technology is encroaching on the optometrist’s role and practices are being hurt by showrooming.
National Eyecare Group and Independents Day delegates were warned at their conference that social media was now more important than a website, engaging patients was the route to tread. A poll of delegates showed acceptance that the technology to do an eye exam was already there. But the majority still believed human interaction would continue to be needed.
The GOC’s consumer research shows younger people are more open to technology than older patients but their experience with optics is very different from the ageing population’s more clinical path. How will they feel when they are older? Young buyers, older patients?
What is clear is that technology will continue at a faster pace than regulation or education and no one knows which direction it will take. Just look at the smart glasses story.
A comment made at last week’s GOC quarterly meeting summed the issue up. If you think you have a future testing eyes and selling glasses then you don’t have a future. Where optics wins out is by having a relationship with the customer technology or no technology.