In partnership with the Carisbrook management team, Banfield Pet Hospital® investigated the feasibility of outsourcing desktop and application support for their veterinary hospitals. The successful project has yielded a significant return on investment to Banfield while freeing the Information Technology (IT) team to address the demands of a rapidly growing international practice.

First some background: Banfield Pet Hospital® was founded in 1955 with a commitment to making human quality medicine accessible to pet owners. In their hometown of Portland, Oregon, Banfield became known for its legendary client service and life saving veterinary medicine. By the early 1990's, three generations of pet owners had come to know and trust the Banfield team, making Banfield one of the leading private veterinary practices in the nation.

The practice's reputation for innovative and caring approaches to veterinary healthcare led to a unique opportunity. PETsMART®, the nation's largest retailer of pet related products, services and solutions for pets and their owners, asked Banfield to help bring high quality veterinary care to PETsMART® customers by opening pet hospitals (under the name "VetSmart") in many store locations.

This partnership fueled the rapid growth of their practice. PETsMART®, continued to own and operate its own chain of pet clinics, called PETsMART Veterinary Services, and midway through 2000, Banfield acquired these hospitals. Upon completion of this transition, with the support of their clients and thousands of dedicated team members, the practice decided to go back to using its original name on July 4, 2000.

Banfield Pet Hospital® provides all the same medical systems, procedures and client service that have made them a critical part of the their neighborhood for nearly five decades. Today, they are driven by the same goal that has always inspired them: making life better for families. They do this by giving pets the same care we want for ourselves, making pet health affordable, strengthening the value of pets in families, teaching how better pet care maximizes lives, and stopping euthanasia by keeping pets healthy. Put simply, treating your pet like family.

Through Banfield's innovation and the practice's commitment to the highest standards of medical care for pets, Banfield has grown to over 750 hospitals in the United States and abroad. During this same time, the practice has been transitioning to a state of the art web-based hospital management system that ensures every pet receives "best practices" care during every visit to a Banfield hospital.

The Chief Information Officer for the practice solicited a proposal to outsource the application support and desktop support for all the hospitals. The resulting savings were substantial. In addition to displacing the fixed costs associated with the hospital support team, the IT organization realized savings by avoiding significant planned expenditures for the team's growth. Carisbrook Technology Services provides the following support for Banfield:

• Seven day a week application support of PetWare, Banfield's state of the art clinical support application for hospitals, including deployment
• Coordination of desktop computer and server replacement
• Coordination of component replacement in hospitals
• Coordination of new hospital set up, relocations of existing hospitals, and hospital closures
• Local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN)
• User account management
• Picture and Archiving Communication System (PACS) administration and end-user support
• Coordination of Digital X-ray and Ultrasound installation, upgrades, and maintenance
• Client-facing website end-user support
• Telecom problem isolation
• Third-party vendor coordination, including ordering critical and peripheral hardware
• Coordination of peripheral hardware upgrades, replacements, and repairs
• Management of special short- and long-term projects, as needed

Carisbrook Technology Services will be glad to facilitate a review with Banfield's management and provide a detailed summary of our competencies and skills to any firm seriously contemplating engaging our services.