Customer Logic was formed after an international search to find suitable software to run a large "Small Animal" Hospital failed to find a single software product which was capable of managing the clinic.

Michael Curry, who had been working as a Veterinary Nurse and IT Manager at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital, joined Matthew Dempsey, a retail database expert - and with the input of IT professionals from the Human Health and Pathology industries, they designed the system from perspective of the normal workflow in a Veterinary Clinic.

"We looked around and there were no software products designed from the perspective of the user, the vets and nurses who actually have to operate these systems every day, " explains Michael. "We wanted to take a process and task perspective, your software should be complimentary to your work, you shouldn't have to fight it."

Customer Logic Vet was born. The system was designed and developed using the standards in Windows programming, the Microsoft .Net Framework and Microsoft SQL Server.

"A number of small clinics offered to pilot the system for us, they were really helpful in providing feedback on what did and didn't work", recalls Matt. "We listened and took everything on board. The parallels between what the vets needed and what the human health industry had developed were clear. We looked at the human health industry for best practices, and were able to develop the tools that the vets were telling us they needed. Maribyrnong Veterinary Clinic was our first clinic, and they are still one of our biggest fans."

The system was showcased to a number of large hospitals and organisations, who were immediately interested.

"Working with the large hospitals, like Lort Smith, enabled us to develop features that were scalable for both small and large clinics. We were also able to stress test our product and make sure it could withstand high volume use. Lort Smith has one of the heaviest case loads in the Southern Hemisphere. Seeing the system continue to perform under such loads was fantastic, the feedback we received from these larger institutions was invaluable."

Customer Logic has never lost sight of it's primary user, the local vet practice.

"We listen to our users.", says Matt. "Vets always have their own way of doing things, and we take a lot of these suggestions and work them in to the system. Making the system scalable and configurable was the key. Small clinics don't need many of the features that our big hospitals and university sites use every day. We worked this into our code, allowing clinics to completely customise their system to suit their clinic. If you don't like using a computerised Appointment Book, you can just turn it off and never see that screen again."

"From a user perspective, a computer system needs to feel familiar and help you do your job. People are familiar with Microsoft Windows and Office, they use them every day. We designed the system using standard buttons, grids, colour schemes and fonts. The system feels instantly familiar, users need less training and love using the system."