LOOKING FOR A DGL PRACTICE MANAGER ALTERNATIVE?
DGL Practice Manager vs. Zanda
A practice management system can revolutionise the way you operate. But with each offering various different features, it can be a difficult decision choosing the one best suited to your practice.
What’s the difference between
DGL Practice Manager and Zanda?
In short, if Telehealth video calls, online bookings and a waitlist feature are important to your practice, as well as marketing and accounting integrations, then Zanda is the logical option for you.
Below we explain exactly how, or why not start a free trial today to see for yourself…
See Why Health Practices Love Zanda
1,000+ Reviews
Zanda is great for managing group sessions and the only software I found that allows this function. Excellent customer service also!
Therese Ryan,
Top Talking Speech Pathology
It’s been the best program to use. It makes life a whole lot easier. Especially when it comes to the messaging service.
Raymond Inkpen,
Principal Clinical Psychologist
Psi Balance Psychology
Best value for money and very convenient! We’ve used Zanda since 2015. It’s a lot better than other providers.
Prakash Rathnam,
Inspire Physio Care
Best decision! It’s been a godsend using such a fabulous electronic diary and management software. It’s so easy to use.
Judy Burzacott,
Remedial Massage Therapist
Connective Energetics
I’ve used a number of different practice management systems and there’s no doubt that Zanda is best in class.
Dr. Ryan Kaplan, Clinical Psychologist
Be Psychology and Mental Health
Excellent! Easy to use and train staff in its use. Far easier and nicer to use than software we’ve previously used.
David Walker,
David Walker Podiatry
Your service as always is amazing. Zanda is a pretty fantastic system – especially with the integration to Xero!
Carla Rogers,
Here and Now Health
Absolutely love Zanda! It’s simple to use and makes my life easy. Cannot recommend this enough to allied health professionals.
Alison Wheatley,
Byford Physiotherapy
It saves us lots of time in generating reminders and invoices for clients. It’s great for our business and reasonable in price.
Amy Clift,
Play on Words Speech Pathology
Zanda solves a lot of problems – we’re very happy. Very customisable. Great customer support from the onset.
Andy MacKellar,
Ships Physio
It saves us lots of time in generating reminders and invoices for clients. It’s great for our business and reasonable in price.
Amy Clift,
Play on Words Speech Pathology
Best decision! It’s been a godsend using such a fabulous electronic diary and management software. It’s so easy to use.
Judy Burzacott,
Remedial Massage Therapist
Connective Energetics
Why should you choose Zanda?
REASON #1
Secure Telehealth Video Appointments
For times when you’re not able to meet patients in-person, Zanda’s Telehealth Video Call feature enables practitioners to continue to serve their communities wherever they may be.
The feature is not only extremely simple to use, but is also secure and compliant with all health standards (including HIPAA); using end-to-end encryption with peer-to-peer connections. Simply send your client their unique link, and they can join with a single click.
DGL’s website makes no reference to any telehealth feature or similar third party integrations.
REASON #2
Reduced Administration with Online Bookings
Client portals are a great addition to any practice. They can drastically reduce the amount of time you spend on admin, as well as empower your clients.
Zanda’s most loved portal functionality is online appointment booking. After viewing their preferred practitioner’s availability, your clients can book and manage their own appointments, at their convenience. With the option to add a ‘book now’ button to your website or facebook page, you can receive bookings from both new and existing clients, regardless of the time or day!
Choose to set appointment rules and custom online availability, as well applying your cancellation policy, or customise further by applying your clinic branding, including a logo, a header image, your brand colours, and personalised instructions.
It appears that DGL does not offer a client portal, nor does it support online bookings.
REASON #3
Automated Appointment Confirmations
Automated appointment reminders almost eliminate the risk of no-shows a practice will experience, and whilst they are offered by both Zanda and DGL, the way in which responses are handled is very different.
Only Zanda has the ability to process any SMS responses received, subsequently updating the booking status within the diary (including colour-coding) to reflect any changes. This means that you can easily see who has confirmed, and who may need an additional reminder.
Auto-processing is not only convenient for the client, but the practitioner too, with no more manual processing of responses. It also eliminates the risk of responses being missed in a busy inbox.
REASON #4
Waitlist to Effortlessly Fill Cancellations
One feature which really sets the two systems apart is Zanda’s Waitlist feature. Cancellations are usually followed by time-consuming manual outreach to ensure the appointment isn’t wasted, but with many occurring at short notice, this process can be stressful and occasionally unsuccessful.
With Zanda, you can reclaim your valuable time. In just a few clicks, you can send a bulk SMS message directly to a select group of clients, based on criteria such as their preferred practitioner and availability, all via the app.
This is not something offered by DGL.
REASON #5
Money-Back Guarantee
At Zanda, our goal is Happy Customers Forever, which is why we introduced our 100% Money-Back Guarantee. So, if at any time during the first 12 months, you decide Zanda is not a good fit for your practice, we will refund 100% of subscription fees paid so far, including any SMS fees.
We also believe that customers should stay with us because they love Zanda and the service that they receive, so there will never be any catches or lock-in contracts throughout the duration of your time with us.
As well as our money-back guarantee, we offer a 14-day free trial, with access to every feature including SMS messaging! DGL does not offer a free trial (instead providing a demo), nor do they offer a money-back guarantee.
REASON #6
Integrations to Improve Accounting and Marketing
Integrations can really improve the efficiency of your practice, and unlike DGL, Zanda offers integrations to up-level both your accounting, and your marketing processes.
Although both systems offer integrated invoicing (albeit basic with DGL), only Zanda offers an integration with Xero to provide simple, yet professional invoicing. Team this up with our Stripe integration and your clients can conveniently settle their invoices directly through the portal, simultaneously improving your cash flow. Whilst DGL integrates with Worldpay for payment processing, it does not offer integrations with an accounting software.
If you are looking to increase your marketing efforts and improve your client relationships with beautiful, seamlessly automated emails, then our Mailchimp integration is ideal. Simply import your client list from your Zanda account, and you’ll be set to start sending up to 12,000 emails completely free. So, whether it’s your newsletter, a multi-email marketing campaign, or even a simple ‘Happy Birthday’ email, you’ll be covered.
REASON #7
In-Platform Practice Operations Manual
Practice policies and procedures are essential, but they can also be time-consuming and expensive to create. We’ve got you covered! Zanda’s industry-first in-platformPractice Operations Manual includes more than 100 policies and procedures developed by a team of industry experts with over 50 years of practice management experience. This means no more passed around and out-of-date paper copies! Your Practice Operations Manual is available in its entirety within the Zanda platform. This means it’s accessible to all users of your system, and can only be edited by those with appropriate permissions.
Plus, it’s all available to you at no additional cost when you start with Zanda. DGL Practice Manager doesn’t offer this feature, in fact, no other practice management system does. Our customers tell us that this is a game-changer for their practices. We’re really excited about it, and we think you will be too!
No risk with our Money-Back Guarantee
Yes, you read that right! Simply start your account now, and if at any point over the next 12 months you decide Zanda isn’t right for you, just let us know. We’ll refund 100% of any subscription fees you’ve paid.
Still not sure whether to choose
Zanda or DGL Practice Manager?
Here’s a chart where you can make a fair assessment…
| Zanda vs. DGL | Zanda | DGL |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 day free trial with access to all features including SMS messaging. | No, the only option is to book a demo. |
| Price for 1 practitioner (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Price for 3 practitioners (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Price for 7 practitioners (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Price for 15 practitioners (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Price for 30 practitioners (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Calendar management | Choose from multiple appointment types with colour coding. Able to set appointment flags to show booking status. Can support multiple locations and flexible recurring availability patterns. | Yes, but limited functionalities compared with Zanda. |
| SMS & email reminders | Send up to 3 SMS and email reminders per appointment, with flexible sending times. Responses auto-update appointment status within the diary. | Send up to 5 SMS and email reminders per appointment with flexible sending times. Responses do not auto-update the appointment status. |
| 2-Way SMS chat | 2-Way SMS chat supported with clients, colleagues and third parties from the SMS panel within the app. Messages grouped together into conversations. | |
| Telehealth | There is no mention of Telehealth on DGL Practice Manager’s website. | |
| Online Forms | Request information, including signatures, prior to bookings to maximise use of appointment time. Choose from our library of customisable specialist templates, or create your own. Responses are automatically saved and added to their client record. | The website mentions digitising current paper forms for editing and storing within the system, but there is no mention of supporting online completion by the client. |
| Client management system | ||
| Treatment notes | Over 100 specialised and fully customisable templates. Choose to add/remove multiple choice and tick boxes, note sections, image and body charting with annotation and much more. Unlimited creation and storage of templates. Easily duplicate previous notes, and view full edit history of templates. | Yes, but far fewer customisation options offered compared with Zanda. Able to annotate onto custom clinical pre-saved images for diagnosis and procedure outcomes. |
| Online bookings | Online bookings can be made via the portal, automatically updating the diary. Apply branding to the booking portal, including colours, a logo and a header image. A booking link can be added to a website or facebook. | No online booking portal possible with DGL. |
| Waitlist | ||
| Invoices & payments | Fully integrated invoicing, enabling invoices to be sent directly to clients via the app. Able set calendar alerts to flag clients with outstanding payments, and alert practitioners of new bookings made by clients with unsettled invoices. Also able to block clients from booking until fully settled. Integrates with Xero for invoicing and accounting, and Stripe for payment processing. | Yes, but limited invoicing options compared with Zanda. No integration with Xero (or similar). Integration with Worldpay for payments. |
| Credit card processing | Payments can be required and processed at the time of booking online, during home visits or Telehealth appointments, and directly through the client portal. | Payments can be processed via their integration with Worldpay. |
| Reports & analytics | Yes, but restricted compared with Zanda. | |
| Money-back guarantee | ||
| Data import service | Comprehensive data import service free of charge. | There is no mention of a data import service listed on the DGL website. |
| Practice Operations Manual | This industry-first feature provides a core set of policies and procedures that are ready to use and easily adapted to your practice. |
*This comparison article reflects information available as of April 2020.
*Pricing with current special offer available until the end of this month.
All prices are in USD.
You can see why Zanda is trusted by thousands of practitioners.
Try Zanda for Yourself!
Here’s what Zanda Clients are Saying…
“It’s been the best program to use. I have a colleague in another practice who wishes they were on it, as it makes life a whole lot easier. Especially when it comes to the messaging service.”
Raymond Inkpen,
Principal Clinical Psychologist
Psi Balance Psychology
“A lot better than other online diaries for health professionals. Easy assess ability with smart phone version is another added advantage for satellite offices.”
Roy Rathnam,
Inspire Physio Care
“Using PowerDiary has allowed me to decrease the time spent on writing client notes, creating practice reports as well as reducing the amount of paper I use in my business. I love how I can log in from my computer or tablet, allowing me to keep my documentation in my mobile business up to date.”
Leesa Musarra, Occupational Therapist
Therapy Solutions
“Very simple to use. The support has been prompt and helpful. Clear interfaces. Would recommend to any similar business.”
Antony Choice,
Sports Massage & Injury Management Clinic
“PD is going great!! I absolutely love it. We’ve changed practice management software twice this year. Then found Zanda from an OT friend who said she used it. It suits what we need as a business perfectly :)”
Ryan Dreves,
Exercise Physiologist,
Physically Active
“Very easy to use. Interfaces with Xero, and Medicare and MailChimp. So convenient to use from an iPhone or iPad too!”
Amanda Mannes,
Dietitian & Nutritionist,
Accept Health
Happy customers are our lifeblood. We’d love you to join us.
Still need a hand deciding?
The Zanda support team is ready to help!
You can contact us through email, online chat, or access our knowledge base.
Or check out more information here:
See customer reviews for Zanda
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