Challenging Assumptions Around AI: What Do 21st Century Clients Want?

Read the news and 21st-century expectations have never been more unpredictable. The last two decades have brought unprecedented technological advancements, global shifts, and evolving societal norms. The 2020s, in particular, have been marked by rapid transformations, reshaping industries, consumer behaviours, and everyday interactions. With the veterinary sector no stranger to significant change, and for many the relentless pace of change has left a trail of burn out in its wake. However, the truth is we knew this was coming, for far too long in fact we knew things had to change. PetsApp CEO and CoFounder Dr. Thom Jenkins set out on my mission to keep the local veterinary clinic at the heart of the pet care journey, almost a decade ago. The reality, he understood, even back then was that we’ve had just about all the time we’re going to get. We’ve needed every second of it, no doubt but, this now is the 11th hour. One moment’s more hesitation and it could already be too late. And this is not said for dramatuc effect, instead rather a reminder of our collective constraint as a veterinary community. Perhaps the greatest constraint of all. Time. Time waits for none of us. And that can be intimidating, frustrating, even paralysing. It needn’t be. Constraints can be empowering. Creativity happens best in the presence of constraints.

In 2018 a presentation from Dr. Thom on the digitalisation of veterinary care predicted we'd be exactly where we are as a community in 2025.

Solving 21st Century Constraints

Now let's jump back even further in time, 400 years in fact to 1625. Enter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, an Italian painter whose paintings have been characterized by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on the Baroque style. But 'what?..' I hear you cry, does Caravaggio have in common with veterinary teams today? Well unlike many a veterinary team Caravaggio spent every penny he had on debauchery. And the constraint he faced was never having enough money for all the partying he liked to do. Luckily his artistic talents attracted wealthy patrons, who he could usually persuade to front him the money for "paints". But guess what? Caravaggio wasn’t spending a whole lot of that money on paint. How do we know?

Look at these two depictions of David and Goliath - much of the first canvas is in darkness reflecting Caravaggio’s characteristic style of Tenebrism - dramatic illumination using oodles of chiaroscuro. Why? Well because dark pigments were cheaper than bright blues and yellows. In restricting his pallet to darker hues he could syphon more of his patron’s cash into drinking and less into paints. A trick the respected knight and diplomat, Peter Paul Rubens (pic 2), never needed to learn.

Veterinary medicine is full of constraints, isn’t it? Staffing shortages. Overwhelming workloads. Client expectations that seem to grow every year. But these should not limit what we do. They should inform how we do it. How we approach it. How we get creative around solving for these constraints.

Back to the Future

Take a look at this. 👇

Pretty impressive, hey? Cutting edge technology, right? -Nope. This Google demonstration day is from 6 years ago.To be fair, only recently have has it felt we've seen widespread consumer adoption of AI tools like ChatGPT. And yet consumers have been adopting AI at an unprecedented pace, consistantly year on year for almost a decade now. Integrating it into their daily lives and activities faster than ever before. From voice assistants like Alexa and Siri on our phones managing enquiries and searches to AI-powered chatbots handling customer service inquiries, AI is becoming an invisible yet essential part of modern day living. The rise of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini has revolutionized how people search for information, create content, and automate tasks. In the veterinary industry, AI-driven chats, automated reminders, and predictive analytics are streamlining client interactions, while consumers across all industries are increasingly relying on the convenience of AI to organise and streamline both their working day and every day 'life' admin.

And this is why veterinary clinics must now act. Consumers, people just like me and you, clients, your clients - are about to force the issue. Within our profession there are those (many in fact) who have always fully intended, someday, to embrace technology and the opportunities of digitization in their practices. Just not yet! Those that won't adopt but neither reject technology outright. The scary truth is, ‘not yet’ often becomes ‘never' and the longer you delay, the harder it becomes to make the leap. The hesitation that feels safe now may, in time, leave you struggling to keep up with peers who’ve already reaped the rewards of digitization. Leaving you struggling to avoid disintermediation by direct-to-consumer digital disruptors.

Are You Ready?

Wanna see something really cool? Check this out 👇

We're looking for forward thinking veterinary teams to beta test and review some of our new AI functions within PetsApp, would you like to be among the first? If so schedule a call with a member of the pack today or reach out o me directly: naomi@petsapp.com