AI and Animana

3 mins

The first time I saw a modern smartphone or at least a precursor to what we now know as a smartphone, was during my studies. A collaboration between a large tech manufacturer and a well-known fashion house resulted in a phone with a touchscreen and a completely new way of interacting. During a party, someone suddenly pulled a phone out of his pocket without a keyboard. I watched in amazement as they pressed the screen and changed the menu. I had never seen anything like it. This was completely new in a world where everyone still had phones with buttons or touch-sensitive keys. I had many questions, and afterwards, I wondered why you would choose such a phone.

Fast first, good later

At the time, I was convinced that a phone with only a screen would never catch on and would mainly be inconvenient. We now know better, but my first impression was purely based on the interface, the cloncky operation and the limited possibilities of the device. Yet this phone had won many design awards; it was revolutionary even though the product did not meet the practical expectations of users. A year later, Apple introduced the first iPhone, which conquered Europe after a few generations and has been an indispensable part of the company ever since.

This experience taught me that wanting to be the first is not always the best strategy. Sometimes, it is smarter to wait and invest in quality. Of course, this does not apply to everything; in the case of the moon landing, it was essential to be the first and failure was not an option. In the case of this phone, it was all about sales figures – speed was considered more important than user-friendliness, reliability and the user’s actual needs. This lesson came to mind again recently when someone cautiously asked me:

“When’s AI coming to Animana?”

AI is increasingly presented as the game changer – a must-have that makes software smarter, faster and more efficient. While that potential is definitely there, we believe it is crucial not to get caught up in the race to be the first to launch new features but to focus on what really adds value for the user. I might as well say it straight away:

AI for Animana is coming.

As the largest veterinary tech company, we are not standing still and have not been standing still.

Quality over speed

We consciously choose a thoughtful approach when developing AI functionalities for our software family. We take the time to understand how these functions can improve work in practice and how they optimally fit the needs of our users across our entire ecosystem, now and for years to come. We work closely with our legal teams to ensure that our solutions comply with the laws, regulations, and high safety requirements of the countries in which we operate. In addition, we extensively test our AI functionalities across products and regions to ensure that they work as intended – stable, reliable and with measurable added value for the user.

No compromises

Quality is always our top priority. As a diagnostics company by origin, we know how essential it is that technology does what it promises without doubt or unpredictability. That is why we consciously take more time to ensure that our AI features are genuinely ready to support your practice.

We will be adding AI functionalities to our products, focusing on practical applications and concrete time savings. We consciously choose to launch these functions only when they are actually ready to be supported in practice. Sometimes, that means we are not the first – which is fine. Because when it comes to technology that really helps in the practice, quality is not a compromise but an absolute requirement. Ultimately, it is not about the fastest release but delivering solutions you can use.