Covetrus Managing Director APAC Kathrina Doran facilitated a forward-looking discussion with three leaders deeply embedded in the transformation of veterinary practice at the 2026 ANZ Provet and Covetrus Company Conference.
Meet the Panel
- Sinead Ryan, CEO, VetPartners ANZ & Singapore
- Anthony Consolati, Technology & Data Leader, Covetrus Technologies Solutions
- Bill McGowan, Product & Innovation Leader, Provet IT
Together, they explored how data, technology, and intelligent workflows are reshaping clinical care, client experience, and operational sustainability and what the next 2–4 years will realistically look like for clinics across Australia and New Zealand.
The State of Technology in Clinics Today: Fragmented, Manual, and Full of Opportunity
Sinead opened with a candid reflection: the industry is still “highly fragmented,” with most clinics being operated by independent owners and partnerships. Under 10% of Australia’s clinics and hospitals are part of large multi-site organisations. This creates a wide spectrum of digital maturity.
On one end, independent clinics have the agility to embrace tools such as AI note-taking, gaining back valuable time by reducing after-hours admin and optimising patient contact time. On the other hand, large corporate groups are untangling disparate systems and working on how to better support clinic teams with technology, data and insights to improve workflows and increasing time to care for clients and patients.
The outcome? Cleaner data, better scheduling, more predictable workflows and, importantly, less time spent reporting and more time spent supporting clinicians and patient outcomes. Instead of wading through endless data looking for insight, the focus is shifting to providing the clinical teams with “the measures that matter,” each paired with coaching, so teams have the information at their fingertips to provide the best contextualised care.
Reducing Burnout: Tech as a Tool for Effectiveness, Not Just Efficiency
Kathrina noted that much of the conversation around technology is about efficiency, but the bigger opportunity is effectiveness. Helping vets and nurses make the best use of the hours they do have.
Sinead reinforced this. One of the biggest contributors to burnout is balancing the needs of clients and what is best for pets with the pressure and demands that are on the clinic teams. Technology can help here too:
- Prompts that guide client conversations
- Contextualised care options
- Clearer educational tools for clients,
- Structured pathways that make decision-making easier
She reminded the audience that 30% of vets leave the profession, often because these emotional and communication challenges compound over time. Technology and data can help clinics teams to reduce the administration burden, to support client communications and education and provide decision-support tools to improve patient outcomes and reduce emotional strain.
Unlocking the Power of the Practice Management System
When the conversation turned to PIMS, Anthony explained the three levers that matter most:
- Revenue insights – detailed data on products, services, and clinician productivity.
- Retention insights – understanding which clients return, how often, and why.
- Compliance insights – care plan adoption, vaccination rates, reminders, and preventive care.
But Anthony acknowledged a real barrier: “People in clinics are busy — they don’t always want dashboards or have time to interpret them.”
This is where intelligence layers come in. By using AI (ML) to automatically identify the top three strengths and top three opportunities, the system moves from “dashboard” to “decision support.” The goal is to help clinics answer:
- What should we keep doing?
- What needs attention?
- What will make the biggest difference this month?
Bill echoed this: “Having data isn’t enough. Clinics need partners who can turn that data into meaningful action.”
Learning from Other Industries and Letting Data Drive the Right Decision
Sinead highlighted the importance of learning from human healthcare, particularly around compliance. Understanding why clients do or don’t follow through is just as important as measuring what they do.
She also pointed to insights from other global clinic networks, where large organisations have dedicated data scientists to analyse data and patterns to support clinics with bespoke insights relevant to their clinic. This type of insight removes much of the business burden from the already busy clinical teams.
Anthony added that VetLytics is helping identify “what good looks like,” creating guardrails and best-practice guides that feed directly back into PMS workflows.
Career Pathways: A Data-Driven Approach to Retention
Another human-centred opportunity is using data to support the industry. Sinead referenced surveys showing
that after remuneration, career progression is the biggest factor driving satisfaction and retention.
But veterinary careers are uniquely broad — diagnostics, surgery, orthopaedics, oncology, leadership, mixed practice, species specialisation — making pathway decisions difficult and sometimes overwhelming.
The future, she argued, lies in clear, data-aligned pathways showing:
- Which skills lead to which roles
- What training is required
- How remuneration grows alongside capability
- What “good” looks like in different career types.
This is especially important as many seek flexible structures that account for different life stages.
AI: From Hype to Meaningful Clinical Impact
Asked whether AI is hype or reality, Bill didn’t hesitate: “AI is the real deal.”
AI’s strengths lie in:
- Processing enormous volumes of data quickly
- Identifying patterns across species and conditions
- Reducing product and service complexity
- Dramatically speeding up clinical note-taking
Two AI agents are already embedded in Ascend, and the clinics using them love them. The barrier isn’t fear; it’s habit. Many practitioners continue doing things “the way we’ve always done them.”
Anthony added that while AI note-taking offers enormous time savings, AI is not suitable for generating medical advice — hallucinations make it unsafe as a diagnostic decision-maker. Its value lies in documentation, insight generation, and surfacing relevant data at the right moment.
Wearables, Alerts and the Future of Continuous Care
Looking ahead 2–4 years, Anthony pointed to wearables becoming far more mainstream. Monitoring such as blood oxygen, glucose and vital signs will soon integrate directly into practice systems, triggering:
- Alerts for abnormal readings
- Auto-generated appointment prompts
- Early detection of chronic conditions
- More frequent preventive care visits
Sinead added that ANZ must “walk before we run,” and in tandem the industry needs to tackle affordability and insurance barriers. Without better education and coverage, clients will continue to struggle to follow through on recommended care. This remains a major limitation on preventive health, with many pet owners unable to access essential services or maintain consistent care plans due to financial constraints. Addressing these challenges is critical for ensuring that advancements in technology and care delivery genuinely benefit all patients and their families.
A Simpler, Smarter Future for Clinics
The panel agreed that the future of technology in clinics is about simplification:
- Software will fade into the background
- Intelligence will surface only what matters in the moment
- Teams will focus on clinical care, not admin
- Data will help practices choose two priorities, not thirty
- Insights will be paired with clear, actionable steps
As Sinead summarised: “Clinicians are bombarded. Our job is to make the complex simple — and show them the first two steps.”
Looking Ahead: Changing Together
The session ended on a shared commitment: technology should strengthen the relationship between the pet parent and the clinic — never replace it. The future of the veterinary industry will be shaped by:
- AI-powered efficiency
- Wearable-enabled preventive care
- Clearer career pathways for vets and nurses
- Insurance and affordability reform
- Data-driven decision-making at every level
But above all, it will be shaped by people and their skills, their wellbeing, and the partnerships that support them. Covetrus and Provet remain committed to helping clinics evolve confidently through this change, with tools, insights, and solutions that make a real difference to everyday practice.
We extend our sincere thanks to Sinead Ryan, Anthony Consolati, and Bill McGowan for generously sharing their time, experience, and insight with our industry.