What will be your No. 1 priority next year?
| Boosting profi tability |
|
37%
|
| Growth |
|
31%
|
| Surviving |
|
10%
|
| Preparing to exit the business (succession, retirement, etc.) |
|
6%
|
| Working less |
|
5%
|
| Clearing old inventory |
|
3%
|
| Cutting expenses |
|
3%
|
| Bringing in new technology |
|
1%
|
| Other |
|
4%
|
If you had one question for the “fortune teller” booth in relation to your business, what would it be? What do you want to know about the future?
From retirement timing to AI’s role in patient care, respondents’ “fortune teller” questions revealed a mix of hope, humor, and anxiety about profitability, staffing, industry survival, and the fate of independent eyecare practices.
- Will we be able to sustain growth for the next 10 years?
- I would like to see the next big curveball a little in advance — a little heads up for COVID would have been nice.
- How is managed care and online sales going to completely destroy the industry?
- How do the owners eventually transition out of optometry? Do they sell the practice or have to walk away?
- Will I ever find another doctor/more doctor coverage?
- I would want to know if I will get to a point where my schedule is set up in a way that makes me happy, I make enough money to support my family and travel, and if it’s rewarding to my professional self.
- What does our future with AI look like?
- When will people realize how terrible an idea it is to order progressive lenses online?
- Is there a financial light at the end of the tunnel? Will it stop feeling like we’re always just above water?
- Can we find a way to not have to accept insurance plans and still make a profit?
- Will small, private practices survive the next twenty years?
- WTF is going to happen with this administration and economy?
- Will I be successful enough to hire my son to work with me before I retire?
- Will AI kiosks overtake in person exams and glasses fittings?
- Will everyone finally realize that their glasses are their most important accessory?
Tell us about a use of LLMs that has markedly improved your business life?
- Many respondents said LLMs have streamlined daily work — from writing emails, ads, and training materials to making decisions and saving time — though a few remain skeptical or avoid AI altogether.
- Being able to condense a lot of information into a neat and abbreviated format is invaluable for training. It helps convey what I’m trying to say into small manageable chunks.
- I am able to do things so much faster with AI. I can write up employee corrective action plans, policies, and contracts in well under half the time. It also reviews contracts to point out any areas of concern and create minutes for meetings.
- I use mine almost everyday … financial reports, responding to reviews, marketing ideas.
Helped me decide which new piece of equipment to order.
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Are you using any of the ai powered large language models (LLMS) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Co-Pilot, or Claude to help you with your business?
If you are employing them, what areas are you using them for?
What do you think will be the ultimate benefit of AI?
| An informational resource |
|
29%
|
| Add a new “brain” to your business that can help you come up with brilliant new ideas and plans |
|
27%
|
| Boost productivity by taking over rote tasks |
|
20%
|
| Earlier/better diagnostic outcomes |
|
9%
|
| Take over the responsibility of educating customers |
|
6%
|
| Boost performance by taking over creative tasks |
|
4%
|
| Other |
|
6%
|
Some see AI as a tireless assistant, others as a spark for brilliance — or maybe just the world’s smartest intern. However you frame it, most agree it’s here to help, not replace.
We are now closer to 2050 than 2000. How do you envision the eyecare and eyewear industries looking the future by mid-century?
| Mostly moved online |
|
9%
|
| Eyewear designed, fi t and shipped by robots and exams and simple conditions and treatments administered by robots |
|
9%
|
| Pretty much unchanged from now – mostly made, sold and administered by humans |
|
18%
|
| A true 50-50 hybrid model: A blend of online convenience and personalized in-store experience, assisted by AI agents |
|
49%
|
| Who cares. I won’t be around. |
|
9%
|
| Other (please specify) |
|
6%
|
“OTHERS” predicted widening divides — between boutique and corporate, human touch and automation, rural and urban. One summed it up neatly: “Two extremes, the concierge private pay model or corporate with lots of insurance like a mill.”
