Case study results at a glance
# of forms
170+
# of submissions
2,700+
# of integrations
4+
Aligner Dental Academy has a simple mission: to train dentists to become Invisalign providers. Carrying out that mission is another matter.
The Academy is the exclusive education partner for Align Technology, the maker of Invisalign, across the UK, Ireland, and the EMEA region. It delivers programs that range from foundational training to full diplomas, all focused on clear dental aligners, to providers in multiple countries and languages.
“It sounds quite simple,” says Sam Hickson, chief technology officer at Aligner Dental Academy, “but it’s a very complex business — all the variables, all the doctors, all the different languages, all the different programs they’re on.”
Hitting limits with previous tools
When Hickson stepped into his current role, the Academy used Typeform to collect data, with responses managed in third-party spreadsheets. The software worked well enough on the surface, but the limitations quickly became apparent.
The spreadsheet tools they used lacked access controls, so accidental edits slipped in unnoticed. Data entry was a constant headache. And Typeform’s integration with monday.com, the team’s project management platform, lacked some of the functionality the team needed, leaving them to rely on manual steps or third-party connectors to complete some tasks.
“Typeform looks great out of the box, but it’s very limited,” Hickson says. “We were hitting so many brick walls.”
Choosing a platform built for the long haul
Hickson approaches every new tool with one question: How future-proof is it? After researching the options, Jotform Enterprise stood out for three reasons. Its enterprise-grade approach to data management was something the business hadn’t previously considered. It supported a custom domain, allowing form URLs to match the Academy brand, a capability the team hadn’t had with its previous setup. And its flexibility, particularly the conditional logic in forms, went well beyond what he’d seen elsewhere.
“Every challenge we had with Typeform, I knew Jotform could take away,” he says.
It was just a no-brainer. I can see a long future with Jotform.
Sam Hickson, Chief Technology Officer, Aligner Dental Academy
Switching to Jotform Enterprise was easier than expected. With more than 100 forms to move, the team used AI to handle most of the migration rather than rebuilding each one by hand. As a technically confident group, they onboarded without needing hands-on help. “The whole onboarding was really smooth,” Hickson says.
Forms at the heart of the Academy’s community
Today, Jotform Enterprise powers several of the Academy’s most visible programs. One example is its Case of the Month feature. Dentists submit Invisalign cases they’re proud of, complete with photos, through Jotform. The Academy’s clinical team reviews the submissions and selects four. Then the wider community, which connects through the Academy’s peer-to-peer mentoring and resources platform, votes for the winner using a second form.
The Academy also uses Jotform for marketing forms and internal approval workflows. Submissions flow straight into monday.com, and Hickson calls the integration “really easy.” On the rare occasion the team needs additional functionality, they use the automation platform n8n, though Hickson says few of their needs go beyond what Jotform handles on its own.
Time saved and room to explore
The most immediate payoff to using Jotform Enterprise has been time savings. Manual data handling and third-party workarounds are gone, and the spreadsheet risks that once worried the team have been replaced by admin-controlled access permissions.
Support has been another bright spot. Hickson has used it only a few times, but he says the replies were fast and thorough. “They’re quite in-depth, and they’ll include a little video and a screen grab,” he says. “It’s always been helpful.”
Even so, he can’t point to a gap in the platform’s offerings. “Jotform does too much already,” he says, laughing. “I don’t think we’ve ever come across any challenges that Jotform doesn’t do for us.”
A renewal that took no debate
When the time came to renew the Academy’s Jotform Enterprise plan, the decision took no time at all. “It was just a no-brainer,” Hickson says. “I can see a long future with Jotform.”
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