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Dean Thompson Joins Technovate.One as Optical Industry SME – Canada, bringing 40 Years of Domain Expertise to Drive Practical AI and Digital Innovation

By October 28, 2026No Comments

Dean Thompson Joins Technovate.One as Optical Industry SME – Canada, bringing 40 Years of Domain Expertise to Drive Practical AI and Digital Innovation 

A collaboration that pairs hands-on practice coaching with engineering and AI, built for the people who run optical businesses across Canada.

Technovate.One, a global technology company with over a decade of engineering experience in the optical sector, is pleased to announce, Dean Thompson, Founder of Calgary-based Eye Care Coach, as its Optical Industry Subject Matter Expert (SME) – Canada.

Dean spends his days with optical businesses, helping owners find where profit slips away and how the patient experience can improve. Technovate.One builds custom solutions, integrations, and AI that make those improvements stick. Together, they aim to give optical businesses both the business guidance and the technology to act on it.

Where Profit Leaks Meet Disconnected Systems

In  optical businesses, the biggest gains rarely come from one big change. They hide in everyday decisions: what to keep on hand versus order, how lens upgrades are explained, how remakes are tracked, and how patients are followed up. When practice management, POS, lab, and supplier systems do not talk to each other, those leaks are hard to see and harder to fix.

The collaboration focuses on the areas where Dean’s coaching and Technovate.One’s engineering naturally meet:

  • Seeing the numbers clearly: Connecting POS, practice management, and lab data so owners can see sales, margins, and capture rates without manual spreadsheets.
  • Inventory and ordering: Using sales and supplier data to decide what to stock, what to order, and where money sits idle on the frame board.
  • Dispensing conversations: Supporting consistent, patient-friendly lens and upgrade discussions that move beyond a price-led “good, better, best”.
  • Lab orders and remakes: Tracking orders, turnaround times, and remake causes to reduce cost and patient frustration.
  • Patient follow-up and front desk work: Automating reminders, recalls, and routine calls with AI, so teams spend more time with patients.

Four Decades on Every Side of the Optical Counter

Dean is a licensed Optician and Contact Lens Practitioner with more than 40 years in the industry. He started in the lab grinding lenses, then worked across different practices, small chains, and large retail, and went on to own and operate his own optical business.

That range is the foundation of Eye Care Coach, which he founded to help opticians, optometrists, owners, managers, and small optical groups see their businesses clearly and grow sooner. He coaches practices across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, virtually and on site.

Dean also writes and speaks on dispensing, patient experience, and practice growth, and has spoken publicly about using AI responsibly, with human judgement kept firmly in the loop. Outside his practice work, he has volunteered as an optician with VOSH International since 2015.

What the Collaboration Looks Like

As Optical Industry SME – Canada, Dean will share his expertise to Technovate.One’s optical initiatives, with particular emphasis on:

  • Shaping optical solutions: Bringing the realities of Canadian practices into how Technovate.One designs integrations, dashboards, and AI tools for optical businesses.
  • Connecting consulting with technology: Where his consulting uncovers a problem technology can solve, practices in his network will have a direct path to Technovate.One’s engineering teams.
  • Sharing knowledge with the industry: Contributing to webinars, content, and industry conversations on how optical businesses can adopt AI practically and profitably.

 ” Optical businesses do not need more software for its own sake. They need systems that show them where the money goes and give their teams time back. Dean understands those businesses from the lab bench to the owner’s office, and his insights will help us build technology that Canadian practices actually use.” Anish Jhaveri, Founder and CEO of Technovate.One

About Dean Thompson

Dean Thompson is the founder of Eye Care Coach, a Calgary-based coaching practice that helps independent optical and optometry businesses improve profitability, operations, and patient experience. A licensed Optician and Contact Lens Practitioner with more than 40 years in optical, he has worked across labs, independent practices, chains, and large retail, and has run his own optical business. He has also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Opticians of Alberta, where he led its transition from a combined college and association into a standalone not-for-profit association, building a new board and organization from the ground up to advocate for, educate, and advance the profession of opticianry in Alberta and across Canada.

Dean Thompson is a licensed Optician and Contact Lens Practitioner based in Calgary, Alberta, and the founder of Eye Care Coach. With more than 40 years in optical, from the lab to running his own practice, he helps independent optical businesses across Canada, the US, and the UK improve profitability, operations, and patient experience. As former Chair of the Association of Opticians of Alberta, he led its transition into a standalone association. Technovate.One is delighted to collaborate with Dean as Optical Industry SME – Canada.

About Technovate.One

Technovate.One is an AI-native custom software development and digital engineering company delivering solutions across AI and automation, data engineering, cloud and DevOps, product engineering, ERP, and system integration.

The company helps businesses connect systems, streamline workflows, and explore practical technology and AI solutions aligned with their operational needs.

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