When I purchased my first personal computer, the only way to obtain software was to drive to a big box store and pick it up, like a bag of chips. But unlike a bag of chips, the package wasn’t immediately useful.  Instead, you had to make sure it would run on your machine first and then install it — sometimes, the install wouldn’t work.  

This painful method of distributing software via physical media was frustrating for software producers and users.  

As internet connections improved, new avenues of software distribution became available.  

Soon we could download and update the software. Before long, the software was handling this for us. Software companies also began offering solutions that didn’t need to be installed, only accessed. 

“Cloud” or Software as a Service (SaaS) applications offer significant advantages for consumers. These consumer benefits are amplified in enterprise software, which costs more and requires more expertise and infrastructure to run. 

Three major benefits of cloud healthcare technology 

Safer data and secure browser delivery  

Delivery of the application via a browser, which is nearly universally available by default on all computers, means nothing must be installed to begin getting value from the software. It reduces the need for powerful local machines and prevents any potential loss of data.  

Lower costs and reduced system complexity 

Before cloud technology, enterprises had no choice but to build out large data centers and find, hire, and retain experts for costly servers, networking, databases, and security. Teams were asked to run and manage many critical business systems without being experts in those systems.  

Cloud-based solutions offload this complexity and enable enterprises to focus on utilizing their solution. Each cloud solution adopted reduces the number of systems that overloaded IT teams need to support. 

Quicker delivery and rapid feature updates  

Cloud providers can react to customer feedback at a pace no solution delivered in another fashion can match. All great companies listen to their customers and incorporate their feedback, but every software producer is constrained by the pace their customer base can receive updates. 

For example, if it takes a customer a month to roll out a minor update, and two to six months for a major update, how many updates can a software producer realistically expect a customer to take in a year? One? One every other year? If each customer needs to engage their IT team, spin up a project, get resources assigned, and execute the upgrade, those might even be conservative estimates.  

Ultimately, the fundamental promise of cloud products is to enable customers to toggle on and configure new features as they become available, allowing customers and software companies to engage in a much tighter feedback loop. 

Given that cloud solutions can reduce implementation time and complexity while enabling a tighter product feedback loop, it is no wonder why there has been a strong movement to adopt cloud technologies across all industries.

In healthcare specifically, the benefits of cloud technology will continue to help increase efficiency and quality of care while lowering IT burdens as more organizations migrate to cloud technologies.   

To learn more about the benefits of cloud healthcare technology solutions for your organization, schedule a demo. 

The transformation of healthcare is creating many benefits for both patients and clinicians, including: 

• Delivering quicker access to patient data 
• Removing physical barriers to care and communication 
• Empowering patients to take a more active role in their health 

Enhanced technology leads to the necessity for more expertise and new capabilities; for clinicians and IT teams it can feel like there is always another escalated strategy to implement, another manufacturing update, a new portable device or application to connect, another system to learn, and even more integrations to ensure. 

“The largest challenge the healthcare industry faces when it comes to adopting new technology is the initial error rate. Generally, new technological products require iteration before they’re sufficiently reliable. This iterative process can be painful, potentially resulting in inaccurate predictions and inappropriate recommendations.” (Forbes Technology Council) 

As new applications, digital tools, and Health Information Systems are innovated, disparate network structures and piecemeal solutions take a toll on user experiences and operational processes. 

Think of the slow, frustrating rise of the Electronic Health Record and the difficulties of interoperability that have had massive impacts on data sharing capabilities and patient and clinician experiences. Innovation is key, but how can administrations and IT professionals ensure they are filling in gaps as technology advances throughout healthcare?

While standardization is strategized and best practices become more widely understood and utilized, technical support resources have become one of the top gauges for reliable usage and adoption. 

Two of the main focuses in effective Health Information Technology are to ensure: 

Correct Usage: Clinicians are able to input and access all data accurately and timely, capturing patient records and reporting visit information. 

Proper Data Flow: Data is managed seamlessly through interconnected systems — transferred and stored securely in the right systems in the right format. 

Proper IT support is a major factor in achieving these goals. With access to reliable support from an experienced team: 

• Clinicians are onboarded to technology and receive the proper training to feel confident in all features and tools. Any technical issues or questions are addressed in a helpful and timely manner by the support team. 

• Systems are built to meet the unique interoperability requirements of the organization. All needed upgrades and incoming system integrations are securely developed and addressed by the support team.

When the daily stress of a clinician’s workflow is exacerbated by a potential bug or an error, do they know who to call? Do they have access to resources to fix the problem promptly? How much will it affect their daily productivity? What impact will it have on the quality of patient care they can provide? Or is that error something that would have been prevented with proper maintenance and upgrades? 

A professional, helpful support team alleviates these burdens and helps clinicians meet innovation with confidence.  

As Dr. Porter said in his success story, “medicine is changing all the time.” In order to adapt, It’s the responsibility of the healthcare organization to ensure that they are partnering with reliable organizations that provide technology support. 

To learn how we partner with customers to provide expert IT support from implementation to beyond, request a demo.