More and more businesses are looking toward the quickly evolving world of cloud computing to help run their business more efficiently and with better collaboration. This is especially true in the world of healthcare, where roughly two-thirds of mid-sized organizations are using cloud computing.
Recently, Dell Inc. published a survey in which 2,038 IT professionals for mid-sized healthcare organizations were polled. Of these 2,038:
- 43% have private cloud storage solutions in place
- Another 43% have employed a hybrid cloud
- 46% percent of cloud users stated that they began using the cloud because it allowed them more freedom to allocate resources. Cost savings motivated another 39 percent.
Dell’s Healthcare and Life Sciences chief medical officer Cliff Bleustein believes cloud computing can help act as a facilitator for collaboration between various medical practices. Moreover, Bleustein feels that healthcare’s future will be found in “intelligent data repositories” and in the ability for healthcare providers to be able to “incorporate clinical workflow functions and predictive and prescriptive analysis” into their IT plan.
Dell is not the first company to notice the trend of healthcare facilities incorporating cloud computing into their business plans.
Last summer, HIMSS Analytics reported nearly the same findings—that roughly 80% of mid-sized healthcare facilities were using cloud computing to streamline their data. In addition to the high number of users, HIMSS discovered that only a small portion of the healthcare population (about 6%) felt uncomfortable storing sensitive data (i.e. patient records) in the cloud. The biggest concern this 6% had about cloud computing was the ability to keep data safe.
The versatile nature of the cloud means that healthcare organizations are able to use it for a multitude of functions. This includes everything from data storage to hosting software and making HR programs easier.
Centegra Health System chief information officer and CFO David Tomlinson was one administrator who initially voiced concerns about the safety of cloud computing in the healthcare field. For him, his biggest concern was the transportation of his current system in-house storage to the cloud. He also voiced concerns about the access he would have to his health system’s data via the Internet—specifically what would happened in the event of an outage.
Tomlinson’s concerns were alleviated and he is now pleased with his decision to begin using the cloud.
“It’s the wave of the future because it offers lower cost points and lower total cost of ownership,” he said.
Have a question about medical marketing technology and information? Contact us to request more information.