Over the past decade, the healthcare industry has made significant investments in cloud computing to modernize information technology (IT) infrastructure and develop cutting-edge IT solutions to better manage data and operational workloads. But Michael Fredericks, global leader of APEX and Multicloud Healthcare at Dell Technologies, said this has left many organizations in what he calls “multi-cloud by default,” which can make it arduous to achieve the operational efficiencies that hospitals and health care systems.
“Organizations often end up here by accident… You have different industries that are currently managing different workloads or applications in different environments, and that impacts overall performance and efficiency,” he explained.
Because each cloud environment supports its own native set of technologies, many organizations are faced with a proliferation of different cloud service providers. This may result in management and security problems, as well as generate unnecessary additional costs. However, according to Fredericks, healthcare organizations that take a more strategic approach to the cloud environment based on multi-cloud design can reap the benefits that attracted them to cloud solutions in the first place.
Innovate without sacrificing security and performance
Digital innovation has accelerated thanks to public cloud technologies. Healthcare organizations can benefit from advanced data analytics as well as novel artificial intelligence (AI) applications. They enable organizations to innovate in the cloud and deploy solutions on-premises for best results. “The goal is to leverage common data storage components so that you can easily and most effectively take advantage of the various public cloud offerings,” Fredericks said.
Taking this approach has enabled one healthcare organization to adopt an AI-powered imaging solution in radiology. Operationalizing this solution in a private cloud environment allowed the organization to leverage the solution without incurring the costs or potential security risks that can result from storing data in multiple locations. “By implementing this vision in a strategic way, we were able to help this healthcare organization implement an artificial intelligence model that resulted in a 40% reduction in the time it took for radiologists to read test results,” he revealed. “This improves patient and physician satisfaction while lowering costs.”
Maximum exploit of the cloud
To design the most effective multi-cloud environment, Fredericks said healthcare organizations need to take a step back and understand what they want to achieve by moving to a different cloud environment. Many organizations say they want to get out of the “data center business,” he noted, but it’s significant to understand the thinking behind the directive.
“Some may think this means the organization needs to move workloads to the public cloud,” he said. “But what would be best for today? How about tomorrow? You need to take a closer look at this statement and understand what business goals the organization is trying to achieve.”
Where cloud-based innovation occurs today will not necessarily be the same where it occurs tomorrow. However, by working with experienced managed service providers who understand the intricacies of the healthcare space, organizations can better develop a multi-cloud strategy by design to host and manage cloud solutions that meet their specific needs, today and in the future. This way, they can also ensure regulatory compliance and reduce the risk of cloud provider lock-in to get even more value from their cloud investments.
“You need partners who are experts in the nuances of hosting healthcare workloads,” Fredericks said. “Once you define your overall goals, they can recommend a multi-cloud strategy that will improve performance and benefit your organization in the long run.”