Innovation in healthcare is tightly linked to the cloud and cloud-based, cloud-native, or cloud-hosted products and solutions. Data and analytics infrastructure, data management, and AI products are solutions that healthcare provider CIOs are looking to deploy in a cloud environment, mostly for the speed and efficiency gains and cost savings.
In our “Assessing your cloud readiness and your future interoperability demands” webinar, we shared the expected 16% annual growth rate in the healthcare cloud computing market and that nearly half of Gartner survey respondents noted new tools only being available in the cloud. Even with that context, 46% of our webinar attendees were unsure or unlikely to move infrastructure to the cloud in the next 12 months. Yet, of those who had moved to the cloud, 67% cited scalability, 63% cost savings, and 54% resiliency as their top three motivating factors.
How we interpret these results are that organizations are willing to move to the cloud if it makes business sense. If they can achieve the scalability, cost savings, and resiliency outcomes that are expected, then the effort to move to the cloud is worth it.
Your cloud journey
Many healthcare leaders view the journey of getting to the cloud as challenging with formidable milestones. Each organization is unique, and any major infrastructure, software, or services changes require careful consideration, analyzing a number of important factors including on-premise dependencies, legacy applications, connectivity options, and the ability to execute without overburdening staff.
During the webinar, a few individuals commented that a “big bang” approach wasn’t right, they can only bite off one thing at a time, or an 18-month project would take three years due to a lack of resources. With fixed budgets, limited resources, and more demand than the existing staff can satisfy, what steps can healthcare organizations take?
The answer may be scaling up services or capabilities. It may be scaling out infrastructure with a hybrid mix of on-premise and cloud deployments. Perhaps a big bang approach makes sense for your organization, or you might prefer an iterative approach. Rhapsody recommends deciding on a plan for a future state cloud environment that aligns with your organization’s business strategy.
Now is the time to determine your strategy and evaluate your cloud readiness. Rhapsody can support and supplement your efforts as you choose your path. Whether you are making a lift and shift, enhancing cloud-smart architectures, or would like to offload some of your staff’s migration work, we will meet you where you are on your unique cloud journey.
Building blocks needed for a successful cloud migration
Working with many cloud customers and partners we have discovered common building blocks that help organizations prepare for and execute a successful cloud migration. Use the following questions and topics to assess, create, or enhance your organization’s cloud strategy and readiness:
Infrastructure
Both container and integration engine elements require long term support and maintenance. Have you also thought about or developed your interoperability platform or architecture layer to support your organization’s long-term plans?
Governance
Do you have the necessary governance and standard operating procedures in place for the next step in your journey?
Security
Trust, especially with personal data, is paramount in healthcare. Cloud security is often stronger than legacy methods, and cloud operations teams are constantly looking to improve how they protect and secure IT environments. How confident are you in your information security?
Operational assessment
Do you have the people in place at every stage of your plan to execute at a high level?
Business strategy alignment and cloud migration plan
What is your organization’s mission, stated objectives, or goals for the year? How does a cloud migration fit into this strategy? Then, determine what success looks like, with key business drivers such as an EHR migration or modernization goals, to help provide clarity for a project plan and next steps. Outline a desired timeline and ask if you have the right resources with the needed skill sets and bandwidth. Or, will you need outside help?
Your cloud, your way: Hybrid strategies for cloud integration
We believe the best strategy for cloud migration is the one that works for your organization and helps you achieve your business objectives – delivering the best possible care to your communities or deploying innovative digital health products and solutions.
One of the benefits of cloud migration and system interoperability is that Rhapsody can work with you to create flexible, customized strategies and implementation plans that meet your needs. If you’re current system is on-premise, you can scale up your architecture to be more cloud ready, breaking apart different layers to move them individually to the cloud. You can start deploying cloud-hosted integration capabilities for specific portions of a solution while keeping the rest of your system on existing code base on-premise. As your organization evolves, often a combination of lift and shift, on-premise, and cloud-native solutions may co-exist, but a cloud-smart and enterprise integration strategy creates the connective tissue for optimal performance and scalability down the road.
Invest in your cloud migration strategy
It’s important to think about your organization’s business strategies and how migrating to the cloud can help you achieve your objectives. Determine what cloud migration and integration strategies are best for you.
Now, take the first – or next – step. Rhapsody can help you refine your strategy and move forward with confidence on a timeline that works for you. Whether you’re ready to transition entirely to the cloud or want to develop a hybrid strategy, Rhapsody will work with you to individualize the best approach for your cloud migration plans.
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