How analytics can deliver insight for health care IT services

(MENAFN- Arab News) The health care it industry is increasingly dynamic in the middle east.

according to gartner health care providers in the middle east and africa will spend $2.8 billion on it products and services in 2014 an increase of 2.8 percent over 2013.

analysts predict that saudi arabia gcc's biggest economy will continue its focus on building health care infrastructure to support its growing population and the uae is expected to enhance its focus on building patient databases mobile health and preventive health care.

even though there is growth in the health care industry health care it professionals have long been expected to deliver more in terms of quality while containing costs with ict services working toward this overall objective. with responsibility for the management of the hospital's it infrastructure they are constantly seeking ways of delivering improved levels of system availability performance and service quality.

users of technology in the health care industry expect their it systems to work — delivering what they need when they need it. lives can depend on this.

better management of a hospital's it infrastructure should help meet this expectation ensuring hospital end-users (doctors nurses and administrative staff) have access to medical applications and electronic patient data at any time from any location to ensure the best patient care.

an effective way of meeting these objectives is the deployment of robust it analytics which will provide hospitals with clear visibility into the health and performance of their it infrastructure. inefficiencies disruptions and failures can be identified automatically as they occur and often before end-users are even aware of them.

monitor manage and respond

the management of a hospital's it infrastructure is increasingly outsourced with sub-contractors running an it service desk for example. without direct involvement however a hospital's ict manager may experience a sense that they no longer have full control of the workings of their infrastructure; that they lack the visibility needed to know what's happening at any given time.

with real-time intelligence and the level of management reporting provided by it analytics the hospital ict manager can be more aware of what's occurring across the infrastructure.

as an 'informed customer" they will be better able to report on and respond to any issues that arise as they arise.

pro-actively monitoring managing and responding to issues as they occur across the entire hospital infrastructure will reduce the chances of these becoming more widespread with more serious implications.

working within the limits imposed by resources and time constraints hospital ict managers will find themselves better able to make quicker more informed decisions delivering a more consistent and efficient service across an increasingly complex it infrastructure.

this will lead to an improvement in levels of service availability and health care it teams should find it easier to support the it environments for which they are responsible thereby improving the delivery of information and services to end-users.

ultimately the resulting 'always on" it service will allow the hospital's frontline practitioners to carry out their work more effectively and efficiently making for an improved 'patient flow" in which all working parts move together more smoothly and in synch.

meeting obligations

faced with managing larger and ever more complex it infrastructures in the face of scrutiny by the public as well as by internal end-users frustrated with performance and delivery issues the intelligence and visibility offered by it analytics should be welcomed by health care ict managers.

a hospital has many obligations to employees and patients alike one of which is to ensure that robust secure technology services are available around the clock.

the benefits of deploying it analytics will not only meet this obligation but also deliver the required quality of service to end-users and help hospitals to provide its patients with better care and a better overall patient experience.

— yassine zaied is evp middle east and emerging markets nexthink