Three major concerns – security, integration, and the ability to work off-line – are preventing the advancement of mobility. How can these obstacles be overcome?
By Coco Jaenicke, CMO, Verivo
More and more frequently we see healthcare providers carry sleek devices in their hands, but at the same time we see the same people spending more and more time in their offices behind a screen doing “paper” work. It is reasonable to assume that in this era of mobility healthcare workers should be able do everything they need to do in real-time via an app on their handheld devices – much like the point-of-sale apps used by Apple store employees – but this appears not to be the case. Doing so would not only improve patient care, but reduce overhead costs and irritations as well.
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Three major concerns – security, integration, and the ability to work off-line – are preventing the advancement of mobility. How can these obstacles be overcome?
By Coco Jaenicke, CMO, Verivo
More and more frequently we see healthcare providers carry sleek devices in their hands, but at the same time we see the same people spending more and more time in their offices behind a screen doing “paper” work. It is reasonable to assume that in this era of mobility healthcare workers should be able do everything they need to do in real-time via an app on their handheld devices – much like the point-of-sale apps used by Apple store employees – but this appears not to be the case. Doing so would not only improve patient care, but reduce overhead costs and irritations as well.
Healthcare has a more mobile workforce than most industries, but getting it mobile-enabled is not easy. There are three major concerns preventing mobility advancements:
Security – the healthcare industry deals with sensitive patient data, and ensuring security and establishing regulatory compliance is imperative. When data moves beyond the firewall, the transportation and storage of that data needs to be locked down. Devices can be lost easily lost and they are often used for both personal and business uses.
Integration – healthcare environments often comprise multiple, complex systems and connecting to all of them – securely and efficiently – is a daunting task. This is complicated by the fact that the data served by these systems is seldom mobile-friendly, creating another layer of complexity.
Workings off-line – hospitals often have limited connectivity, and apps have to be available continuously. This is not difficult to deliver if the app provides read-only access to background information, but if the app is designed to provide near real-time support for transactions, the app needs to store and sync data which is complicated.
Because of these obstacles, organizations have been timid about building the apps they would like, and limiting themselves to “flat” apps that either provide access to static data or capture data that is synched to back-end systems in batches. But the industry is ready for more and there are diverse options that can get organizations to where they want to be. There are 3 basic approaches worth considering:
- Hire systems integrator (SI) – the appeal of this approach is the simplicity of outsourcing the entire project. The downsides include cost and vendor lock-in. An SI will bring ad hoc code into the enterprise, and the resulting app is difficult to update without the (expensive) help of the original development team. Net-net: SIs are reasonable approach for getting a single app to market quickly if there is little need to modify the app over time.
- Buy a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) – a MEAP allows organizations to build their own apps, but have come under criticism for being limited. MEAPs, which are typically suited for B2C apps, are weak on back-end connectivity and are hard to extend to include unique capabilities. Net-net: a MEAP is a good alternative for building multiple apps, if the requirements are straightforward.
- Mobile infrastructure – another approach is build out one’s infrastructure to support mobile apps. Most IT departments have implemented a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to support web-based apps, and with a modest amount of mobile middleware a SOA can be extended to support mobile apps as well. Mobile apps need additional services to accommodate for the smaller platforms, with greater security concerns, and have intermittent connectivity. With an up-front investment, development teams can have a pluggable framework that supports the creation and deployment of mobile apps. Net-net: mobile middleware is appropriate for organizations that want the flexibility to build multiple diverse apps in-house.
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Mobile Middleware: Extending SOA to Mobile
In short, the healthcare industry – having many mobile workers – is an industry that can gain greater-than-average productivity from mobile apps. Also, the particulars of the healthcare industry require a greater-than-average effort to build mobile apps. But there are options. The important step is to think through one’s mobile needs for today and tomorrow, and to architect a mobile strategy that can deliver.
About the author
Coco Jaenicke is CMO with Verivo and has more than 20 years of experience in marketing at high-tech software start-ups, with a focus on building teams with a metrics-based approach and working with products in emerging markets. Prior to joining Verivo, Coco was VP of Marketing at Tokutek and held senior positions at integration software and data management software companies. Coco holds a BS from Brown University and an MS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
