Technical innovation plays a crucial role in the healthcare industry. Famed for its utilization of technology to overcome medical challenges, the health sector has gained renown for its progressive and inventive approaches. But while the application of technology has become a core focus, IT infrastructure often lags behind.
Outdated legacy systems frequently end up supporting vital services, and redundant equipment and devices sit idle because of uncertainty about who they belong to or what purpose they serve. Telecom inventory management, on its own or as part of a larger telecom expense management programme, can be vital to helping healthcare organisations tame their telecoms.
1. Rapid Growth
Today's healthcare organizations must track growing numbers of fixed telecoms, mobile devices, IT infrastructure and associated service agreements. For a sector noted for its 'crisis in human resources', keeping up with the expansion of assets and the accompanying documentation can often prove impossible. Even for those organizations not experiencing rapid growth, an unoptimized and inaccurate telecoms inventory is common and a lack of understanding of the overall telecoms environment likely. Not only can this prove to be costly as you pay for services that you may not need and may not even be aware of but, when coupled with poor invoice management, can result in even greater threats, such as telecoms outages.
2. The Industry That Never Sleeps
The telephone remains the most common method for the public to communicate with healthcare institutions during an emergency and so the importance of telecoms availability within the medical sector cannot be understated. Unlike traditional industries, which shut down overnight or during holidays, healthcare must be accessible 24/7/365, and telecoms availability can, quite literally, mean the difference between life and death. Due to the constant reliance on telecoms assets, including mobile devices, fixed telecoms, and IT infrastructure, a healthcare organization’s inventory is filled with complexity and confusion. Often, this results in an inability to track provisioning activities effectively, leading to a mountain of paperwork, constant risk of overpayments, and the ever-present threat of downtime.
3. The Enduring Trend of BYOD
Bring your own device (BYOD) is frequently tipped as the area of telecoms most likely to gain widespread adoption in 2018, but, in the healthcare sector, the trend is nothing new. As far back as 2015, a study published in the Journal of Hospital Librarianship estimated that 85% of healthcare professionals brought their own devices to work and used them for professional activities in their working day. Due to this trend, many healthcare organizations chose to capitalize on the many benefits of BYOD and implement a BYOD policy. But, while this generated cost-savings in the short-term, it also added to the number of assets that must be managed – intensifying the confusion and inaccuracy of the telecoms inventory – and increasing costs long-term. As the BYOD trend shows no signs of slowing, it's likely that more and more healthcare organizations will implement similar policies, and, therefore, face similar challenges.
Overcoming Telecoms Inventory Management Challenges
At its most basic, telecom inventory management describes the coordination and tracking of service agreements and physical assets to better manage telecoms infrastructure and control costs. Given the constant change in fixed, mobile and, increasingly, BYOD environments, maintaining database integrity can be challenging and most healthcare organizations don’t have the tools or time to maintain a well-documented telecoms inventory.
To overcome these obstacles, healthcare organizations can benefit from outsourcing telecom inventory management to a telecom expense management (TEM) provider. By outsourcing to a provider who can track, manage, and report on all fixed and mobile telecoms assets, healthcare organizations not only cut immediate costs but also ensure that their telecoms inventory stays updated and accurate, significantly reducing downtime.
To learn more about how Cass can help manage large-scale telecoms inventories, including BYOD, within the healthcare industry, contact us today. Alternatively, gain a deeper insight into the global telecom expense management environment by downloading our BYOD Policy Guide.
Topics: TEM, BYOD, Healthcare
