Hyland Software's Document Management Blog

SaaS solutions: the answer to meeting “meaningful use” requirements in healthcare?

// June 14th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Cloud Computing, Healthcare, Software as a Service // Susan deCathelineau

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a popular topic on the blog lately.  So, it seems like a great time to piggyback on what Jacqui Conn and Terri Jones had to say about it – but, from a healthcare software perspective.

A hosted software model isn’t new in healthcare, or any industry for that matter.  Providers from community hospitals to physician practices have already seen the benefits. Minimize IT staffing and support. Avoid the costs of equipment, servers and other necessary hardware. Identify budget as an operating expense instead of a larger, capital expense. Accelerate deployment.    

Let’s take a look at faster deployment times. Right now, this is the key to why SaaS is so important to healthcare. And it all comes down to two words: meaningful use.

As part of the HITECH Act in ARRA, healthcare providers are now required to meet certain standards, not just based on what technology they use, but also how they use it. We already discussed why ECM or document management is a critical technology piece in answering this “how they use it” part. But here’s the catch – these “meaningful use” requirements aren’t just about the “what” or the “how” – they’re about the “when.” The federal government has set a deadline for the requirements to be met – 2011.

Photo credited to Neil Versel’s blog with the original source as Pat Wise of HIMSS.

That means that providers must have the people to research, choose and implement a solution, the hardware to support it and the budget to do these things – all within a limited time frame. For an on-premise solution, this would certainly be a challenge to get done, and get right. But not for SaaS.

Because SaaS solutions boast short start-to-finish deployments, they might be the only way for some healthcare organizations to get up and running in time for the deadline.  They also answer the budget, staffing and hardware issues – a rent-like pricing model and outsourced staff and servers to manage the data.

But despite the obvious potential of this deployment option, I have yet to see SaaS mentioned in the same article – let alone the same sentence – as “meaningful use.” At the same time, the major healthcare providers and associations continue to suggest that the deadlines are too restricting to meet. And maybe they are. But one thing is absolutely-without-a-doubt too restricting – limiting software to a single deployment option, and not even considering one that might make more sense – SaaS.

The cloud in government? It might be the best way to make document management software happen

// June 3rd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Cloud Computing, Government, Software as a Service // Terri Jones

I really enjoyed Jacqui Conn’s thoughts on software as a service (SaaS) and IT security. It brought me back nearly a decade to a time when, as an IT director, I stood in the way of just such a proposal for government software…as a service.

My state had selected a vendor. Their task: produce a portal website and provide far away servers – servers I did not control – to store documents and data about the people we served. Security was never discussed. I’m pretty sure we were supposed to blindly trust that they would manage it “correctly.”

Even scarier, their pricing was by the document. Not a bad strategy when you’re trying to start a business with government as your target market! But needless to say, I did not sign up my agency.

Times sure have changed. Clouds have moved in over Washington, and not just because of midterm elections. President Obama has begun an IT initiative to move the use of SaaS into the federal government realm. But that’s federal. Should state and local government consider SaaS?

Yes! (If you need more information on the security part of the decision, Jacqui’s article is a great reference).

So how can government’s unique mission be served by a SaaS model?

Let’s use the example of enterprise content management as SaaS. If I can 1) offer improved public access to documents and services through a website, plus 2) cut the costs of storing and retrieving documents that my staff uses every day, I have just pushed my agency ahead technologically – without bearing the costs of staffing the deployment or purchasing the capital equipment to power it. And all of this is accomplished just by sharing server and staff costs with other customers through SaaS. This is budget brilliance because you are getting more for less!

Think you might want to have the technology in-house someday? At least one ECM vendor has even worked out the ability to assist its customers to move their solution in-house. This way, the solution you start as SaaS can be brought into your agency or department, if, of course, that makes sense for your staff and technology initiatives (or your improved budget).

But how does it match up with the mission of government?

Last time, I wrote about the need to put our increasingly smaller government workforce where it counts the most…and that is not moving paper files around. What if the SaaS model allowed you to do just that?  The cost structure it provides allows you to move forward with – you guessed it – those IT investments that get rid of the paper and manual processes. Mission accomplished.

Sometimes you live long enough to change your mind. And I have, especially in this time of difficult budgets. Because if the price is appropriate, if the security is there, if the functionality matches the need and there are vendors with proven ability to deliver these solutions, why wouldn’t I consider it?

Government is never asked to do less, they are asked to do more with less. A SaaS option could meet this challenge.  And, to take it a step further, the SaaS model coupled with the cost-saving effect of enterprise content management may just be the right combination to position your agency for maximum staff efficiency and citizen service.

Software as a service solutions and IT security: (Potentially) a match made in heaven

// May 13th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Cloud Computing, Software as a Service // Jacqui Conn

I had a few minutes the other day to peruse my backlogged library of articles (you know – the ones you put away until you can get your head above water long enough to catch your breath) when an article about SaaS and cloud services security in the government sector caught my attention. 

 The reason I did a “wait just a minute” on the piece is that the hot topic in our SaaS/cloud world is security, especially when it comes to content management and ECM SaaS solutions.   

We all know that our data – personal and business – is stored somewhere, and a lot (if not most) of it is accessible via the Internet. And, we’ve all heard a horror story (or two) about security breaches. Definitely scary stuff.   

So, when looking at security from a business perspective, here are a handful of questions to ask yourself – or to add to your RFP/RFI – if you’re in the market for a SaaS solution provider. And even if you already have a SaaS ECM solution provider, they should be able to answer these questions – and answer them with a “yes!”    

• Is the data center where your data is hosted SAS70 II audited? In researching your SaaS solutions, this question should be asked by someone in your IT department. In fact, this audit is so comprehensive that, in our conversations with IT management, just mentioning this compliance level calms a host of security concerns.
   
• Is the backup location compliant, too? Pop quiz: If the primary (production) data center is compliant, does the secondary (backup) data center need the same level of compliance?  Answer: Yes!
• Does the hosting provider’s processes, infrastructure, etc. undergo an independent audit, defined by either ISO or SysTrust standards?”
• Does the SaaS provider perform their own internal security audits on a regular basis? Can they provide documentation to you upon request?
• Does your SaaS ECM provider give you the opportunity to engage a third-party vendor, such as SecureState^©, to perform your own audit against the solution? Yes, this may be an additional cost for you. But your provider should be open to letting you look “behind the curtain” of your ECM SaaS solution.

While there are plenty of other questions you could ask, the bottom line is this: SaaS ECM solutions are as secure as any on-premise software when they’re done right. And in many cases, as the article pointed out, they might even be more secure (hence the title of this post). After all, who would you rather have implement software for you? The company that developed it, or a government agency or department?

On-Premises vs. SaaS; Manual vs. Automatic

// January 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cloud Computing, Software as a Service // The Hyland Blog

Recently, a local software company in a non-competitive industry approached me to get my opinion about SaaS, and the strategic importance of developing a SaaS product plan.

It was the first time in a long time that I even thought about that question. In fact, last week, I celebrated six years of running the SaaS offering for Hyland Software. Since then, while I have defended and evangelized the SaaS approach, I had not really thought about the go/no-go decision.

If you read the analysts and journalists, more and more, SaaS is growing. There are lots of technical reasons for that, and a number of business reasons, too. But most of all, I think it comes down to meeting the needs of the prospective customer.

Customers want choice; the debate as to which is best is based on each customer’s specific and very unique need(s). With hosting/SaaS/The Cloud, technology is allowing software vendors to meet the needs of more prospective customers. In the coming years, I sincerely believe that those that do not offer a SaaS/Hosted solution will not survive.

An interesting parallel could be made between auto manufacturers offering standard and automatic transmission. No matter which you personally feel is better, each customer will make the decision based on their own needs and desires (and some are passionate about their preference). For an auto manufacturer to not offer a choice limits their ability to serve prospective customers.

Interestingly, automatic transmission was NOT the popular option when it first came out.  There was limited manufacturing in 1904, but it was not readily adopted by consumers (similar to the failed Applicatio Service Providers (ASP) from the last millennium). Drivers liked their manual transmission because that is what they were used to.  Even after technology advances and the cost efficiencies of mass-production in the 1940s and 1950s, automatic transmission was included in a minority of cars sold to the public.   It was not until a new generation of drivers hit the road from the 1960s to the 1980s that automatic transmissions really took off.  Fast forward to today, and 80%+ of all cars are automatic transmission.

As is often the case with something that is “new” or “different” (like automatic transmissions), SaaS adoption has not exploded overnight…though we have seen solid, steady growth over the past six years.  However, I expect SaaS will become eventually the IT equivalent of automatic transmissions. As the technology evolves, as  more people see the advantages and as a new generation of IT leadership hits the workforce, more customers will want to utilize SaaS/Hosting/The Cloud.  The once new, unfamiliar territory of SaaS, in my mind, will eventually be the choice of the majority.