Intelligent Health.tech Issue 02 | Page 68

NEW TECHNOLOGIES ARE STILL BEING DEPLOYED TO HELP THE SYSTEM FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE BACKLOG OF PATIENTS NEEDING CARE .
S C R U B B I N G U P

NEW TECHNOLOGIES ARE STILL BEING DEPLOYED TO HELP THE SYSTEM FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE BACKLOG OF PATIENTS NEEDING CARE .

when applications were static . These outdated networks not only create their own roadblocks but trying to adapt them to support today ’ s demands can also result in huge operational issues . An IT team tasked with scaling their network up to support a surge in users and devices across various locations would be faced with having to manually process every connection type and device if a network hasn ’ t been modernised .
Fast forward to 2022 and the aforementioned shift towards personalised healthcare and increased dependence on mobile devices and applications means that this type of process is simply no longer sustainable . In order to support the surge of IoT devices and unlock the opportunities , they bring around autonomous , predictive and analytical capabilities – healthcare organisations must firstly upgrade and modernise their networks .
Here , organisations should consider opting for a cloud-centric network architecture solution , as whether it is consumed in the cloud or on-premises , this will provide organisations with much-needed agility for future scale and connectivity .
On top of this , networks based on traditional VLAN architectures will struggle to accommodate huge amounts of IoT devices , so modernising WAN solutions with SD-WAN should be seen as the next step for healthcare organisations . Offering greater efficiency and cost savings , hospitals and clinics can also opt for an approach that doesn ’ t involve the wholesale replacement of their current infrastructures , but rather look for options that coexist with current architectures . Here , healthcare organisations can introduce network overlays such as EVPN / VXLAN alongside existing infrastructure to learn how to adapt these protocols to current and future environments .
Step 2 : Leveraging automation
With a modern network in place and now set up for scale and connectivity , health organisations must then look towards leveraging the benefits of automation .
As all these IoT devices churn out large quantities of health information , automation merged with other smart technologies such as Machine Learning can help turn into actionable insights that healthcare organisations can use to build new solutions .
Here , simplified workflows can also help alleviate administrative burdens and redeploy precious time so that staff can focus on patient care . From apps that help patients
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