7 Data Storage Mistakes Healthcare Companies Make

(and How to Fix Them)

It seems like everyone is in the cloud now; especially businesses that need to store patient files, medical imaging scans, and all sorts of health records that can potentially take up many terabytes or more worth of space. While everyone is using these core infrastructure services, most companies aren’t actually doing it correctly, or at least in fully-optimal fashion. Below we’ll look at seven data storage mistakes we see companies making all the time, what’s at stake, and what to do to avoid them.

Choosing the wrong cloud solution

Opting for a cloud solution that doesn’t fit your needs will leave you doomed from the start. With so many options, configurations, and add-ons available for cloud storage it can be easy to choose based on cost. But taking some time to select the right solution beforehand will save you a major headache down the road, because you’ll avoid a major and costly future migration.

Not testing backups

If you never test your backups, how will you know if you can recover from an outage? Backup testing should be done at regular intervals, and ideally in real-time, rather than just once a day. That way, you’re assured that you can operate off of a backup with minimal interruptions.

No disaster recovery plan

It’s not a matter of if, but when. When a disaster strikes, say a weather incident or a cyber attack or a hardware failure, you don’t want to be going in blind. You want the peace of mind knowing that you have done this before, and your whole team is already familiarized with the process.

No redundancy

Redundancy means safety. If you don’t have extra layers of protection, you’re bound to have issues. Follow best practices regarding redundancy in terms of keeping multiple copies of your data and having at least one of those copies stored off-site.

No ongoing maintenance

Cloud data storage isn’t “set it and forget it” like those infomercial toaster ovens. A robust data storage solution requires ongoing maintenance to ensure reliability, stability, hardware upgrades, software updates, compatibility issues, testing, etc. Neglect ongoing maintenance at your own risk.

Not using the cloud to its fullest extent/potential

Cloud services open up possibilities beyond just data storage. They allow for easy collaboration, remote work, easy file transfers just to name a few. Make sure you’re getting the full value out of your cloud solution.

A slow connection holding you back

When dealing with large quantities of data, it’s important that your network connection can keep up. Networks provide more speed and stability than a standard broadband connection. Don’t forget that this is a key part of the equation.

Avoid these mistakes and more!

With so much at stake in a healthcare setting, it's imperative to avoid these common mistakes. Doing so we’ll set you up for success in the future, improve your operations, and actually increase the value of your business.

Healthcare Adaptive Solutions specializes in providing data storage, security solutions, and hardware maintenance for healthcare providers.
Contact us today for a free infrastructure evaluation.

Real World Case Study: HACS Service Cloud RMM Solution

What exactly is real time backup and what does it mean for a business?

To illustrate the importance of using real time backups, rather than simply doing backups each night as is common practice, let’s look at this example from a radiology clinic customer.

An x-ray technician at this clinic was conducting scans on a patient, but during the process, his computer unexpectedly turned off and re-booted. As a result, his x-ray image was corrupted.

These systems capture the raw image and then use algorithms to modify them and add them to patient records. The raw image was there, but due to the shutdown, the algorithms did not work as intended during the transfer.

Because this clinic had real-time backups in place, we were able to retrieve the raw image and apply the algorithms to it once again.

Had this not been in place, the clinic would have had to call the patient back, reschedule another x-ray, and in the process, waste time, money and valuable energy --- not to mention upset their patient.

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