Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) are key to the delivery of the NHS’s long term plan, as they aim to provide a more integrated and coordinated approach to healthcare services. As a part of this, ICSs are investing significant resources into software and hardware, digital skills, adoption, and change management. However, it is essential to ensure that these investments are optimised to maximise their value and impact on patient care.
In 2021, it was confirmed that the NHS would be receiving £2.1 billion for IT upgrades and digital health technology. This investment was designed to make hospitals and other care organisations more connected and efficient and free up staff time to spend caring for patients. While this investment will definitely aid the healthcare sector in being more connected and efficient, it’s likely that a large amount will be ‘wasted’ on unnecessary licences, hardware, and software. That’s why it’s important for you to work with a partner like Phoenix to support you with your IT and Software Asset Management.
Trusts will be deploying new technology and resources across their teams in order to streamline processes, enable connectivity, and manage workloads. However, if these aren’t managed and monitored correctly, you could be wasting your budget. For the healthcare sector to optimise the value of its ICS investments, it must have strict management over its IT assets.
This can include ensuring that employees only have licences for software relevant to them and scaling back on hardware that’s not being used or become obsolete. By effectively managing your IT assets, you’ll gain better visibility and control over your IT infrastructure, optimise spending, and ensure assets are properly maintained and secure.
Some of the benefits of properly managing your IT assets include:
Cost savings: identify unused or underutilised software licences and hardware to reduce unnecessary spending
Compliance: ensure compliance with licensing agreements, software usage policies, and regulatory requirements
Improved security: improve your security posture by identifying and managing security risks associates with software and hardware assets
Improved efficiency: improve your operational efficiency by streamlining software and hardware procurement, deployment, and management processes
Both ITAM and SAM enable healthcare organisations to manage their IT assets by providing a comprehensive framework for identifying, tracking, and managing software and hardware assets throughout their lifecycle.
ITAM includes inventorying all IT equipment, such as computers, printers, and servers and keeping track of who is using them. It helps you to understand your IT infrastructure, identify opportunities for costs savings, and improve security by tracking which devices are connected to your network.
SAM involves managing and optimising the software assets within your organisation. This includes monitoring licence usage, tracking software installations, and ensuring that all software is up-to-date and patched. SAM helps you reduce software costs by identifying unused licences and negotiating better deals with vendors. It also ensures your organisation is compliant with software licensing agreements, reducing the risks of costly fines and legal issues.
Chat to the License Dashboard team today to discuss the benefits of ITAM and SAM for your healthcare organisation.
Alongside managing your IT assets, it’s also important to make sure that all your employees are trained and aware of the benefits that your IT systems provide. If your employees aren’t trained in using your systems to their full potential, you’re spending money on an unused asset that could be used elsewhere.
Effective training will also generate higher productivity rates as employees will be more equipped to using your systems and will reduce downtime due to a lack of knowledge. This will ultimately provide your patients with a better all-round experience and improve your Trust’s care.
Our team of adoption and change management (ACM) specialists enable your healthcare organisation to optimise employee productivity and train them on Microsoft solutions, such as Teams.
We empower you with adoption and change management services that leverage the enthusiasm of your employees for new technology. We assist healthcare organisations to embrace innovative work practices by encouraging behavioural changes and demonstrating how the technology improves important aspects of their organisation.
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Our free VMware Licensing Health Check helps you to maximise your IT investments. It assesses your current VMware licence entitlements and agreements, aligning them with your present infrastructure.
Our VMware solutions specialists will evaluate your IT infrastructure to uncover opportunities for immediate cost savings, mitigate potential risks, and offer guidance on licensing options for future updates or changes to your data centre or end user computing.
Phoenix enables digital transformation in the workplace, empowering UK organisations to innovate and transform with cloud and hybrid infrastructures data, AI, security, and collaboration tools. By understanding the individual goals of its customers, Phoenix delivers remarkable, outcome-focused IT solutions and services that allow UK organisations to make a difference to the lives of their employees, service users, and communities.
Phoenix is a signatory on the Race at Work Charter, and a Disability Confident and Living Wage employer. The company is also actively involved in encouraging more women into the IT industry.
