Healthcare
organizations which were early adopters of Microsoft SharePoint
platform gained quite comprehensively from the capabilities of the
framework. The new SharePoint 2013 version promises much more in terms
of enhanced functionalities to benefit them. The primary ones include
App Marketplace, Business Intelligence, Mobile, Communities, Video
Searches and Micro Blogging. Apart than the intended benefits one common
purpose achieved by the functionalities is reduction in the cost of
operations for healthcare setups using them. With optimized workflow
engines replacing manual tasks, improved compliance with regulatory
mandates and availability of customized solutions, Healthcare setups are
likely to notice significant reduction in their operational
expenditure.
SharePoint’s
predominant use in the healthcare industry has been in content
management and in document and activity based collaboration. The new
version interestingly has shifted the focus on its adoption more towards
social solutions - which in the current day context has a lot of
relevance. For e.g. it has a major contribution to make in knowledge
management. In the healthcare industry this is of critical relevance as
it can lead to not only better care solutions but saving of millions of
lives. Knowledge gathered through experience and shared through the
social platforms enhances its utility and relevance in making better
decisions and reducing chances of committing errors.
The
use of SharePoint is business intelligence is expected to gather pace
as we progress. Since there are information systems now taking care of
activities which were earlier handled manually, it has resulted in an
explosion of data – most of which is highly critical and can be
harnessed in various ways to draw greater benefits. From using
dashboards and reports to analyze collated data from diverse sources to
using them for predictions activities; all this and many more complex
activities can be made possible using the features offered SharePoint
2013. EHR adoption which is fast happening is only going to expedite the
whole process.
Mobility
has brought about a huge change in the healthcare industry. The entire
healthcare delivery mechanism is likely to undergo a complete
metamorphosis in the next few years. SharePoint, when it was developed
in 2001, was not expected to be built for such times. As the world
progressed towards the use of mobile devices, subsequent versions i.e.
SharePoint 2007 & SharePoint 2010 were released to keep pace with
the changing demands. However, the response from the industry was not
that very encouraging and the versions were considered inadequate.
SharePoint 2013 is expected to dispel such notions because this version
is about creating access to meaningful information.However,
the healthcare organizations currently using SharePoint applications
have to be willing to upgrade in order to derive the benefits. The major
differentiating features include the following:
- A contemporary view to render sites in HTML5 which can work with all the updated versions of browsers
- Provision to render the SharePoint sites across different mobile devices by the use of channels
- Capability to push notifications to mobile devices
- Availability of two new native apps: The SharePoint Newsfeed App and The SkyDrive Pro App. Thus users now will have the ability to not only follow people and feeds but also documents thus enabling them to be accessed more easily without having to go through the SharePoint interface. Plus, they will also now be able to store documents to be able to use them offline.
- Better view of MS Office tools like Word, Excel and PowerPoint
SharePoint,
throughout its lifecycle has drawn flak for its user experience. The
upgradations, although have brought in changes, have been found wanting.
The 2013 version seems to have put forth solutions for the prevalent
issues in usability. Besides, there are now modern applications
available which are suited to be used for mobile, social and cloud
capabilities. In healthcare industry, one of the main areas concern and
focus is data security. So the CIO’s of the Healthcare enterprises have
to look beyond the benefits of these additional features and figure out
their impact on the security aspect of things. They also have to look at
how third-party apps can integrate with these features. Migration will
also be another area which will require their attention. You can hire
developers from top SharePoint development companies in India who can help you build projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.
