Half the battle of running a business within the healthcare industry is knowing when to adapt and change. Growth and scalability only occur when you have an operations model that can accommodate industry shifts and the foresight to identify when it’s time to zig or zag. Technology continues to be the ever-changing force behind how your business adapts in today’s environment. And one of the most significant trends you might be noticing involves composable solutions.
The composable architecture approach breaks down the traditional silos of computing, storage, or networking. It reveals that what was once “hardware” isn’t hardware at all but really just a set of services that can be configured and allocated based on changing requirements throughout the day. And the previously unimaginable amounts of data that exchange hands in, including collected and stored data, can see improvement with these and other data-intensive applications. Most IT departments require these types of apps, but they must change to make the most of them.
That’s when having a composable infrastructure can come in handy, particularly within the healthcare industry, where composable solutions shifts are already occurring. Today we’ll discuss what industry trends you should know about and offer suggestions to ensure your business model can adapt accordingly.
Understanding the Composable Solutions Movement
A composable solution is an emerging technology that enables enterprise data center operators to leverage the many cost and availability benefits of cloud computing solutions using on-premises networking equipment. Composable disaggregated infrastructure (CDI), sometimes stylized composable/disaggregated infrastructure, is a composable business mindset that allows organizations to innovate and adapt to changing business needs quickly. When the industry uses the term “composable,” it refers to and encompasses a mindset, technology, and the processes that encourage change-on-the-fly capabilities in response to the evolving requirements within their environments. Businesses need composability because composability promotes change. And there are many healthcare-related businesses, services, and products alike, already tapping into composable solutions today.
What Are Composable Application Examples?
Most industry experts define it as a set of processes that allow a single application to distribute across multiple servers and domains in order to scale, compose, connect, and be industry-specific. According to most who understand the concept, a composable business is one built out of interchangeable building blocks. Therefore, the next generation of commercial and consumer-facing apps must also feature component construction from interchangeable parts.
Why Adapting to Composable Solutions Matters
Emerging methodologies, such as composable infrastructures, a framework Softheon can certainly help you with, aims to move away from traditional ways of operating to more cost-effective private cloud techniques. Composable infrastructure employs software to decouple compute, storage, and networking resources and makes them available as cloud services – on the fly. Resources are gathered into pools that the organization can then allocate to its workloads in line with demand.
The process of transitioning to a fully composable infrastructure framework may take years, but there’s no need to go “all in.” The majority of organizations begin by adopting one component at a time, and storage infrastructure is one of the simplest and best choices for that first step.
Edge computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other cutting-edge technologies are examples of applications that need enhanced storage to operate effectively.
Previously unimaginable amounts of data are collected, stored, and utilized by these and other data-intensive applications. Of course, IT departments require these types of accessibility points, but they must change to make the most of them. That’s when having a composable infrastructure becomes a necessity.
There are plenty of other industries already shifting to adopt these new methods of data management. For example, financial institutions, banks, and hedge fund organizations require composable infrastructure since they handle vast amounts of sensitive data. They may help avoid disruptions and the associated financial losses by doing so. According to the statistics and collected data thus far, the financial services industry may just be the most significant sector to shift to composable infrastructure in the near future. But the movement extends far beyond finance and is already segmenting into other industries.
As data gets more sophisticated, more organizations are turning to managed services providers (MSPs) to manage hybrid clouds and data on their behalf. As a result, MSPs are experimenting with composable storage concepts in order to quickly scale storage infrastructure to match the performance and capacity demands of their clients.
Healthcare and Health Insurance Industries Are Shifting Too
Healthcare IT innovation is complex. Medical devices for monitoring patients, telecare, and electronic health record (EHR) systems are all innovative areas of healthcare IoT. Because of security and regulatory concerns, executives have to abide by guidelines and restrictions in transferring their workloads to the cloud. Composable infrastructure can help them stay agile by providing on-premises solutions for efficiency and cost savings.
And there are the interoperability components within the healthcare segments, as well, creating a demand for seamless data management between various platforms, providers, and support. It is the composable computing model that may bring all the solutions a desperate industry needs right now. You may find it to be your ideal way forward, as well.
Additional benefits of composable solutions are making it easier for businesses within the industry to make the subtle changes where they can to continue adapting. Furthermore, composable structures allow data center resources to be liberated from the physical infrastructure and are more fluid; this helps ensure agility, scalability, and elasticity in response to changing workload demands. Meanwhile, performance may continue to improve, and remote composable resources can often outperform local methods, including local storage.
When you’re ready to explore interoperability solutions and composable solutions for your business model, let Softheon help. Major overhauls or investments aren’t necessarily required. And taking the small steps now can ensure you’re able to keep up with the ever-changing healthcare industry shifts in data management. Not recognizing the composable solutions trends now might translate to falling behind later. Don’t wait another day to make the upgrades you need to make today, and you can keep your costs and efficiencies in check as you scale and grow your business.
Meet the Author
Josh Schultz is a Senior Policy Analyst at Softheon, where he advises the company on health policy issues affecting businesses and government health agencies. Prior to Softheon, Josh worked for a non-profit agency assisting Medicare beneficiaries, a technology company, and consulting firms.