Offsite Solutions for Cloud Backup
A surprising number of hospitals rely on aged systems for backing up their data. In fact, some still use CD towers and manual backup techniques, which is not only slow, but also inefficient and prone to errors. Fortunately, the cloud backup system is finding its way into the daily backup processes, offering speed, efficiency and reliability not found with in-house processes.
It’s not only inefficient to use CDs for backing up data, it’s becoming nearly impossible considering how fast data volume is growing, which in some cases is at a rate of 50 percent more per year. Moving to a centralized backup system, such as a network-attached storage system, can reduce processing time by 50 percent as well as reducing errors.
The healthcare industry is a competitive industry and that has only increased in recent years. Looking for ways to be more competitive often results in hospital groups narrowing in on more efficient ways of completing day-to-day processes in an effort to improve patient care and satisfaction. While the data backup issue might seem unrelated to customer service, it’s quite apparent how negative the impact can be on patients when they have to schedule another medical imaging exam because their first one was lost or corrupted due to the way the image was stored. Cloud backup processes can also assist in this area.
Some hospitals still use standalone backup tapes that must be moved from server to server by technicians. This can take up to 60 hours a week, depending on the amount of data that is being moved. If the technician doesn’t change a tape reel fast enough, the entire backup job can be a complete failure. When using a cloud backup solution, there are no tapes to worry about, and often times, the cloud vendor manages all the backups, which means the hospital doesn’t have to pay technicians for those 60 hours of work every week.
Aside from a faster, more efficient backup procedure that is found with cloud processes, there is also the fact that cloud-based storage is often duplicated more than once, and at geographically unique data centers. This means that if a natural manmade disaster occurs at one, the data is still available at the others. This is the kind of business continuity process that simply can’t be attained with in-house, stand-alone systems.
The best cloud backup vendors give their clients the ability to archive, access and share data 24/7/365. Using vendor neutral archiving technology, the data is no longer held hostage by proprietary processes, which is a problem many healthcare providers have to deal with on a daily basis with their outdated PACS.
OffSite Image Management, Inc. is a company that prides itself as a leader in cloud backup solutions. We offer a 360-degree diagnostic image solution for providers large and small. Use one team with one name for a scalable, vendor neutral and effective solution that only we can provide with guaranteed savings.