Improving IT Cost, Efficiency, and Security
High-maintenance costs of redundant applications and underutilized core platforms are just some of the many reasons an organization will benefit from a comprehensive, enterprise-wide application inventory. Impact Advisors’ Application Rationalization framework strategically focuses on areas with the greatest opportunity and ultimately defines a single, consolidated set of approved enterprise-wide applications for each area (e.g., laboratory, radiology, hospital billing, etc.).
Key Business Drivers
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) – When organizations merge or acquire new entities, they often inherit overlapping and redundant applications. Rationalization helps streamline IT ecosystems, reduce inefficiencies, and integrate systems seamlessly.
- Cost Optimization – Maintaining a vast portfolio of applications is expensive due to licensing, maintenance, and support costs. Rationalization identifies underutilized, redundant, or outdated software, allowing organizations to cut costs and allocate resources efficiently.
- Enterprise Implementations (EHR, ERP) – System-wide deployment of Electronic Health Record (EHR), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions can trigger a review of the application inventory pre and post implementation. Operations and IT leaders want to realize the benefit of major technology investments by standardizing to modern, off-the-shelf solutions.
- Regulatory Changes and Security Events – The regulatory environment for healthcare providers is complex and ever changing. Updates can force organizations to review applications to ensure they meet standards (e.g., HIPAA, FDA, CMS). Unpatched legacy systems can be exploited to perpetrate ransomware and other cyber security related attacks. Organizations may seek to minimize their attack surface by reducing applications.
Common Barriers (and Why It's Important to Overcome Them)
Healthcare organizations cite many reasons why they have not yet rationalized their environments. Typical challenges include:
- Competing Priorities – Bandwidth of IT and operational resources is at capacity due to other projects, enhancements, maintenance, and regular support. Healthcare is a dynamic industry and there will always be something vying for the attention of finite resources. When organizations make investments in rationalization activities, the reduction in complexity can increase agility and better enable IT departments to respond to the changing needs of the business.
- IT Governance – Strong enterprise IT governance is necessary to make decisions regarding the future state and prioritization of rationalization opportunities. Ironically, the proliferation of redundant, underutilized, and non-standard systems is often a symptom of gaps in IT governance. Application rationalization can serve as the catalyst to design and implement the mechanisms necessary to ensure strategic alignment and efficient utilization of IT resources.
- Cost – The implementation of rationalization initiatives can incur one-time costs associated with implementation, optimization, expansion, conversion, and decommissioning. However, in most cases the upfront costs are significantly offset by the long-term savings realized by eliminating redundant systems. The sooner organizations start on their rationalization journey the sooner they can recognize the savings.
A Tailored Approach and Broad Healthcare Expertise
Impact Advisors has a robust, adaptable approach for application rationalization and has assisted many of the nation’s largest and most complex health systems in optimizing their portfolios, leading to significant returns on investment, along with many other key benefits. Impact Advisors leverages deep expertise across a multitude of domains including strategic planning, technology implementation, analytics, and operational optimization to rapidly assess the application environment, identify potential opportunities, and make recommendations.