Greek philosopher Heraclitus, heralded for his doctrine citing change being central to the universe, famously observed, “Everything changes and nothing remains still and no man ever steps in the same river twice”. It’s taken about 2,500 years for the depth of Heraclitus’ insight to influence businesses.
To appreciate what this means in practical terms, I’d like to share the following business story featuring University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, located in Elyria, Ohio, and ranked as one of the top 100 hospitals in the U.S.
I sat down with University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center earlier this year to talk about what has influenced their storage and backup strategy. What I found out was that regulatory change and data growth was top of mind for this nationally recognized hospital and their IT team, as well as ensuring continuous access to critical medical information.
In order to deliver time-sensitive healthcare information, University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center can attest to the scalability and availability in their infrastructure that enables the completion of backups within the SLA window. And that’s not all – improved IT efficiency, disaster recovery, and the accomplishment of 100% business continuity are all check marks for this healthcare provider.
By focusing on its customers, this IT organization has been able to demonstrate measurable business value by delivering better patient care. One of my favorite moments from my conversation with John Schneider, Director of Information Systems at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, is captured in this quote:
“Using EMC products has allowed me to look like the hero for one big reason – availability. We put all of our mission critical data on our VMAX, and we back that data up with our Avamar and Data Domain products, and it must be available 100% of the time. The patients don’t stop; the hospital never shuts down, so I need hardware that is there for us all the time.”
As digital dependency continues to disrupt traditional business models, it seems that only the most fluid, intuitive, and adaptive companies will thrive.
Watch the full University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center transformation here.