Update

Cloud computing is unproven technology in Indian healthcare

Contrary to popular belief that weak economic conditions would drive cloud adoption, Brian Cohen, Chief Technology Officer, iSOFT said that Indian healthcare is yet to bite into cloud computing as it lags behind in basic IT adoption and investments. He talked about this trend with Rajendra Chaudhary

Even Best-in-Class companies have opted for a 'wait and watch' approach to cloud computing. Is our healthcare industry game for it?

The global healthcare market has been slow to adopt technologies. In India, technology adoption in many sectors is more mature, but healthcare lags behind. But there are a few exceptions such as telemedicine.

The concept of cloud computing is yet to prove its worth in healthcare, with just a few early adopters of this technology. We are looking at building one or two reference sites to prove the benefits of cloud computing before launching our service in India. But the issues are more around the uncertainty about whether hospitals and clinics will trust their data to be stored offsite than with the technology itself.

In India, some major players in the field are looking to build their own networks. Theoretically, the definition of the cloud is to cover availability anywhere within a particular organization’s network. Initially, private cloud is more likely to be adopted compared with public cloud where the hospital has to share the data externally. The concept needs to be developed further in countries outside the US.

One catch word vendors are using to market cloud computing is saving costs in the long term? Do you feel healthcare will bite this bait?

The main deterrents to healthcare IT adoption have been cost and a dearth of relevant applications and services. High upfront costs have been a major factor influencing technology adoption for hardware and software investments.

Traditionally, India has always been a cost-sensitive market, but this is gradually changing as people realize that they get what they pay for. Healthcare providers increasingly understand that it will not pay to cut costs for something as important as hospital IT systems and support that provide the backbone of an organization's network.

Just removing the initial upfront costs, the ongoing benefit of cloud computing is not having to maintain an IT department. Hence, reduction of initial cost and the ongoing maintenance costs are the two important factors that justify cloud computing.

Cloud computing also needs to address factors such as privacy and data protection, which are critically important in healthcare.

As a healthcare IT specialist, have you identified the key IT pain points of Indian healthcare service providers? What are their main requirements on the IT front?

The three key pain points of healthcare service providers are—high initial cost, having the human resources to maintain and service the systems in-house and accessibility of data 24/7.

All of the above points can be solved by a good cloud computing provider that can deliver reliable 24/7 data access at a reasonable cost.

In hospitals the main point today is maintaining the technology and keeping it up to date. Cloud computing solves both these pain points. It is the best solution for the Indian healthcare system because it reduces the upfront investment in software and hardware. The main benefit of cloud computing is reliability, round-the-clock data availability and disaster recovery.

Cloud computing is unproven in the healthcare field in India. It's understandable that conservative CIOs are reluctant to jump into something new, as is the case in any other sector. In an economic slump, CIOs expect something to be proven rather than something that is still relatively immature. It could take a few years before momentum picks up and the market accepts that cloud computing is fundamentally an easier way to get into hosting services.

— Rajendra Chaudhary