By Common Angle
When it comes to hardware, it isn’t a matter of if your equipment will become outdated or fail, it’s a matter of when. We both already know that, but let’s be real with each other:
Are we keeping up with lifecycle management? Really keeping up the way we need to?
When it comes to budgeting for the new year, you have a lot of people to answer to. That can lead to corners being cut in some departments (cough, IT, cough) that may seem small now but can explode into a huge issue down the road.
Say housekeeping needs new equipment, but the budget as-is won’t allow for it. Something’s got to give. You might then say to yourself, well, yes, the two computers at that one nurse station are close to five years old and will need replacement, but surely that can wait another year. They might be a little slow, and the monitor on one of them may flicker, but what housekeeping needs is important. Those new computers will have to wait.
OK, fair. Life happens (no, I will not be quoting Forrest Gump in this article), and sometimes, there’s nothing else to be done. But consider with me, dear reader: what happens when a similar scenario happens next year? You might also now have four laptops that are ready for retirement, one of which won’t turn on at all and another that won’t hold a charge. That takes us to six total devices all needing replacement. The following year, it could be 20 tablets on top of those six.
But wait – those original two workstations can’t wait another year. We’ve let their shenanigans last so long that now they’re officially EOL (End of Life) and are no longer supported with security patches or updates. That is not my definition of “fun things to explain during a state survey.” And let’s not forget that the nurses are still loudly missing two usable laptops.
Somehow, in just the span of a few short years, we’ve run into an outdated IT department that’s now going to cost a nauseating amount of money to remedy.
Let’s face it together, reader: lifecycle management is a necessary evil. Sure, you could argue that skipping it for a year or even two won’t hurt in the short term, but what happens when you keep pushing it off and then you run into the situation above? What if you suddenly have to replace your entire fleet all at once?
Whether you’ve been keeping up like a champ and your entire facility is filled with ultramodern hardware, or you’ve been a little lax the past few years and are now in over your head, we’ve got your back now and in the future. If you don’t have a means of reviewing your hardware or aren’t confident that you have a comprehensive plan in place, give Common Angle a shout at 888-4-IT-HEROES or hello@commonangle.com. The complimentary assessment that we offer to all members of the MCMCFC includes an appraisal of the overall age and expected longevity of your current hardware.
Common Angle has been partnering with government medical care facilities for over a decade. Our passion for providing truly heroic IT support and services has afforded us our reputation of providing the most value to our relationships with all our government medical care facility partners.