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server-client model is that it saves you thousands in software costs. Quite simply,
you can shift IT costs from a capital expense to an operational expense.
Advanced computing solutions are available on a subscription or per-patient
basis with little upfront capital investment. Today, the declining cost of comput-
ing and the availability of cloud-based storage and software have meant a signifi-
cant reduction in costs, and a shift from large capital outlays at the beginning of
the contract to monthly service operating costs that you can better control and
plan for. Instead of investing a significant amount to purchase a system, then
paying for server maintenance, training, firewalls and backups, then performing
application updates and upgrades, cloud computing lets you offload most of
those overhead expenses to your vendor. Instead of financing a 6-figure pur-
chase, you're talking about maybe a $2,000 monthly fee. Plus, you won't need a
server (or a server closet!) to run everything.
3. Upgrades. Cloud computing ensures that you'll always have the latest
software upgrades. Your vendor is constantly making upgrades to the software, a
priceless bundled feature of cloud computing. It's like when Facebook upgrades:
There's not a big rollout — it just sort of shows up on your screen. Your vendors
should guarantee almost 100% uptime and be responsible for managing all the
patches, upgrades and backups. Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to worry
about switching to ICD-10 software before October's mandatory transition? With
EMR or billing software that's delivered over the cloud, you're not going to have
to install a new series of discs. Next time you log in, the updated software will be
there waiting for you. You're offloading all of the security and maintenance
issues to a third party when you use the cloud.
When it comes to upgrades, you're never out of the upgrade cycle; you're only
on the easier end of one for a while. The cloud lets you pay your monthly access
and storage fees to your providers, and change plans as soon as you need more
or less. Upgrades are pushed automatically, and built into monthly fees. You
"pay as you go" for what you use — and only that. Scaling your IT resources up
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