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and the fingertips of permissioned users. There's a real risk in having anything
from a server in a closet to a dedicated IT room if you're not capable of securing
it.
5. True portability. The cloud turns computing power into a utility. Your
key people bring mobile devices to work every day — and take them home, too.
By giving your surgeons and staff access to their work files outside of the office,
you give them the tools of a work computer anywhere they go. Surgeons can
handle office tasks on their own schedule, and in their own setting.
Administrators can access critical documents from a phone or a home laptop as
easily as they would on their desktop.
The access you pay for is everywhere: If you have a web or wireless connec-
tion, you can access your files. Workarounds like e-mailing yourself the work
files you need or loading them onto USB flash drives can introduce security
risks.
Tedious, in-house FTP setups or VPN'ing into the network can be com-
plex and costly solutions. And how can you be sure you remembered to
send the latest version? If your work data is hosted in the cloud, updates to
files are pushed to everyone immediately, too, so you know your team
always has the latest. With mobile applications and network access,
employees not only can work from home, they can work from anywhere
they have a mobile device and service.
OSM
Mr. Whaley (
a b e@ma na g emypra ctice.com
) is the chief of operations at Manage My
Practice, a full-service medical practice management consulting firm based in Durham,
N.C.
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