Vanderbilt Medical Center is working on an entire swath of technology upgrades in FY2011. One of the initiatives that has been implemented is the changeover from Exchange E-mail to Gmail as an organization. I understand, first hand, how switching over to Google can not only increase productivity, but it can also provide quicker access to needed documentation at a time of need. VUMC has successfully transitioned their .edu domain over to Google Apps. What this means is that every user@vanderbilt.edu has been transitioned to a Google Apps account, which includes Gmail, GTalk, Google Docs and much more.
Utilizing Google Docs will enable divisions to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more in real time and without over-creating multiple copies of documents. I believe that this will cut down on the disaster recovery costs, not to mention cutting the cost of needing multiple Exchange administrators and Exchange servers/licenses. It is a fact that this service will increase internal productivity and assist with internal communication. Google offers 99.99% up-time, which is more than any administrator can say about the reliability of an Exchange environment.
VUMC is expanding their technology in the areas of AppHosting, Business and Finance, End User Services, Network Services, Operator Services (used by medical staff), Communication, Security and Media departments. Each and every division of this organization is used to support the medical staff in their day-to-day operations. The expansion of server storage, internal software upgrades, Upgrades to Windows 7, and upgrades to the network (across the board: wired and wireless) will increase the reliability of Information Technology that is used in the day-to-day operations. Although the technology mentioned does not directly correlate with a medical advancement or a new tool that enhances medical treatment, the advancement of future products would not be possible without the foundational and essential needs in the IT world such as; networking, storage, OS, etc. I believe their stated “Vanderbilt Goals” says it all: “Quest for new knowledge through scholarship, dissemination of knowledge through teaching and outreach, and creative experimentation of ideas and concepts.” Through this desire and passion to seek the best knowledge possible, the Information Technology strategy defines how they plan on expanding their knowledge management system: (taken from their 2010 strategy plan)
ITS Strategies should
· Specify how infrastructure and IT will contribute to Vanderbilt success
· take advantage of market opportunities
· leverage our strengths
· be practical, and
· be focused on organization’s capacity to absorb change
