An increasing number of security, privacy, and industry regulations and standards have presented challenges for IT departments within the healthcare sector. As existing infrastructure and operations struggle to keep up with demands, the healthcare sector has been turning to cloud computing solutions to relieve some or all of the burden.
New research compiled in a report by MarketsandMarkets backs up the trend, with the forecast that the North American healthcare cloud computing market is set to soar to nearly $6.5 billion by 2018. That number is up from $1.75 billion in 2013, representing a healthy 29.8 percent CAGR over that time period.
The new report looks at a variety of market drivers, threats, opportunities and challenges for the U.S. and Canada healthcare cloud computing market. The company also researched private, public and hybrid clouds and divided the overall services market by SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS.
According to their reserach of industry reports, increased adoption of IT along with the legislative reforms brought about by the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act have been important market drivers. Other factors pushing growth include the dynamic nature and availability of a wide variety of health benefit plans, new payment models, improvements in storage technologies and the cloud’s ability to scale data cost effectively and flexibly.
Research also shows that hospitals, health clinics and doctors’ offices require quick access to computing and large data storage facilities, which are typically not feasible within traditional setups. Data also needs to be shared among various locations and geographies quickly and securely. Cloud computing and managed services can cater to these needs while enabling cost savings and operational efficiencies.
MSP and cloud provider InterCloud Systems Inc. recently signed a two-year deal to provide consulting, network design and implementation services to Brooklyn Hospital Center. The partnership is an example of a major cloud computing deal in the healthcare sector, with InterCloud also managing network elements and resources for the medical facility.
InterCloud also plans to migrate the hospital from its older legacy equipment to a cloud-based architecture with integrated VoIP and unified communications. This type of migration is indicative of a larger trend within the healthcare sector that is ultimately fueling the phenomenal uptake of cloud computing technologies and services.
Edited by
Cassandra Tucker
