ShoreTel, a provider of simple IP phone systems with fully integrated Unified Communications, or “UC,” is
becoming the choice of healthcare organizations seeking the right solution to combat a variety of communication ills that plague medical staff, administrators and IT managers.
Healthcare organizations have been in plans to expand and upgrade their communication systems to ensure more efficient operation, better collaboration among cross-discipline teams, and faster responses to medical situations.
The ShoreTel system is designed and built for the IP age, which is easy to deploy, use and administer. It delivers an N+1 distributed architecture that provides reliable connectivity across multiple facilities and associated practices. With support for open standards, ShoreTel makes it easy to integrate existing PBX systems, the variety of devices used in and around hospitals, and various healthcare applications.
According to Kevin Gavin, vice president of marketing for ShoreTel, healthcare institutions have several competing needs.
“They must deploy the latest communications technology in order to improve services, but they often don't have large budgets or large IT staffs, and most doctors and nurses don't have the time to learn new and complex systems,” Gavin said. “ShoreTel's ease of deployment and use, along with its ability to easily integrate with existing PBX systems, devices and software solutions, lets organizations add the capabilities they need without busting their budgets or overburdening their medical staff.”
ShoreTel can allow healthcare institutions to leverage their existing IT staff to create a seamless, centrally managed communications system.
According to Robert Acosta, director of technology services and security, Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, with pressure to provide top-notch patient care while controlling costs, the hospital needed to boost the availability, mobility and capabilities of its communications infrastructure.
“We did not want our doctors and staff to be hindered by technology, especially in light of new facilities opening to the public,” Acosta said. “ShoreTel offered us an easy-to-use IP business communications that give our medical personnel the freedom to focus on their patients and our IT staff can provide improved service quickly and cost-effectively.”
To help reduce phone system management costs and simplify management, Urban Health Plan, Bronx, New York chose ShoreTel with its easy-to-use enterprise-wide management system that works with the organizations variety of switches.
Daniel Figueras, chief technology officer, Urban Health Plan, said that, not only has ShoreTel made the company’s communications more efficient by integrating email, but system management has been greatly simplified.
“Adding a new site recently was extremely easy and moves, adds and changes are now performed by our own IT staff, not telecom specialists. As we plan to add more sites in 2010 and upgrade to a new video telemedicine system, ShoreTel gives us a reliable and cost-effective platform for growth,” Figueras added.
