The following is a guest article by Steven Norris, Vice President of Technical Services at HCTec
Technology sprawl is an unfortunate reality in healthcare. IT leaders for large ambulatory groups, with seemingly ever-growing rosters of hardware and software tools to manage, are especially likely to feel the pain.
Unfortunately, unchecked technology sprawl impedes efficient care delivery. It contributes to IT complexity, as maintaining thousands of mission-critical apps and devices also means maintaining relationships with the vendors that make them. Sprawl also poses a security threat, as IT teams are forced to juggle patch schedules, maintain increasingly disparate endpoints, and manage intricate dependencies among identities.
Shifting to a standardized approach to hardware and software management/ownership can help ambulatory groups reduce complexity – and the cost that comes with it. Organizations can also expect to improve their security posture and boost efficiency for clinical and IT staff.
Making this happen is easier said than done, though. Ambulatory groups with limited experience with infrastructure standardization would be well served to work with a trusted managed service provider (MSP) to guide them through migration and IT management. The right MSP can standardize technology with minimal clinical downtime – implementing end-user devices, peripherals, and network infrastructure while establishing ongoing Technical Managed Services support and establishing ongoing Technical Managed Services support designed to improve response and resolution times.
However It Happens, IT Sprawl Hurts Ambulatory Groups
In the ambulatory market, multiple factors contribute to technology sprawl. Entities coming together in a merger or acquisition typically use different business or clinical applications, or give staff members different makes of laptops or mobile phones. Groups that lack a coordinated procurement strategy see individual locations or business units acquire technology independently. Finally, legacy applications or databases often remain in place, even as new technology is implemented, because groups need access to data and lack the resources to migrate it.
Whatever the causes, the technology sprawl that results is detrimental to ambulatory group operations for three important reasons.
- Cost. Higher costs can be obvious, such as additional spending on staff for tech support or increased resource consumption. But costs can also go unnoticed if key technology isn’t centrally managed. For example, different business units may hold separate licenses for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software or threat monitoring services.
- Inefficiency. Let’s take the ERP example further. When the finance department receives reports from disparate systems, accountants must enter data manually because systems don’t integrate. They also must undergo ERP training for each tool, which takes away from their day-to-day work. Meanwhile, sales and procurement teams have more contracts to manage. None of this makes work more efficient.
- Security. The more hardware and software that’s in place, the harder it is for security teams to track what’s due to be patched, what depends on third-party integrations, and what runs an operating system that’s no longer supported. Sprawl also affects security tools themselves, and point solutions can easily proliferate for threat monitoring, access management, reporting, auditing, and so on.
Left unchecked, these problems present a clear impediment to growth – and an obstacle to providing high-quality care to patients in need.
IT Standardization Can Change the Game
Transitioning an ambulatory group to a strategy of standardized hardware and software can eliminate technology sprawl and the challenges that come with it. While all organizations will achieve standardization differently, there are five general steps to putting the approach in place.
- Inventory hardware and software. List every software application and end-user device in use at every location within the organization. Note the cost of maintaining each item, namely support services and vendor contracts. Beyond creating a simple list, IT leaders should map out how items integrate with each other; that will illustrate the complexity of the relationships among existing hardware and software.
- Identify areas of redundancy. When multiple apps or devices are being used for the same purpose, determine which is best of breed. While considerations often include ease of use, cost to maintain, or length of vendor contract, ease of integration with other systems (especially the EHR) should be a top priority.
- Select a core underlying technology platform. This decision will be heavily influenced by the organization’s picks for best-of-breed hardware and software. With a single platform in place, previous disparate business units and practice locations will have guardrails to implement technology that meets their needs and supports the organization’s broader standardization strategy.
- Update governance policies. New guidance for IT procurement and adoption use should spell out who has decision rights about which technology to use where, along with who gets to provide input on the decision. Strong governance policies coupled with technology platform implementation go a long way toward preventing IT sprawl from happening again.
- Augment IT lifecycle management. Creating a formal process for monitoring when IT infrastructure is nearing the end of its life will enable a more strategic approach to procurement. Organizations can transition from small, stopgap purchases to large-scale investments from a single partner, which will reduce both the per-unit cost and time to implement.
Infrastructure standardization requires significant time, specialized expertise, and coordination across clinical, operational, security, and IT stakeholders. Even organizations that recognize the impact of technology sprawl may lack the internal capacity to address it while supporting day-to-day operations.
MSPs: Valuable Partners for the IT Standardizations Journey
This is where managed service partners enter the picture. MSPs offer a range of technical managed services that can guide ambulatory groups through key processes such as identifying redundant systems, consolidating best-of-breed systems, updating governance and procurement policies, and onboarding all impacted clinics within the group.
Leading MSPs such as HCTec don’t walk away once standardized technology is in place, though. They also provide ongoing remote and onsite support. This minimizes downtime in the days following a standardization initiative and improves incident response time in the long run, helping to ensure the benefits of new technology aren’t bogged down by Help Desk bottlenecks.
Recently, HCTec helped an ambulatory managed service organization that expanded its footprint across multiple states by acquiring 60 clinics. Post-divestiture, the transitions services agreement with the prior clinic help desk was only active for 90 days – and the provider was unable to scale to support their expanded scope of operations.
HCTec led site-level discovery, equipment staging, and a phased implementation that included standardization of networks, end-user devices, printers and telephone systems. In addition, HCTec continued to provide support, and tickets that once sat unresolved for months were now closed within a day. The organization also reported improvements in internet speed, equipment performance, and clinical satisfaction thanks to its partnership with HCTec.
IT sprawl can prevent growing ambulatory organizations from controlling costs, scaling effectively, and delivering the reliable technology experience clinicians need. An experienced healthcare MSP such as HCTec can help establish a standardized infrastructure strategy that reduces complexity, strengthens security, improves support, and minimizes downtime, allowing clinical teams to remain focused on patient care.
About Steven Norris
Steven Norris serves as Vice President of Technical Services at HCTec, where he leads the strategy, operations, and delivery of technical services for healthcare and enterprise clients. With more than 25 years of IT experience—including over 15 years in managed services—he brings deep expertise in aligning technology operations with business objectives, particularly in healthcare.
Steven specializes in designing and implementing secure, scalable IT infrastructures, with a strong background in disaster recovery, solution architecture, and managed services leadership. At HCTec, he oversees Technical Services operations with a focus on service excellence, customer experience, and operational efficiency, including leading initiatives such as HITRUST certification.
Known for his strategic and operational leadership, Steven builds high-performing teams and drives measurable outcomes. Prior to joining HCTec in 2021, he served as Executive Vice President of Technical Services and Partner at Talon Healthy IT Services, leading call center and managed IT service teams.
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