A while back, we had an annoying problem at our house. No, it wasn't me, it was worse; sticky doors. Some doors wouldn't close all the way, while others wouldn't open once they were closed. They were stuck. Some time later, the problem would reverse; the stuck doors wouldn't close at all, and the doors that wouldn't close before were now stuck. The situation was very irritating. Even more irritating was knowing that the problem was due to foundation problems. And that meant it wouldn't be cheap to fix. We eventually ended up solving the the problem by not solving it; we moved.

Information Technology foundation problems aren't any easier (or cheaper) to fix than my home foundation issues were. And the solutions aren't so simple as just moving. In addition, the day-to-day consequences are more than irritating, they are expensive.

How do IT foundation problems manifest themselves? Usually through a steady stream of seemingly unsolvable network issues or computers problems; you can't print to the network printer, there's no Internet access (OMG! Like, no Facebook!), the server is unreachable, no email and so on. The problems just seem to appear one day, hang around for a while and the go away, only to be replaced by more irritating and time consuming issues. It's painful and it never seems to stop. We call this the "Digital Whack-A-Mole" syndrome, named after the arcade game where you whack a mechanical, mole on the head when he pops out of a hole, only to see another one pop up to replace the one you just nailed. The whole thing is fun (kind of) in the arcade. It's not fun (even remotely) in your office.

What do you do? Well, you fix the foundation, and that's not easy, cheap or for the faint of heart. Why? Because it's the foundation! Everything else sits on top of the foundation and nothing reacts kindly to anything messing around with it. The result of this situation is that IT foundation problems never seem to be solved. The process is too painful, too expensive or beyond the capabilities of those tasked to complete the job. So, office personnel work, day in and day out, with their IT doors sticking, losing time, efficiency, productivity and profitability in the process.

Hey! Let's pile an Electronic Health System (EHR) on top of that! Guess what happens then? You got it. The whole thing comes crashing down and the EHR deployment is declared a failure.

My suggestion? Before you consider an EHR deployment, talk to The ITeam. We know foundations. Every ITeam client reaps the benefits of a solid IT foundation every day; stability, productivity, efficiency, and freedom from frustration. It all adds up to a more profitable business, and that's the bottom line for us. A problem-free, profitable client. You can be one too. Call us today! - Mike