New research highlights security as top concern for healthcare organisations when managing mobile devices

According to new global research conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by Jamf, the leader in Apple management, security is the number one concern when managing mobile devices for staff, but more than a quarter of healthcare IT decision makers (27%) do not feel their organisation’s current mobile device management (MDM) solution is up to scratch.

The lack of confidence does not bode well, as 40% of respondents say the primary reason to implement a mobile device strategy in the first place is to allow staff access to confidential medical patient records while on the move. The independent research is part of a new report, ‘A Pulse on Mobility in Healthcare,’ in which 550 global IT decision makers, within healthcare organisations of all sizes, were interviewed in the UK, France, Germany, US and Australia.

Dave Alampi, vice president, product management and marketing, Jamf, said:

Adoption of mobile devices like iPads by healthcare organisations is revolutionising how providers offer care and enhance patient experience. However, this research highlights the challenges surrounding the often fast paced implementation of mobile solutions – without the prioritisation of a more robust mobile device management strategy.

Implementing a mobile device strategy

As the NHS is challenged to go paperless by 2020, 83% of respondents’ organisations currently provide mobile devices, such as smartphone or tablets to caregiving staff, including doctors and nurses, and 32% hope to expand this to patients receiving outpatient care in the next two years. However, security (83%), data privacy (77%) and inappropriate employee use (49%) are the top three concerns raised when managing staff mobile devices.

Healthcare’s largest IT spend

Without the right investment in place, managing mobile devices could become problematic. According to respondents, 25% of global healthcare organisations are most likely to spend their IT budget on IT support.

Interestingly, a quarter (25%) of healthcare IT decision makers in the UK felt their organisation prioritised the purchasing of hardware over IT support, while 29% of respondents felt security absorbs the majority of IT budget allocation in German organisations.

Keeping pace with the changing regulatory landscape

The research also highlighted the challenges of keeping data private and secure. With IT support taking up the largest spend of their organisation’s IT budget, and organisations moving quickly to enable access to data on devices, only 54% feel very confident that they can make sufficient updates in order to quickly adapt to changing healthcare regulations.

The majority of healthcare organisations say they are most likely to be compliant with patient data regulations such as HIPAA (84%) and EU Data Protection Regulation (77%), however, respondents feel they are less likely to be able to update their systems fast enough to remain complaint, if any of the regulations require revision. This is particularly reflective in the UK, where almost half of respondents (46%) do not feel confident in their organisations’ ability to adapt to the changing regulatory landscape.

Struggling to unlock the benefits of a MDM solution

When it comes to managing devices and the consequential data deluge, the majority of organisations that have or are planning to implement a MDM solution do believe saving time (80%) and enhanced productivity (79%) are the most likely benefits to be realised. As a result, positive impacts, such as easier access to patient data (63%), faster patient turnaround (51%) and better security of medical records (48%) can be felt by the organisation. However, more than a quarter of those who have an existing strategy in place are not very confident in their current solution:

• France appeared to be the most likely to lack confidence in their current MDM solution (36%), with Australia (32%) and the UK (31%) sharing similar sentiment.
• However, Germany is the most confident in providing a strong MDM solution (85%).

Alampi continues:

With the right MDM solution in place, IT departments can look to provide staff with enough access to perform their roles and have the ability to make large or small scale deployments at the touch of a button. Additionally, IT staff could also use MDM to provide the roll-out of regulatory updates more strategically without eating into their IT budget. This way they can enjoy a multitude of benefits without risking a potential data breach resulting in a heavy fine or reputational damage.

Source: http://www.jamf.com