Securing Mobile Healthcare Applications in a World of BYOD
April Sage, Director, Healthcare Vertical, Online Tech

Mobile device and application use in the healthcare industry is becoming ubiquitous, with 80 percent of physicians using mobile technology to deliver patient care, and over 90 percent using mobile devices in everyday operations (HIMSS Mobile Technology Survey, 2012). The mobile trend isn't slowing down, according to Gartner: Worldwide IT spending is anticipated to surpass $3.7 trillion in 2013, with major growth drivers being cloud computing, big data and mobile technologies. 

The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement coupled with mobile healthcare applications brings numerous benefits to the table, including ease of use and ability for real-time collaboration between employees. It also allows for improved and remote access to patient information, meaning increased productivity and better patient care.  

What I Learned at the 2013 Georgia Technology Summit

Like its predecessors, the theme of the 2013 Georgia Technology Summit (GTS) included “Innovation.”  This year’s event did a particularly good job of showcasing innovation: Speaker Bob Metcalfe stuck to the theme and in the process provided insights.  Ray Kurzweil showed how the Law of Accelerating Returns will lead to innovation that will transform our lives.  We were inspired by the accomplishments of Georgia Technology Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Arnold, who epitomizes the innovative spirit of our State. And the Top 10 presentations and Top 40 companies revealed how truly innovative our State’s technology companies are.  In fact, I thought that the Top 10 was as good a group of innovative companies as we have ever showcased at the GTS.  In case you missed it, the Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies were Airwatch, Bright Light Systems, Buzzy4Shots, Catavolt, Egos Ventures, Merlin Mobility, Nanolumens, Nextinput, PGI and SoloHealth.  The winners emerged form a wide variety of technology clusters, both within and outside of the Where Georgia Leads clusters.

In Our Rearview Mirror: 2013 Cyber Attack & Business Continuity Simulation

The execution of the world’s first open table top business continuity simulation is now in our rearview mirror. We are watching it shrink with each passing day to a smaller size that we can finally wrap our heads around. My own effort is to learn what was learned about getting a global news network back “on the air” and also to capture what we have learned about the sharing of expertise and knowledge that is fundamental to all business sectors.

Is the fact that the fictional GNN was brought back on-the-air in just over one hour a tribute to the experience, knowledge and common sense of the combined on-stage role players? Yes, even though they would still be working in real life to truly clean up the mess and return 100% to their pre-attack condition it is a tribute to them, but were the real goals of the exercise met or exceeded? Did everyone learn? Did everyone come away from the experience having grown in their own expertise and are the organizations of the onstage role players and the observers in the audience less susceptible to threats as a result? Is there a single word, I have asked myself, which can be used to summarize all that I have heard, all of the feedback on WOW! cards that I have read and analyzed and all of the emails that have passed across my screen?

What the 2013 Top 40 Selections tell Us About the State of the Industry

Last week, the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) announced the 2013 Top 40 Innovative Technology Companies. (I am the founder and chair of the Committee that determines the winners.) TAG presents these awards to Georgia-based technology companies based on their degree of innovation, the scope and financial impact of their innovations and effect of such innovation in promoting Georgia’s technology industry throughout the U.S. and globally. I thought it would be interesting to group the Top 40 companies to see how many of them fall within the Where Georgia Leads clusters, and how many fall outside of the clusters.  (Where Georgia Leads is TAG’s campaign to raise the profile of the Georgia technology community, initially by highlighting five sectors where Georgia has national rankings, by employment.)  A little more than half of the Top 40 companies fall within the Where Georgia Leads clusters: Information Security (2), FinTech (4), Healthcare IT (5), Communications Services (including Mobility) (9) and Logistics (2). One reason why a majority of the winners falls within these categories is that the definitions are already fairly expansive, and I further expanded the categories in some cases, such as by including mobility in Communications. The companies and my categorizations are set forth below.

Are We Just Spirits in the Material World?

The upcoming Georgia Technology Summit will include TAG’s State of Industry report, which will feature Where Georgia Leads, “a campaign to raise the profile for the Georgia technology community both within our state and across the nation by telling the stories of our strong industries, incredible innovation and amazing entrepreneurs and employees.”  Where Georgia Leads focuses on the State’s nationally-ranked technology clusters: FinTech, Information Security, Healthcare IT, Communication Services and Logistics. 

It seems that our State’s companies aren’t as well known for manufacturing as they are for providing software, services and Software as a Service.  Now consider the major trends in technology, of which I often wrote in my Saporta Report blog. Erik Peterson, Director, Global Business Policy Council at A.T. Kearney, identified four significant trends in technology:

▪     Big data and hyper-computing, focusing on Sequoia, the world’s fastest supercomputer.

▪     Biotech, including as the result of the completion of the Human Genome Project.

▪     Nanotechnology, including 3D printing.

▪     Robotics.

The First Top 40: Part II of the Untold Story of the First Georgia Technology Summit (2005)

As we complete the selection of the 2013 Top 40 and Top 10 most innovative Georgia technology companies for the upcoming Georgia Technology Summit, I am impressed once again by the breadth and depth of our State’s technology sector.  Yet, although the names of the winners change and their technology clusters evolve, I am struck by how little has changed from the inaugural competition in 2005. In each case, a Committee of esteemed judges reviewed a number of high-quality applications from Georgia-based technology companies.  (The early committee members are listed below.)  The 40 companies were selected based on their technology innovations and the likelihood of having a significant impact on the State’s economy and its national and international reputation. The first Top 40 participated in a trade show in the lobby of the Cobb Galleria, and the initial Top 10 made three-minute presentations to the audience, which in turn voted on the Peoples Choice awards. The format of the competition has worked well and has stood the test of time.  Audience surveys for the 2005 Summit, and every subsequent year, rated the competition as being one of the highlights of the Summit.