This article was originally written by Avanade alum Melanie Dowczek.

There is a distinct disconnect between the availability of innovations that can make healthcare organizations ‘future-ready’ and the adoption of those innovations. On the one hand, the promise of cloud-based, analytics-rich, AI-powered, seamlessly integrated enterprise applications loom large. There is plenty of discussion around implementing such technologies among healthcare executives. On the other hand, digital transformation progress too often proceeds no further than mere discussion. As a result, healthcare providers postpone their ability to deliver great customer and employee experiences and miss out on low-hanging efficiency improvements.

Research from MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR) shows future-ready healthcare organizations expect an increase to ROI by 15%. With waste in the US healthcare system estimated to be between $760 – $935 billion a year; a 15% ROI is a conservative aspiration. Still, opportunistic projects continuously push the strategic projects aside in too many healthcare systems. As a result, these organizations fail to garner the full potential of future-readiness. The activities expected to fully transform these organizations appear too daunting and disruptive to pursue any time soon. Avanade research shows 62% of healthcare organizations have real concerns that the pace of change puts their transformation at risk.

For those who have already adopted the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ecosystem, however, the opportunity to realize full potential is much closer than they may realize. We’ve demonstrated success helping D365 organizations identify and activate HIPAA-compliant tools that are already built into Dynamics 365 for Healthcare. And, we have industry experience that enables healthcare organizations to execute on their digital transformation strategies quickly.

Power Platform is a suite of ready-to-run tools that are a built-in part of the Dynamics 365 environment which enables faster time-to-implement for healthcare organization users. The ‘Power Platform’ is comprised of these Microsoft products: Power BI, PowerApps, Power Automate and Power Virtual Agents – which are linked inherently to each other and with Dynamics 365 core CRM and ERP functionality. The Power Platform is truly POWERFUL as it can instantly break down the data silo barriers that prevent health organizations from moving forward at the pace they would like. However, with great power, comes great responsibility. We help healthcare organizations assure that the right security, governance and best practices relating to patient and member data is put in place. Our Centers of Excellence (COE) are a best of breed foundation for taking advantage of the full capabilities of the Power Platform. We can help stand up the COE inside a health organization or we can run them entirely.

We often witness the anxiety and hesitance our healthcare customers have around starting a long, complex and scary transformation process. It doesn’t have to take years to realize the benefits of transformation. Our agile and hybrid-agile implementation methodologies allow you to show results quickly to help drive the results, excitement and support throughout the organization that is needed for true transformation.

The reality is that technology – and hard financial costs –are only a piece of the picture. Any health organization wanting to accelerate their transformation journey needs a partner that understands the full cost of implementation and adoption. To manage the full cost and benefit of pursuing digital transformation in healthcare requires external partnership with experts who bring industry depth, organizational change management skill, a track-record of empowering the most innovative organizations in the world, and a personal commitment to helping make the health industry a better place for all patients, members and caregivers. That is Avanade.

Are you interested in becoming Future Ready. Now? Here are three smart next steps:

1. Find out why healthcare’s digital transformation isn’t optimal.
2. Contact me for a Future Ready Acceleration assessment.
3. Going to HIMSS? Visit Avanade at #MS booth and #Accenture booth to see our demos of solutions that are helping health organizations accelerate their transformation.
   
   

Read more about the HIMSS event here: www.avanade.com/en/events/himss