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James Williams
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Access to Data will Save NHS Money and Improve Care
Allowing NHS patients to view health records online will save GPs money as well as improve the level of care, a pioneer in the health records access movement claims.
Greater Manchester GP, Dr Amir Hannan, explained to the Pulse newspaper how his practice has saved money and resources by providing access to data online.
Hannan said: “The vast majority of our patients were – and still are – unaware that they have the right to access their medical records. They have not been aware of what the benefits might be should they access their records and some feared the notes would be difficult to understand even if they could access them.”
A study of the programme to be published shortly shows that for every patient with access to their own information and online support, the practice saves one appointment and three telephone consultations a year.
According to Hannan, providing patients with access to their records could make savings of almost £20 per patient per year in saved appointments.
Major data changes are expected to take place in the healthcare sector, after reports of data breaches surfaced.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued its first fine to a public sector healthcare organisation and warned that more penalties are in the pipeline.
TweetCloud Computing to Transform Charity IT
Cloud computing will help charity organisations evolve their IT infrastructures according to a recent Guardian blog post.
Dan Sutherland, chief executive of Carrenza, told the Guardian that charity websites experience unique IT challenges, including large spikes in traffic during campaigns and events. He said creating an IT system capable of coping with mass volumes of traffic in a short space of at time and at a reasonable cost is an issue all charities have to deal with.
However, Sutherland says that cloud computer could be the answer, because of its ability to quickly and efficiently scale capacity to meet an organisation’s needs.
He explained: “Rather than having a room full of servers that go unused for over 300 days of the year, cloud computing offers the opportunity to scale-up capacity when you need it.
“We’ve been working with Comic Relief, for Red Nose Day and Sport Relief since 2008 and have created one of the first cloud-based charity donation platforms.
“This approach means that Sport Relief doesn’t have to run physical infrastructure all year round, but can scale up by a factor of around 400 times in the peak period.”
The ability to scale down allows cloud solutions to use less energy when an organisation’s capacity demand decreases. He added that this kind of system also has huge benefits to the environment because masses of servers are not needlessly eating up energy.
Mr Sutherland said that it is still early days for cloud computing, but the future will undoubtedly see more businesses in the commercial, public and charity sectors embracing its benefits.
Recent research from GBI research predicts that cloud computing in the healthcare sector will also grow significantly in the next few years.
TweetMarathon Runner’s Details Leaked Online
The personal data of 38,000 people who took part in the London Marathon were accidentally published on the event’s public website.
The BBC reported how home and email addresses of the Marathon entrants were accessible to anybody logging onto the website on Monday. This was said to include personal details number of high-profile celebrities and politicians that had taken part in the race, including Gordon Ramsay and Labour party politician Ed Balls.
The huge mistake did not come to light until a member of the public contacted a television presenter whose home address had been made available.
A spokesperson for The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) said: “We’re aware of a possible data breach involving the website of the organisers of the London Marathon. We will be investigating this, before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken.”
The Data Protection Act states that appropriate measures must be taken against accidental loss of personal data.
Under the act any breaches could be considered either a civil or criminal offence depending on the circumstances, the Information Commissioner’s spokesman said.
Government to Invest £40M in Cloud Computing SMEs
The government has launched a new Enterprise Capital Fund that will provide at least £40 million in funding to high-growth small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly software and cloud computing companies.
The new fund, Notion Capital, will use a mix of government and private funding to target high-growth SMEs with investments of up to £2 million each.
The fund’s UK activity will fall under the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Enterprise Capital Funds programme, which aims to address market weaknesses in the availability equity finance to SMEs by combining government funding and private sector investment. The fund will be the largest Enterprise Capital Fund to date.
Business and enterprise minister Mark Prisk commented that the initiative would provide organisations with funding when it came to becoming larger as well as making more career development opportunities, which would have a positive impact on the economy.
Prisk said: “It is absolutely vital that ambitious small firms can access the finance they need to expand and grow, and this new Enterprise Capital Fund will provide at least £40m of funding to viable UK high-tech businesses.”
“Notion Capital [will] help a significant number of firms to grow and create jobs, boosting our economy.”
Cloud computing represents a generational change for computing and communications impacting both the business and consumer markets. According to research from IBM the use of cloud technology will double in the next three years.
TweetMultichannel is Crucial for Retailers to Survive
Retailers must understand the importance of a multichannel offering that integrates both online sales and bricks-and-mortar stores, according to one industry expert.
In a guest blog on Internet Retailing, PayPoint managing director Michael Norton, states that the popularity of ecommerce does not have to signal an end of the high street. According to Norton, the traditional model whereby online shopping and bricks-and-mortar stores were seen as competitors is no longer valid. Retailers will need to learn to integrate the two in order to survive the current retail environment.
“The perception is often that consumers are turning their backs on the high street when in fact the modern consumer wants to shop in a variety of different ways, without giving up on any one method,” said Norton.
This is confirmed by a recent survey from Postcode Anywhere that found that more than half of online shoppers want to see options to collect in-store.
Norton highlights a number of recent developments which make it important for retailers to reassess their online strategies, including the increasing market domination of smartphones.
“The advent of smartphones has helped to contribute to the notion that shopping should now be about convenience and easy accessibility, as consumers can shop on the move and browse products at their own leisure.”
Norton states that both mobile and social media commerce are providing retailers with new avenues to convert sales.
He concludes that traditional stores can make use of ecommerce and improve their services by adapting the multichannel demands of the modern consumer.
“Savvy retailers are embracing the ecommerce revolution by expanding and strengthening their traditional offering into a multichannel approach.”
TweetCloud Usage to Surge within Small Businesses
Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) will be among the most eager adopters of cloud technology over the next three years, according to a new survey.
The survey from Microsoft canvassed over 3,000 SMBs in 13 countries and found 30% are already using paid cloud services. So many more SMBs are adopting cloud technology that paid cloud services are expected to double in five years, while the number of the world’s smallest companies using at least one paid cloud service will triple in the next three years. Only 22% have no plans to use cloud services.
“Cloud computing is a game-changer because it gives SMBs access to enterprise-class IT infrastructure,” said Gabriele Di Piazza, senior marketing director for Microsoft’s operator channels group.
Cloud computing presents an economic advantage to small and midsize businesses by providing cheaper operations and increased access to information from virtually any device. The survey found that 54% are counting on the cloud to save them money while 47% anticipate becoming more productive. Other expected benefits include flexibility (40%), being more innovative (33%) and being more responsive (27%). Industry experts have also said that cloud computing can help SMBs become more efficient in their use of IT.
Microsoft’s vice president of operator channels Macro Limena said: “The cloud levels the playing field for SMBs, helping them compete in today’s quickly changing business environment, by spending less time and money on IT and more time focused on their most important priority – growing their businesses.”
SMBs worldwide are embracing cloud services to reap those benefits and stay ahead of competitors. 50% of SMBs say cloud computing is going to become more important for their operations, and 58% believe working in the cloud can make companies more competitive.
TweetCost Savings Not the Overriding Driver of Cloud Adoption
While saving money is a commonly cited reason for adopting cloud technology, it’s not the overriding driver for most companies, according to new research.
Indeed while IT cost reduction is an important factor for companies globally, the need to streamline and speed up business processes were greater. These were the results of a survey involving senior managers and corporate IT executives from over 600 large companies conducted by Tata Consultancy Services.
Among US respondents, 19% of their total applications run in the cloud compared to 12% in Europe. But both regions lag behind Latin America and Asia-Pacific, which run 39% and 28%, respectively.
“IT cost reduction is an important factor, but not the most important,” the company said in the survey results. “Rather, standardising software applications and business processes across a company (in the US and Asia-Pacific) and ramping systems up or down faster (in Europe and Latin America) are the most highly rated drivers for shifting on-premises applications to the cloud. And the factors driving companies to launch entirely new applications in the cloud are quite different – to institute new business processes and launch new technology-dependent products and services.”
The study did find that companies in all regions expect their cloud usage to grow dramatically by 2014. This follows from a new survey by IBM that found the number of enterprises using cloud computing will double in the next three years.
In addition to the added flexibility and scalability offered through cloud computing, the ability to improve regulatory compliance, participate in green IT, and improved systems integration are all factors that benefit users of the technology.
TweetOnline Shoppers Spend £3,370 a Year
On average UK internet shoppers spent an average of £3,370 last year, according to the results of the 2012 WorldPay eCommerce Basket Survey.
The survey, which polled 2,000 online shoppers in the UK, found 40% had shopped online at least four times a month, with 10% saying that in an average month they purchased products online 10 or more times. Nearly 60% of consumers shop online up to three times a month.
Close to two-thirds of the people surveyed said they had bought books online, while 15% said they’d paid for online video rentals and downloads.
Men were found to be the more prolific shoppers, spending on average £3,495 a year, compared to the average of £3,210 spent by women. The survey reported that men spent £145 a year more on electronics, £150 more on lifestyle and entertainment and £235 more on travel. Women spent £315 on fashion and clothing compared to £188 for men.
Gabriel Hopkins, head of ecommerce products at WorldPay said: “Every day we hear reports that consumer spending is under pressure, but ecommerce continues to grow at a healthy rate. Men are renowned for avoiding shops, but they’re enthusiastic e-shoppers.”
“Men typically spend the most online except in the areas of fashion and clothing where women are power shoppers, spending almost twice as much,” she added.
“With more people than ever buying physical and virtual goods online, it’ll be intriguing to see whether this cultural shift has an impact on the ONS basket contents and value.”
TweetCloud Computing Use Will Double by 2012
A new study from IBM indicates that the number of enterprises using cloud computing will double in the next three years.
At its IBM Pulse 2012 conference, IBM released the findings of its study, which indicated that businesses that embrace the cloud will have a significant advantage in the race to introduce new products and services and capture new markets and revenue streams.
While 16% of the executives surveyed indicate they are already using cloud capabilities for sweeping innovation, such as entering new lines of business or reshaping an existing industry, by 2015 35% intend to use it to transform their business models.
According to the study, as businesses strive to better meet customers’ needs and drive future growth, they will increasingly adopt cloud computing to develop new business models that can exploit the capabilities resulting from these digital trends.
Almost two-thirds (62%) of the respondents cited the ability to increase collaboration with external partners as driving force behind their cloud focus. While 57% said scalability and 57% cited competitive cost advantages were motivating them to implement the technology.
“Companies are starting to understand – cloud isn’t just about gaining efficiencies and cost savings; it’s about driving the kind of fundamental innovation that provides lasting marketplace advantage,” said Saul Berman, IBM global strategy consulting leader and co-author of the study.
TweetSecure, Self-Healing Cloud to Improve Security
The MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has announced they’ll be working on a developing a system that would “help the cloud identify and recover from an attack almost instantaneously” with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Professor Martin Rinard, a principal investigator at CSAIL, compared a self-healing cloud network to the human body, which senses when it’s being attacked by a virus and begins self-repair almost immediately. Rinard also is leading the work to create a network that will work this way, which at MIT is called the Cloud Intrusion Detection and Repair project.
“Much like the human body has a monitoring system that can detect when everything is running normally, our hypothesis is that a successful attack appears as an anomaly in the normal operating activity of the system,” said Rinard.
According to Rinard, the majority of problems stem from people’s lack of knowledge on how cloud computing infrastructures operate. He’s now working to determine systemic effects of different behavior on cloud computing systems for ideas on how to prevent future attacks.
“By observing the execution of a ‘normal’ cloud system we’re going to the heart of what we want to preserve about the system, which should hopefully keep the cloud safe from attack.”
Despite security issues being one of the biggest deterrents of cloud adoption, John Dunn, security editor of Techworld, believes the technology could actually work as an additional security measure helping to protect a computer if used correctly.
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