Impero Connect
Case Study: University Clinic of Aachen
The University Hospital Aachen (UKA), the largest single-building hospital in Europe, uses Impero Connect for quick, reliable and centralized remote support.
The Challenges That Faced UKA
“Structural changes to the healthcare field necessitated a new operation concept for standardized treatment processes, cost assignment, and capacity adjustments between stationary and ambulant care,” explained Volker Lowitsch, IT Director. “The IT needed to be changed accordingly.”
To bring a modern operations style to a hospital of this size, a team of 30 employees provided support for the necessary high-end back systems and 3,000 PC workstations. Remote maintenance systems had been a part of that landscape in the past, but typically as isolated solutions for individual applications or operating systems. This in turn caused problems related to solution availability and handling. To resolve this issue, IT management opted for a comprehensive system and centralized remote maintenance.
Choosing and Implementing the Best Solution
“Following an evaluation phase of multiple remote maintenance solutions, we determined that only one of the standard products fulfilled our specifications. Impero was the only solution providing us with a revision proof recording of each session through its MovieServer,” Lowitsch said.
Beyond the high requirements for availability, the security specifications for the overall system were enormous. A Impero Connect Guest was installed on an application server to serve as a single portal for remote maintenance – simplifying the process for in-house Help Desk employees as well as all external service providers. Impero also satisfied the requirement of audit-ready documentation for all remote events. A movie server developed by Impero’s partner Xnet combined with a Impero Security Server handled logging and administration of all remote maintenance activities.
UKA migrated approximately 3,000 PC workstations and 200 servers to the new system with a goal of 80 percent of installed workstations. Five support groups tend to hospital staff and external users, while 13 UKA employees are responsible for first-level support. Beyond external service providers undertaking maintenance of their applications and systems, access is also granted for manufacturers of medical devices such as Siemens, Dräger, Philips, and Radiometer.
The Benefits of Choosing Impero
Thanks to Impero, the response time for support queries has been significantly reduced; today, requests are typically resolved in half the time as before.
The improved technology also provides an efficient boost, as improved resolution times means employees are back up and working faster. “Stress situations were leading to errors in service documentation and invoicing. The new remote maintenance has also had a positive impact on the hospital’s liquidity,” Lowitsch said. The clinic had reported an operational loss in the year prior, but that year saw a surplus of 457,000 Euro, with earnings rising by 1.2 percent and lowered operating costs.