Khaleej Times hosts another virtual CIO Council for healthcare industry

Staff Report - Top CIOs and heads of IT departments from institutions such as Saudi German Hospitals, Canadian Specialist Hospital, Prime Healthcare Group, Aster DM Healthcare, Mediclinic Middle East, Al-Ahsa Hospital, Belhoul Specialty Hospital, Mafraq Hospital-SEHA, attended the event.

Khaleej Times, the UAE's first English daily, in association with technology leaders Nutanix, successfully concluded yet another virtual edition of CIO Council exclusively for the healthcare industry on June 24, 2020.

In the current scenario, the healthcare industry continues to undergo rapid changes, putting increasing pressure on healthcare organisations to embrace innovative and agile methodologies in order to improve the quality of patient care and reduce operational expenses. The half-day strategic webinar, organised by Khaleej Times, was specially designed to address the challenges CIOs in the healthcare sector face with process transformation, data centres and IT Infrastructure to support a large number of caregivers and supporting staff and provide access to hundreds of healthcare applications across the care continuum.

Attending the event were top CIOs and heads of IT departments from government and private healthcare institutions including Saudi German Hospitals, Canadian Specialist Hospital, Prime Healthcare Group, Aster DM Healthcare, Mediclinic Middle East, Al-Ahsa Hospital, Belhoul Specialty Hospital, Mafraq Hospital- SEHA.

Speaking about the future of IT in the healthcare industry, Sebastian Dallais, EMEA Healthcare Director, Nutanix highlighted "The healthcare industry has undergone major technological advancements that are driving the need to modernise IT. Legacy three-tier IT infrastructure with separately sourced servers, storage and storage networks fails to address healthcare IT challenges concerning security and compliance, resource constraints, application proliferation, mobility and complexity. Healthcare organisations want agility, simplicity, and pay-as-you-grow economics of the public cloud, but still need the security and control features of on-premises data centre solutions."

"In the last few years, the Nutanix enterprise cloud has emerged as a better alternative to traditional infrastructure. We are delighted to be able to participate in this prestigious virtual event and share our insights on industry trends and how our company can help healthcare organisations navigate digital transformation."

The webinar was kicked-off by Mohammad Abulhouf, Director Sales - KSA & Bahrain, Nutanix.

Speaking about the healthcare industry in the region, Mohammed said "According to a recent report by Research and Markets, 'amid the volatility in oil prices and dampened global economic growth due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Saudi healthcare market is expected to grow to $16.1 billion in value at 8.8% in 2020'. In the UAE, the healthcare sector has been identified by the government as a key sector for development. Undoubtedly, we see an increase in investments in enterprise healthcare IT in both Saudi and UAE as regional organisations look to consolidate legacy infrastructures, simplify management, align IT to embrace a cloud-operating model through hybrid cloud infrastructure and integrate next gen technologies like AI and IoT. Nutanix, through its leadership in cloud computing is committed to working with healthcare organisations in Saudi as they look to modernise their infrastructure."

The webinar also witnessed a panel discussion on Connected Healthcare Infrastructure driving systematic transformation post pandemic with industry experts including Hamza Batterjee, President, HSB Holding, Abdulaziz Alkhilaif - CIO, Al Mishari Hospital Group - KSA, Raziel Pena, ICT Operations Manager, Mediclinic Middle East, Rani Odeh, IT Infrastructure Director, ATC, Kuwait. Adulaziz Alkhilaif highlighted, "Automation and smart technology are one of the top priorities in Al Mishari Hospital, in order to reduce the pressure on our caretakers as well as ensure the safety of our patients. We aim to empower our care provider with seamless use of technology wherever we can. We are adjusting our IT structure to give top priority to our patients."

The CIO Healthcare Council also proved the successful delivery of a much-needed webinar focused on the healthcare industry for thought leaders to share their opinions and guide other leaders towards problem-solving and improve quality of patient care with lower costs. Nutanix delivered a powerful program on how a well highly equipped IT infrastructure can help the healthcare sector to manage their work scale efficiently to save time and focus on strategic initiatives.

To be a part of KT Connect Programs, contact events@khaleejtimes.com.

• Dubai