Think Thin This Holiday Season

As we approach this holiday season it seems like an appropriate time to think about maximizing employee productivity, while increasing and enhancing your network security. Practice managers and owners should consider some helpful network design concepts and program implementation ideas.

 

Seek advice from your IT service provider regarding the set-up of a Thin Client environment. This environment will allow a practice to lockdown user activity and secure daily workflow. A Thin Client is a small device that contains no hard drive and does not store any data or information. The Thin Client connects to a server and forces users to work at the server level (see diagram below) utilizing only approved software applications provided by a practice. These devices utilize substantially less bandwidth, that sometimes can enhance the user’s experience making it seem faster compared to a PC. Employees are able to access all applications normally including your EMR program. Scanning and printing functions are also readily available and accomplished easily.

 

Thin Clients are less expensive to purchase and typically last longer than a PC. We find some practices operate their PCs in a workgroup environment. Technically this type of network design encourages each individual PC to be its own storage device and adds to the possibility of data loss due to catastrophic failure or even theft. The Thin Client environment consolidates all data on a server, which is then securely backed-up each evening.

 

A consideration for employee productivity and security is the implementation of web defense. Installing a web defense service like McAfee/MX Logic permits users to surf the web, allowing access only to approved and authorized sites. Realized benefits can result in the reduction of excess bandwidth consumption caused by streaming music like Pandora. Another benefit from the implementation of a web defense service is the limitation of access to unauthorized sites that can infect your entire network. Online holiday shopping and browsing, or checking Facebook, etc. potentially exposes a network to malware, spyware and viruses. Practices can institute different group polices and customizations for internet access for all levels and classifications of users.

 

Enhancing your network design can be done in a very cost-effective manner without breaking the bank. Enjoy your turkey with all the trimmings knowing that your practice is working efficiently and securely.