Client story Sunquest Partners with Insight to Deliver Digital Transformation for Laboratory Services
By Insight UK / 18 Mar 2020 / Topics: Cloud
By Insight UK / 18 Mar 2020 / Topics: Cloud
Insight designed, implemented and now manages a highly resilient, bespoke data centre across two Sunquest sites. The new infrastructure enables Sunquest to digitise the pathology services it provides for its clients in London. Sunquest provides a modern, innovative and sustainable service that delivers a world-class lab to users and patients alike.
Sunquest’s vision for a hosted, managed service Laboratory Information System (LIS) was central to it winning a significant tender to create a worldclass lab system that serves the needs of patients and clinicians across three distinct London areas. This project operates a central hub and six bespoke laboratories, providing 24/7 services.
Sunquest required new datacentre infrastructure, including hardware and software, to host its LIS for the pathology needs of its clients.
In providing a hosted LIS solution, Sunquest could digitise its services and offer a more efficient and streamlined solution.
It was critical that the infrastructure was fully resilient – able to provide clients with 24/7 access to its application services. The solution had to adhere to strict and challenging security requirements that complied with specific criteria for managing patient data.
Sunquest also needed a scalable infrastructure that could support high growth in blood diagnostic requirements.
“Insight delivered a world class, highly available, highly resilient designed data centre solution to manage a mission critical system, which has transformed our delivery of lab diagnostics to our client; ultimately enabling faster access to lab results for patients and clinicians."
Russell von Blanck, VP Information Technology, Sunquest
First, Insight worked closely with Sunquest to understand its needs and those of its customers. Insight then evaluated a number of potential solutions and designs that would achieve Sunquest’s business objectives, while meeting strict guidelines for the management of patient information.
The agreed solution was based on a bespoke, highly secure and resilient multi-vendor design. Insight’s solution, called Flexpod, included technologies from Cisco, NetApp and VMware, as well as additional functionality from Palo Alto, Gemalto, IBM, AIX, Citrix, Zerto, Commvault and Redhat.
Working with other Sunquest partners, Insight implemented the design across two data centres, rigorously testing each element, as well as the overall solution.
To deliver the project, Insight assembled a team of specialists from its pre-sales, consultancy and design groups. The team ensured continuity throughout the design and implementation phases.
Insight and Sunquest worked as a single team with joint processes, procedures and tooling, to deliver a rigorous test and user acceptance phase.
Insight’s Managed Services team tailored reactive support and proactive monitoring processes for testing, and to ensure project success during Sunquest’s customers’ user acceptance test process. This approach enabled the team to identify and resolve issues and finetune the solution to ensure it met its application performance goals prior to the services going live. The testing process ensured that the infrastructure met Sunquest’s strict governance and security requirements, as well as its client’s governance mandate as the LIS would be handling confidential patient data.
Following Go-Live, Insight continues to provide on-going managed support services to ensure the solution meets the needs of Sunquest and its customers. The Insight managed support services include remote monitoring and management of the infrastructure to safeguard against any downtime.
The new data centre solution spans across two sites and enabled Sunquest to transform the way it delivers its advanced laboratory diagnostic services to Health Professionals in the timely, always on manner, that they require. Sunquest now provides its LIS as a hosted, managed service, which it sees as critical in its ambition to deliver a modern, innovative and sustainable service.
Previously, the LIS was deployed on client-owned architecture over which Sunquest had little control or influence. Now, using the features and benefits this new infrastructure delivers, Sunquest controls the infrastructure and can therefore provide a better quality of service compared to prior deployments. This ensures the best possible experience to the Health Professionals that need results quickly to give the best service, 24x7x365 to their patients.
Moving to a hosted, managed service enhances the benefits to Sunquest’s clients. This includes streamlined support for provisioning new technologies and patching, remote monitoring, and robust disaster recovery, resulting in the best possible service and experience for their customers and Healthcare Professionals.
“Sunquest and Insight’s cultures are aligned. A trusted relationship has formed where there is complete transparency and we look at Insight as an extension of our team.”"
Russell von Blanck, VP Information Technology, Sunquest
Sunquest Information Systems Inc. provides diagnostic informatics solutions to laboratories worldwide. With its wide-ranging technical and cross-discipline expertise, and equally deep business acumen, no one is better equipped than Sunquest to transform labs to meet today’s complex healthcare challenges and deliver next-level performance.
Since 1979, Sunquest has helped laboratories and healthcare organisations enhance efficiency, improve patient care, and optimise financial results. Its capabilities include multi-site, multi-disciplinary support for complex anatomic, molecular and genetic testing, and support engagement with physicians and patients outside the hospitals at the point-of-care.
Headquartered in Tucson, AZ with offices in Calabasas, London, Dubai, Bangalore and Brisbane, Sunquest is a global leader in healthcare information technology.
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