Cook Children’s Health Care System embarked on a strategic cloud migration journey, seeking expert guidance to ensure a seamless transition. Recognizing the need for experienced partners, the health system joined forces with consulting firm CDW, which brought a wealth of knowledge in cloud adoption processes. This collaboration aimed to achieve cost-effective solutions while shifting from capital to operational expenses.
Effective Communication and Role Adaptation
The initiative required Cook Children’s to address internal reservations, particularly due to the pride in their existing disaster recovery data center. They overcame this by elucidating the technical and operational advantages of cloud migration. Additionally, the transition necessitated a change in the systems engineers’ roles, shifting their focus from hardware management to monitoring cloud resources. Clear communication about the evolving nature of their work was crucial to ease the team’s apprehension regarding the new cloud-based environment.
The human aspect of the migration was emphasized, with an understanding that job roles and responsibilities would evolve. Eckert, a spokesperson for the health system, highlighted the importance of explaining the rationale behind these changes to the staff, ensuring they were comfortable and prepared for their new roles in the cloud-centric infrastructure.
Strategic Migration and Partnerships
Seeking insights from other organizations that had successfully migrated to the cloud proved beneficial. Cook Children’s was particularly interested in CDW’s previous migration experiences to avoid any unexpected costs associated with cloud information access. The partnership led to a phased migration plan that prioritized foundational establishment, optimization of cloud infrastructure, and preparation for future growth, with a focus on clinical and research advancements.
The first phase of Cook Children’s cloud journey involved disaster recovery with Epic, aligning with key business partners like Microsoft and Workday. Ensuring resiliency and business continuity was paramount, prompting the migration of their Epic disaster recovery instance to Microsoft Azure. This move was critical to maintaining uninterrupted access to patient data for clinicians, even in the event of a disaster or cyberattack, by providing a read-only view of essential health records.
- Cook Children’s collaborates with CDW for cloud migration.
- Transition requires role changes and clear communication.
- Phase one focuses on disaster recovery and business continuity.
