Bringing the world of Information Technology, Business and Health together

I attended a set of seminars at BITNET (Business and Information Technology Network) yesterday. The presentations were focused on Health Care and its use of technology, and the progress (or lack thereof) that was being made.

A lot of interesting presentations, especially if you are in the Health Care field. But what does it have to do with Small Business? Part of the presentation included the efforts of McMaster University in bringing together three part of the University to develop this area. They have created a structure that brings their Business School, the Health program and their Information Technology program to address the issues.

What a concept!

Much of my BLOG has talked about bringing business and technology together to provide business value and measure success, not by projects or successful technology implementations, but by successful business outcomes.

With McMaster's program, they have brought the needs (the Health Care industry) for information and decision support together with the tools (information Technology) and the Business Management into one group. They have the opportunity to bring business reality to the Health Care needs and Information Technology.

I have seen too many situations where needs are defined as all of the things that I'd like to have, and the solutions developed by an "I can do that" attitude. The results are often a complex technical solution that does little to solve the business problem at too high a cost.

Small Businesses don't need a large, complex organization to develop solutions. They do need technology. They do need to understand the business processes they are addressing and the business outcomes to be delivered. And, they need to keep control of costs. Too often software is installed and business results aren't delivered.

In the Health Care industry, MacMaster is trying to solve that, and I applaud them.

BITNET is expecting to post the presentations on their website. If you want to check them out, see BITNET. For McMaster's eHealth program see eHealth.