Technology: Learn to Love Your Nerd
How to foster positive relationships between your practice and the techies who keep it up and running
By Shirley Grace Jay Simmons is responsible for the world — at least within the confines of Memphis Gastroenterology Group’s IT needs.
A five-year veteran at the 11-physician practice (which comprises a clinic, endoscopy center, and surgery suite), IT manager Simmons single-handedly runs a lean, mean technical machine, chock full of redundancies and fail-safes. And he takes pride in his work. “My name’s on it,” he says.
Simmons’ duties encompass keeping all of Memphis Gastro’s technical tools up and running, including the phones, practice management system, EMR, and both the on- and off-site data centers. He’s also responsible for hardware and software needs assessments, maintenance, upgrades, backups, disaster recovery protocols, and training. “If someone doesn’t know how to use a mouse, you just show them,” he says. “And if the VPN is malfunctioning, you fix that too.”
Someone like this, you want to keep happy.
Still, the relationship goes both ways, and you do have choices. Should you address your IT needs in-house, or would outsourcing work better for you? Whatever you decide, here are some ways to develop a strong, mutually beneficial connection between your practice and your favorite IT nerd. Continued...
