Health IT – Getting it right!

Lean and Six Sigma in IT and the HIGHTECH ACT (Feb 2009)

By Samantha on July 18th, 2009

Lean and Six Sigma in IT and the HIGHTECH ACT (Feb 2009)
Lean six sigma is cutting the wasted time out of a process. This is too often thought to only apply to manufacturing processes. However, it isn’t limited to only physical products. Lean six sigma can also be applied to Information Technology processes. In the Information Technology world, the biggest resource we waste is the one that money cannot buy – time. And in a world that moves at the speed of light, all delays are costly.
How can you develop “buy in” for lean six sigma initiatives within your company? Generate process flow Gantt Charts for software development, support, or backups. From this simple visual conglomeration of data, it can be demonstrated that lean six sigma can be used to reduce this process time. Realize Data Center Virtualization benefits by mapping where your support time goes, which servers are utilized and underutilized, and then consolidate. Reduce the number of software applications your company uses. Digitize hand written records (soon to be mandated by the Medical Office Information Technology standards anyway) to simplify and speed up the distribution of medical records.
Lean six sigma can apply to the IT world, saving time and money in the process.