KPJ Healthcare streamlines IT ops with Office 365

• KPJ had an expanding network of hospitals, and each new hospital’s IT deployment had been done in isolation
• Needed a complete end-to-end and cost-effective solution, employing a hybrid of on-premise and cloud

KPJ Healthcare Berhad has chosen to implement Microsoft’s Office 365 and cloud solutions to upgrade and modernise its overall IT infrastructure for its entire network of hospitals in Malaysia and Indonesia.
 
Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, KPJ is one of the leading private healthcare providers in the region, with ambitious expansion plans for its integrated health and wellness services portfolio, Microsoft Malaysia said in a statement.
 
It currently has a network of 23 hospitals – 21 in Malaysia and two in Indonesia. With more than 3,000 licensed beds under its management, KPJ offers comprehensive medical services and treated more than 2.4 million outpatients and 240,000 inpatients in 2011 alone.
 
KPJ has been publicly listed on the KL Stock Exchange since 1994, with revenues reaching RM1.9 billion (US$616 million) in 2011.
 
KPJ faced a major challenge to identify and implement an effective IT infrastructure across its hospitals that will enable it to make vital management decisions, Microsoft Malaysia said.
 
“From a business perspective, managing IT expenses for an expanding network of hospitals was a huge problem for us as each new hospital’s IT deployment was previously done in isolation,” said Dr Mubbashir Iftikhar (pic), chief information officer at KPJ.
 
“Consolidating licensing procurement and administration was another issue as most OEM purchases were decentralised for users in different subsidiaries and locations,” he added.
 
Existing IT policies also proved to be a stumbling block to improving productivity.
 
“There was a mismatch of solutions that were deployed across our hospitals – from the backend data centre all the way to client-facing applications,” said Dr Mubbashir, saying that KPJ’s data centre was set up on a Microsoft rival’s platform to host its Hospital Information Technology System and Clinical Information System.
 
The hospital network’s email system was running a mix of different solutions including open source.
 
“The standardisation of Office support for in-ward applications, and our overall desktop strategy needed to be managed more efficiently. All this pointed to the need for a more streamlined deployment and management of IT,” he said.
 
KPJ turned to Microsoft to overcome these challenges and implement a complete end-to-end as well as cost-effective solution, employing a hybrid of on-premise and cloud-based solution.
 
The healthcare group plans to upgrade its data centre to Microsoft’s Private Cloud platform. The Group will also deploy 5,200 Office 365 and 2,800 Pro Desktop licences across its hospital network.
 
Microsoft Malaysia claims KPJ is already starting to see gains: The company-wide standardisation of its email systems to the cloud-based Office 365 has improved email manageability for both the IT support team and hospital staff end-users, further contributing to increased productivity and reduced IT expenditure.
 
Microsoft’s capability to provide an end-to-end solution that was also flexible and scalable further convinced KPJ, as it was looking to lay down a strong IT infrastructure to enable its future expansion plans.
 
“It was paramount that we selected a solution that is flexible and scalable because we are very determined in our strategy of expanding our network of hospitals,” said Dr Mubbashir.
 
“The fact that Microsoft has a comprehensive, easy-to-deploy solution that seamlessly integrates into our current infrastructure made it a very easy choice for us,” he said, adding that IT management has become streamlined for both its cloud and on-premise licences and comes with long-term customer support post-deployment.
 
“Healthcare is one of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) of the country’s Economic Transformation Programme, and this partnership with one of the leading healthcare providers in the region is a clear sign that all the industry players are doing their part to help transform Malaysia,” said Abhijit Das (pic), acting head of for Microsoft Malaysia’s Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners unit.
 
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