Challenge

Continued growth and costs led to the need for the scalability and flexibility of the public cloud while maintaining HIPAA/ HITECH regulatory compliance.

Selection Criteria

In addition to HIPAA/HITECH experience and a strong relationship with AWS, Experity sought a provider with the right technical and cultural fit.

Result

Realized a highly secure, cloud-based HIPAA compliant solution that could scale for future growth while maintaining compliance requirements.

The Challenge

Experity has always recognized the advantages of the Cloud and ran its application on a private cloud for a number of years. As Experity continued to grow, it became apparent that a move to a public cloud would benefit the company and its customers. A public cloud would allow Experity to focus on its software and services, rather than investing in and managing IT infrastructure. There were inherent financial benefits derived from moving to a public cloud (e.g. switch from CAPEX to OPEX spend) but more importantly, the public cloud provided Experity and its customers the scalability and flexibility they required. Security advancements in the public cloud also provided Experity a comfort level in making the move, particularly given Experity and its customers were subject to HIPAA/HITECH regulatory compliance.

Experity’s search for the right Cloud provider included the leading public clouds, such as Microsoft Azure, Google, and Amazon Web Services. Key criteria for selection included the security stance and maturity of the security model, as well as the robustness of the cloud provider’s partner ecosystem. According to Brad Reimer, Experity CIO, “we knew that once we committed to a public cloud, the provider would need a healthy partner ecosystem we could choose from to help manage the cloud in a secure manner, according to HIPAA/HITECH compliance regulations. This was something we did not want to manage on our own.”

Having conducted their due diligence, Experity chose Amazon Web Services (AWS) as their public cloud. Experity discovered that AWS had the right combination of public cloud robustness, the maturity of their security model, and security-focused partners with experience and knowledge of the healthcare market. Reimer stated, “the partner ecosystem around AWS is much healthier than it is around Google and Azure, especially with partners that can help us from the security standpoint, who have experience in healthcare and HIPAA regulations and are able to implement and manage those on the cloud.”

The Solution

As AWS and Experity began to engage, the Healthcare group within AWS identified a handful of partners for Experity to evaluate. Four partners were shortlisted and among them was Connectria. Systems security and HIPAA/HITECH compliance had to be first and foremost on the minds of the partners. As Experity progressed through its assessment, it became clear that Connectria stood above the rest.

“We felt Connectria had a firm understanding of the healthcare regulatory space,” noted Reimer. “Connectria could not only build a secure environment but understood why they’re building a secure environment and how to build it in a way to meet regulations. It was evidentthat Connectria was a partner who could help Experity’s up to its game,’ and not someone that we were going to have to tell what needed to be done. Other considered partners treated security and compliance as an afterthought, or they could speak a good game but not truly understand it. We could just tell security and compliance was at the core of what Connectria was doing, they understood it, it was how they built their own system, their own cloud platform, and took that same knowledge and experience to the AWS Cloud.”

Other factors for choosing Connectria included Amazon’s confidence in Connectria, Connectria’s partnership approach (as opposed to a statement of work or project-driven), and culture match. Experity was impressed by the level of confidence AWS had in Connectria. AWS described Connectria as an upcoming powerhouse in the AWS partner community, particularly within the healthcare segment. Experity could tell AWS was behind Connectria and was a key factor in their decision.

Experity felt their culture was similar to that of Connectria’s. Both focus upon people, family, and community, not simply the employer versus employee dynamic. Experity could tell that Connectria’s “No Jerks Allowed” culture was tangible through their approach, attitude, and actions. It was important to Experity to have team members on both sides able to partner and hold each other’s best interests in mind when trying to achieve a goal rather than the typical vendor-client relationship.

The Results

Experity is an organization that does not rest on its laurels. Constantly striving to improve its software and services, Experity has enhanced its Urgent Care solution for current and future customers. Partnering with Amazon Web Services, the world’s leading public cloud, as well as Connectria, the leader in HIPAA/HITECH Managed Services, Experity’s customers will benefit from a highly scalable, secure, cloud-based solution which helps them achieve and maintain compliance. It’s a solution that will support the growth of Experity and is customers for years to come.