SkyDox, provider of cloud-enabled file sharing, file synchronisation, file storage, and collaboration tools, has announced that the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement has deployed its platform across the NHS in England. The move, the latest effort to break silo working and make it easer for staff to work with the NHS Institute, is easing email inefficiencies and reducing costs associated with its legacy project collaboration system.
"Staff in the NHS are frequently called upon to work collaboratively, not only with people in their immediate organisation, but also with the many NHS bodies working at the national, regional and local level. This boundary spanning activity is increasing rapidly as the new localism agenda and other NHS reforms take hold. Applications like SkyDox, which are easily deployed and accessible from anywhere, will make the required level of collaborative working possible in the years ahead," said Nick Gaunt, Chief Information and Knowledge Officer, NHS Institute.
Like many large-scale, multi-site organisations, the NHS has suffered from over-engineered collaboration and project management solutions that have proved too complex for staff. This has resulted in a return to email to share files, amend documents and manage meetings increasing costs and reducing efficiency.
"People naturally take the path of least resistance and NHS staff have been voting with their feet when it comes to our legacy project management and collaboration technology solutions. Everyone just found it more straightforward to use email. This meant it was impossible to keep track of and control the latest version of a document, as well as audit the dissemination of content," continued Nick.
With SkyDox's file-centric approach to collaboration, the NHS Institute can now ensure that all team members are accessing the most updated version of a document, eliminating problems such as duplicated work and version control. Because SkyDox's technology has been designed from the ground up as an enterprise-grade platform, it provides users with enhanced security features, administration-rights and compatibility with a range of popular Enterprise Content Management and productivity applications, including Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Adobe Acrobat, FileNet, Documentum and Lotus Notes.
"The transition to SkyDox was painless," recalls Nick. "The platform required very little training and on the few occasions that we have contacted SkyDox's support line, we were very pleased with their quick and helpful responses. Also, because SkyDox provides all the functionality we need in a single platform, integrates with our existing applications, requires very little training and has a full-featured free guest user policy, it's helped our ICT department manage collaboration costs. All in all, we are very satisfied with the benefits SkyDox has brought to the NHS."
SkyDox's security features ensure that administrators are able to assign access rights at the file and folder level to prevent confidential files from being downloaded, modified or passed on to another party without authorisation. With its page-level analytics feature, SkyDox allows users to determine if and when a file was opened, with whom it was shared and which pages attracted the most interest. SkyDox also encrypts personal information and digital content with 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology before it leaves a user's computer. Data stored in the SkyDox cloud also remains encrypted at rest.
"Collaboration technology is going to be the big tech story over the next 12 months. The public sector in particular will see high growth because of the major reforms underway to reduce cost, increase the use of shared services and to use technology in smaller and simpler ways to build more efficiency," commented Ali Moinuddin, CMO SkyDox. "The NHS is a big coup for SkyDox it is one of the largest employers in the world, making its collaboration challenges some of the most significant of any organisation on the planet."
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