How Proactive IT management is saving millions, boosting efficiency and improving healthcare delivery

By Simon Salloway, Director, Solution Architects EMEA & APAC, Lakeside Software

As the healthcare sector races to digitise care delivery, the real battleground is no longer just EHR adoption or infrastructure upgrades, it’s how effectively organisations manage and optimise the IT environments they already have.

Despite deep investments in digital health, many providers still struggle with costly inefficiencies, underused assets, and system fragility that directly impact clinical outcomes.

 

Today’s healthcare leaders aren’t just digitising, they’re demanding returns. Armed with real-time endpoint data, AI-powered automation, and Digital Employee Experience (DEX) platforms, they’re transforming IT from a reactive cost centre into a proactive engine for savings, resilience, and innovation.

From recapturing millions in unused software spend to resolving performance issues before they affect care, here are five proven strategies showing how smarter IT management is reshaping the economics – and the experience – of healthcare.

1. Move from reactive to proactive IT offers funds for other initiatives

Traditional, reactive IT models and rigid hardware refresh cycles often lead to unnecessary spending and operational inefficiencies.

According to Gartner’s 2024 Healthcare IT Cost Optimisation Report, healthcare IT spending is projected to increase by 9.5 per cent, reaching nearly £200 billion – underscoring the urgency to manage budgets more strategically.

One effective alternative is shifting to proactive endpoint management, where real-time device data guides decisions about support and hardware refresh based on actual usage and performance.

This targeted approach helps organisations avoid premature replacements and underutilised assets, unlocking significant savings that can be reinvested in innovation.

These savings are especially valuable as healthcare systems move toward a more digitally enabled future.

In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasised the role of technology in improving NHS delivery, aligning national policy with operational innovation on the ground.

One provider already demonstrating this shift is the U.S.-based Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, which restructured its IT operations using a DEX platform to monitor endpoint performance.

Through virtualisation, need-based purchasing, and proactive support, the clinic significantly enhanced digital experiences for both staff and patients, proving how smarter IT decisions translate into measurable outcomes.

2. Uncover hidden IT waste with endpoint visibility reduces wasteful spending

Limited visibility into IT infrastructure often leads to overspending on technology that doesn’t match actual needs. Real-time insights into device and software usage enable IT teams to allocate the right tools to the right users.

For instance, DEX tool SysTrack collects over 10,000 data points per device every 15 seconds, including metrics on CPU and memory usage, disk performance, application responsiveness, login times, and crash rates.

This granular insight helps IT teams identify underperforming devices, spot unnecessary hardware upgrades, and retire unused software licences.

A national healthcare network used this data to uncover that 37 per cent of its medical imaging software licences were unused, resulting in £1.7 million in annual savings.

This kind of asset intelligence also simplifies compliance with regulations, such as HIPAA, by ensuring systems are both up-to-date and appropriately provisioned.

Crucially, data quality underpins these gains. Poor data quality can cost healthcare organisations millions every year.

Without accurate, real-time information from endpoints, IT teams risk making decisions based on incomplete or outdated insights, driving both cost and compliance risks.

3. Catch issues to fix them before they disrupt patient care

Clinical staff rely on seamless access to digital tools, whether it’s for updating patient records, conducting virtual consultations, or viewing diagnostic results.

Even minor IT slowdowns can delay care, reduce productivity, and erode trust in digital systems.

Proactive monitoring enables IT teams to identify performance degradation before it affects frontline staff.

DEX platforms surface real-time insights into device health, application responsiveness, and system bottlenecks, helping prevent outages or slowdowns that would otherwise go unnoticed until clinicians are impacted.

For example, a hospital identified a background process consuming 32 per cent of CPU across 1,400 workstations, addressing it before it disrupted care delivery, preventing an estimated £466,000 in productivity loss.

Similarly, a large healthcare insurer used endpoint visibility to proactively resolve systemic issues, significantly reducing downtime and preserving operational continuity across a 400,000-person workforce.

By staying ahead of technical faults, healthcare IT teams can safeguard clinical workflows and maintain the reliability that patient-facing systems demand.

4. Predict and automate fixes to help curb support costs

AI-powered analytics and automation are enabling healthcare IT teams to scale support while reducing operational strain.

DEX platforms use real-time data to identify patterns, such as software instability, memory leaks, or slow logins, and can automatically trigger fixes such as updates, reboots, or password resets without user intervention.

This shift from manual resolution to intelligent automation reduces ticket volumes and accelerates fix times.

One hospital automated 1,350 monthly IT ticket resolutions, saving £236,000 a year and cutting average resolution times by 46 per cent. In another case, predictive analytics flagged a potential server overload during a patient surge, preventing disruption to EHR systems used by 700 clinicians.

The benefits also scale with size. A 30,000-employee healthcare provider saved £650,000 annually through automation, while another with 300,000 employees reduced support tickets by 30 per cent using real-time issue detection.

These efficiencies free up IT staff to focus on strategic improvements, such as expanding telehealth platforms or enhancing digital front doors, without compromising support quality.

As automation becomes more integrated into daily operations, it turns reactive IT teams into proactive enablers of care delivery.

5. Transform IT into a strategic asset for healthcare innovation

As cost pressures mount and digital care becomes standard, IT can no longer be viewed as a support function, it must operate as a strategic platform for innovation and care transformation.

According to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Healthcare Outlook, 67 per cent of healthcare leaders plan to increase investment in AI-powered diagnostics and remote patient monitoring.

Meanwhile, Accenture’s Technology Vision for Health reports that 83 per cent of healthcare executives expect AI to significantly reduce operational and IT costs, creating space for new models of care delivery.

By eliminating inefficiencies and automating routine tasks, healthcare IT teams are freeing up both budget and capacity to invest in forward-looking initiatives.

This includes AI-powered diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, population health analytics, and integrated digital front doors.

But the value of IT goes beyond funding new tools.

With real-time insight into their IT environments, organisations can align technology decisions with clinical priorities, test and scale innovations faster, and build agile systems that respond to patient and staff needs in near real-time.

One health system, for instance, reduced IT service desk calls by 7 per cent monthly, saving £210,000 annually and reclaiming 65 hours per week, which were reinvested into developing a care coordination platform that spans multiple sites and services.

The five strategies outlined here show that IT is no longer just a support system – it’s a lever for financial sustainability, clinical reliability, and patient-centred innovation.

By shifting from reactive support to real-time visibility, from wasteful refresh cycles to precision asset management, and from manual fixes to intelligent automation, healthcare providers are reclaiming millions in value and reinvesting it in outcomes that matter.

These aren’t one-off improvements, they’re indicators of a scalable, repeatable shift in how healthcare systems can operate in a digital age.

But technology alone won’t deliver transformation.

Success depends on aligned leadership, thoughtful implementation, and a commitment to change, from IT teams and clinical stakeholders alike.

That’s why the most forward-thinking organisations are taking an agile, transparent approach: piloting DEX platforms, communicating benefits clearly, and scaling based on proven results.

As healthcare’s digital demands accelerate, the opportunity is clear: manage IT strategically, and you don’t just cut costs, you upgrade care.