Masergy and Fortinet Release IDG Healthcare IT Survey Results

Converged Network and Security Essential as Telemedicine and Connected Medical Devices Deemed Top Challenges

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Masergy, the software-defined network and cloud platform for the digital enterprise, today released results from a new IDG research study, co-sponsored by Fortinet, on the state of IT in the healthcare industry. The study surveyed IT leaders from hospitals, primary and urgent care facilities, pharmaceutical companies, and other healthcare entities. The goal was to shed light on how pandemic-driven changes, including increases in telemedicine and remote workers, have accelerated demands for network resiliency and cloud security, as well as the need for an integrated approach to solving these challenges.

“Healthcare IT teams have daunting technical challenges to ensure network bandwidth, resilience, and security in the face of surging online care, including telemedicine, remote workforces, and medical IoT,” explained Ray Watson, vice president of innovation at Masergy. “The IDG Healthcare IT survey reveals that an integrated network and security strategy is now an imperative to address these challenges.”

Key findings from the survey include:

• 95% of respondents report an increase in network traffic since March 2020, with 92% having to increase network bandwidth capacity to accommodate an influx of connected medical devices
• Top three security challenges for healthcare IT:
  • Cloud security (46%)
  • Security of medical connected devices (46%)
  • Remote and mobile workforce (36%)
• 54% expect IT budgets to increase in 2021
• 71% consider it highly important to integrate network solutions with security policies
  • 60% indicate having a single security architecture delivering consistent security policies across multiple locations is highly important
  • 65% say integrating security with SD-WAN solutions is considered critical or highly important
  • 87% are interested or very interested in secure access service edge (SASE), converged offerings combining WAN capabilities with network security functions
• 80% indicate they are likely or very likely (44%) to engage a managed services provider to handle network and/or security services

The increased demand for network resiliency and cloud security comes from across the healthcare industry, including virtual doctor visits, pop-up clinics and new work-from-home requirements. A growing ecosystem of medical devices, cloud applications, locations and partners that must all be securely connected has also forced a shift in network strategy that puts the focus on reliability and security for remote and cloud-based activities.

“The data reveals themes around convergence and simplicity, helping us further understand how healthcare IT organizations will thrive in 2021,” said Troy Ament, field CISO for healthcare at Fortinet. “IT leaders prefer integrated network and security technologies that provide a more effective approach for managing digital healthcare and medical IoT devices.”

“A single platform which addresses both security and the network can often reduce operational complexity,” added Masergy’s Watson. “Telemedicine is a voracious consumer of bandwidth, and protecting patient information requires more security at the network edge and in the cloud. Thus, IT organizations are putting more emphasis on unified strategies, technologies, and operations. This is exactly why Fortinet and Masergy partner together to offer SD-WAN and end-to-end security services all in one fully managed solution.”

Download the full IDG research report for a detailed view into the results, and get more highlights in this infographic.

About Masergy

Masergy is the software-defined network and cloud platform for the digital enterprise. Recognized as the pioneer in software-defined networking, Masergy enables unrivaled, secure application performance across the network and the cloud with Managed SD-WAN, UCaaS, CCaaS and Managed Security solutions. Industry leading SLAs coupled with an unparalleled customer experience enable global enterprises to achieve business outcomes with certainty. Learn more and follow us on our blog Transforming Enterprise IT, Twitter @Masergy, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Jody Gilliam
469-291-8285
jody.gilliam@masergy.com