EBOS Welcomes Strategic Technology Acquisitions to Enhance Healthcare Innovation
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EBOS Group: Tech Acquisitions Fueling Advancement in Healthcare
Quick Overview
- EBOS Group is on a growth trajectory, acquiring 4-6 companies each year, necessitating continuous integration and IT infrastructure updates.
- The firm’s structured strategy for merging legacy systems mitigates risks and lowers maintenance expenses.
- EBOS employs a ‘cloud-right’ approach, striking a balance between cloud and on-premise solutions tailored to specific applications.
- Third-party maintenance providers are frequently engaged by EBOS for legacy systems, ensuring nationwide service and quick response capabilities.
- Challenges arise in maintaining essential applications on outdated hardware, demonstrating the importance of dependable third-party maintenance assistance.
EBOS Group’s Technology-Led Growth Strategy
As a prominent marketer, wholesaler, and distributor in healthcare, medical, and pharmaceutical products, EBOS Group is carefully expanding its reach. With approximately 5000 employees across 108 global locations, the company acquires between four to six new businesses each year. According to Con Pazios, Head of IT Operations, this acquisition strategy mandates EBOS to maintain an ongoing process of integration and IT system reconstruction.
Structured Legacy Environment Integration
In alignment with its strategic initiatives, EBOS has established a structured program for integrating the legacy systems of newly acquired businesses. This program plays an essential role in mitigating risks and diminishing maintenance costs. Upon an acquisition, EBOS assumes legal accountability for the IT environment of the new entity, which prompts the swift development of integration plans.
“Managing technical inheritance and technical debt presents substantial challenges for us,” Pazios noted. The process begins with securing the newly acquired environment, followed by a thorough evaluation of existing physical hardware, virtual servers, and domains. Subsequently, new servers are established, and data is transferred, allowing for the potential decommissioning of the obsolete infrastructure, contingent on environmental complexity.
The ‘Cloud-Right’ Methodology
While migrating to the cloud is typically viewed as a standard approach, EBOS employs a more nuanced perspective. The organization follows what it calls a ‘cloud-right’ strategy, which signifies that not every workload is redirected to the cloud. For instance, certain EBOS warehouses necessitate operational technology (OT) infrastructure that demands extremely low latency, thereby warranting on-premise server solutions.
“If it makes sense to migrate to the cloud, we will certainly proceed, and if modernization is feasible from that point, that’s advantageous,” Pazios elaborated. This methodology enables EBOS to harmonize the advantages of cloud solutions with the distinct requirements of its operations.
IT Modernisation Challenges
Despite the company’s concerted efforts to expedite IT modernization, the timeline can often extend. During these transitional phases, EBOS might need to utilize older, less reliable equipment. In such instances, external Managed Service Providers (MSPs) may be called upon, especially when confronted with intricate or unfamiliar network infrastructures.
“We might acquire a business with a network setup outside our internal capabilities, so we depend on outside MSPs for support,” Pazios remarked. This dependence spans not only to hardware but also to the overall management of the platform.
Significance of Third-Party Maintenance Services
Given the diverse technologies EBOS encounters through acquisitions, there have been cases where aging equipment posed notable risks. A relevant example is a 12-year-old IBM chassis located in Adelaide, responsible for running a critical business application. This device was functioning in a partially vulnerable state with inadequate maintenance support.
When a motherboard component failed, a third-party maintenance provider was able to quickly deliver replacement parts, restoring functionality to the device. This incident emphasized the critical nature of national coverage and the availability of parts when choosing third-party maintenance services.
“For us, the reinstatement of services is crucial, which hinges on response times, part availability, and the capacity to deploy assistance anywhere in the country,” Pazios stressed. He acknowledged that the role of third-party maintenance is likely to remain integral in the EBOS environment.
Conclusion
EBOS Group’s strategy centered on technology acquisitions serves as a pivotal element of its growth in the healthcare industry. Through a structured integration of legacy IT environments, the organization effectively lessens risks and maintenance expenditures. The ‘cloud-right’ approach of EBOS ensures that workloads are appropriately aligned for either cloud or on-premise implementations, informed by specific operational requirements. In spite of the modernization challenges, EBOS strategically utilizes third-party maintenance services to guarantee the dependability and permanence of essential systems.
Q: How does EBOS manage the integration of newly acquired companies?
A:
EBOS employs a systematic integration program for legacy systems, commencing with securing the acquired environment, evaluating existing hardware, and subsequently transferring data to contemporary servers. This strategy minimizes risks and reduces maintenance expenditures.
Q: What delineates EBOS’s ‘cloud-right’ strategy?
A:
The ‘cloud-right’ strategy represents a balanced approach where EBOS assesses whether workloads should transition to the cloud or stay on-premise based on specific operational necessities. Not all workloads are guaranteed to be migrated to the cloud.
Q: What prompts EBOS to engage third-party maintenance providers?
A:
EBOS engages third-party maintenance providers for older systems, particularly when internal expertise is insufficient or when confronting outdated hardware. These providers deliver quick response times and national coverage, which are vital for maintaining critical business applications.
Q: What obstacles does EBOS confront during IT modernization?
A:
Modernizing IT environments is a lengthy endeavor. Throughout this process, EBOS frequently needs to sustain older, outdated equipment, which poses risks. The organization occasionally necessitates external assistance to adeptly manage these environments.