With mental health care, mental health care and social guidance from different locations in Limburg offers. With more than 700 employees, they help people with psychological complaints and offer support with social challenges. The organization originated from a merger of RIAGG (mental health care) and RIBW (social guidance). In 2019, the organization faced an important choice: continuing with an outdated IT infrastructure or making the step to a modern, flexible-and safe! - Work environment. In this case Jos Demandt, Manager Information Provision and ICT assists with GGZ, how Route443 helped with this transformation and what this means for their care provision.
'With Route443 as a professional, reliable and innovative partner, I feel more relaxed in a world full of cyber threats'
ICT must be an enabler, not a burden
When I came in with GGZ in 2017, I found an organization with great frustrations around ICT. Long login times, systems that often dropped out, poor services from IT partners-you can't think of it that it happened. The organization saw ICT purely as a side issue, while it should be an enabler, the foundation of our care provision. Because let's be honest: if you still have to do everything via a wood-rope system today, that is not workable. Modern care deserves modern tools.
The challenge: more than technology just
We faced a double challenge. First, we had to make IT more user -friendly. And perhaps even more important: the organization was also not aware of the technological threats of the future. They thought: we are from health care, ICT is a side issue. But in modern care that is untenable. Fortunately I gained the confidence of the board of directors to change this. I asked Carte Blanche and I got that too - an essential condition for getting the entire organization moving.
Route443: From security expert to transformation partner
I already knew Edwin van den Broek, the managing director of Route443, from a previous employer. We regularly spend our situation, where it was common to 'put everything in the safe'. Access to data went through all kinds of ditches and passwords, which people then wrote down in notebooks - which of course brought his own risks and loss of time. From those conversations, Edwin came up with ideas for a completely different architecture.
Originally, Route443 mainly did security research for us. But when, after a tendering process with more than 100 IT partners, we could not find anyone who could pick up our full issue, I challenged Edwin: "Wouldn't you like to build this for us?" He took on that challenge. And what he promised, he realized.
A safe and flexible basis for modern care
Everyone received a notebook and smartphone, and where possible we immediately applied single sign-on functionality. This not only promoted mobility, but also flexibility and user -friendliness. Whether you want to type out reports at home or be at one of our treatment locations - it was all suddenly possible. The migration was virtually imperceptible to the organization. And then, three weeks after the last migration, the Covid-19-Lockdown came. As our doctor Director Heidi Croonen said it: 'How nice that the new workplace was introduced on time. Literally lucky in an accident! '
From management to direction
An important strategic choice that we have made is to stop yourself 'under the hood' tinkering. We no longer wanted to manage, but direct. That meant that we consciously opted for an approach where each party focuses on its own unique power.
For our digital workplace we work together with a number of specialized partners. Microsoft manages the public cloud environment, Route443 is responsible for security architecture and monitoring, and Bevio runs the service desk for our employees. In addition, the application suppliers, such as those of our EPD and HR solutions, are responsible for their own functionalities.
As an IT team we keep control. We manage the partners, manage the applications and ensure that everything seamlessly matches what our care staff need. Because that's what it's all about: that our people can do their job well and get our clients the best care.
More than a supplier thanks to a strong team of specialists
Route443 is a crucial partner, and certainly not a standard IT supplier. It is a club super specialists who look beyond security. In our Change Advisory Board they have a decisive voice - if they think that a change is endangered our safety, it is canceled no matter how attractive the business case seems.
What I greatly appreciate is that Route443 is not an hour factory like many consultancy companies. They deliver real added value for a fair price. If something goes fast, it goes fast. The number of hours never flies out of the bend as I sometimes see it happening at other suppliers.
Continuous vigilance in a risky world
Cybercrime is nowadays a lucrative business model. Criminals are increasingly opting for digital burglary - it is less risky and usually produces more than traditional crime.
As an IT manager I see the impact that a successful cyber attack has. It not only affects the company as a whole, but also has traumatic consequences for the people involved.
Route443 monitors our surroundings 24/7. The system automatically responds to threats - if, for example, someone tries to log in from an unusual location, the system blocks it immediately.
The new NIS2 legislationUnderlines the importance of cyber security in healthcare. The care must continue to run, even now that we see attempts daily due to increasing geopolitical tensions to disturb crucial infrastructure. TheZero Trust architecture of Route443gives me the confidence that we are well protected.
A transformation that refunds itself
The new environment gives us a considerable saving in operating costs. Everything has now been purchased as a service, so that the costs are transparent and predictable every month. Moreover, we have fewer support calls than before. But the most important thing is that our healthcare professionals can focus on what they are good at: helping our clients.
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