HIMSS23 reflections: Customers, constraints, and cybersecurity

Imprivata CEO, Gus Malezis, reflects on a busy and successful HIMSS23 and shares what really left an impression.

Can you believe that it’s already been a few weeks since HIMSS23?

If you’re feeling anything like how the Imprivata team is feeling since leaving, you’re ready to push forward, innovate, and help usher healthcare into the future with the power of digital identity. As ever, HIMSS left us feeling reenergized.

With so much going on – presentations, conversations, demos, and more – it’s truly difficult to pick out highlights of the HIMSS23 experience. But there are some things that left a lasting impression.

1. Customers, customers, customers
   We’ve been back on the road and in person for a while now, but after being unable to meet in person for so long, it’s still so energizing to get to see so many of our customers live! For those who took the time to stop by the booth to learn more about how to reimagine digital identity, thank you!

   I also want to extend a personal thank you to those customers who spoke in our booth theater – we continue to be humbled that you partner with us, and love hearing about your successes. So, a sincere thank you to:

   1. Zafar Chaudry, Senior VP and Chief Digital and Information Officer at Seattle Children’s
   2. Cletis Earle, Senior VP and CIO at Penn State Health (who really loves sharing his Imprivata success story!)
   3. Steven Ramirez, CISO at Renown Health
   4. Julia Staas, AVP Applications, Integration, Imaging, BI, and App Development at Virtua Health
   5. Billy Stanfield, Senior Security Engineer at Allina Health
   6. Chris Paravate, CIO at Northeast Georgia Health System

2. The persisting importance of investment for business-critical solutions
   The Imprivata team and I heard a lot about the need to forgo niche vendors, or “micro vendors” in favor of partnering with only a few strategic vendors. Budgets aren’t expanding, but it’s still critically important for healthcare organizations to make investments in their suite of solutions – just in a smart, scalable way.

   I’m biased of course, but I’m incredibly proud of the work Imprivata is doing to make sure that we offer a complete suite of digital identity solutions for healthcare that work together and fully integrate with the industry’s leading EHRs and other technologies. It’s also nice to know that our customers agree.

3. Continued issues with talent acquisition and retention
   Unfortunately, we heard that the tightening resource landscape hasn’t gotten any better. Skilled people are harder and harder to find, and the skilled people you already have may be increasingly tempted by other opportunities. Obviously, there’s a need to find talented people, but there’s also a need to make the lives of the talent you have already as easy as possible. That means having solutions that are easier to manage, or that can be managed for you.

   Our customers continue to struggle with resource constraints, but it’s a driving factor for the need to standardize on just a few, strategic vendors, too. We heard from our customers that ease-of-use, ease-of-adoption, and ease-of-management are high on the list of criteria when weighing the pros and cons of their partners. And again, while I’m biased, I think the Imprivata difference is our ability to deliver solutions that take into consideration both security and workflow efficiency.

4. Managing cybersecurity risk (and cyber insurance) is a top challenge
   Cybersecurity continues to be a top concern for our customers, and one that we’re committed to partnering on. We know that the risk environment is only getting more complex, and ensuring the security of information is only getting more difficult. Ransomware, phishing, and other cyberattacks are on the rise, with no signs of slowing.

   A related problem is how difficult it is for our customers – but, really, everyone – to get and keep cyber insurance, and keep costs down. In this evolving reality defined by increased cyber risk, cyber insurance is no longer a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have. While Imprivata can’t help with answering all of the questionnaires you’re like to get, we can certainly help healthcare organizations maximize cyber insurance strategies and provide a look into the cyber insurance process.

We heard a lot from our customers about what they’re struggling with, but we also heard a lot of optimism. We heard “thank you” quite a lot – for many things, but especially our unwavering commitment to our customers during the height of COVID-19 when we offered additional, no-cost licenses. We heard excitement about the power and future of digital identity, and in our decision to continue to direct focus toward identity governance, mobile, and vendor access solutions.

The Imprivata team truly came away from HIMSS23 feeling reenergized, and ready to get back to work for our customers. We’re in awe of the work they do, and the patients they support, and we’re so grateful that we get to be a part of the journey.