There’s truth to the saying you have to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes

In the case of a OneSign implementation, the answer may surprise you. New acquisitions / deployment of technology usually starts in the IT department; It’s one of the perks, right? They get all the new shiny gadgets and gizmos to play with and explore before deciding if it will work for the end users. This works great for a lot of technologies: iPads, the newest phones, a new email client, anti-virus software, disk encryption and a whole lot of other software and hardware. This works well because the technology works the same for everyone, but is this the right approach for Single Sign-on/Authentication Management? Not always, consider the end user that’s using the technology.

Let’s look at a desktop in a busy hospital – lots of different users throughout the day: doctors, nurses, case managers all logging on and off the same computer and accessing different software. That’s a whole lot different than a desktop PC that a single user sits in front of in IT. What about lab users? They usually have gloves on all day, so fingerprint authentication won’t work for them. And the software is not used the same way. So how can IT make all of the recommendations? That’s like asking me how to design a surgical floor layout.

My personal and professional advice is that if you really want to help improve something for others, you have to fully understand the details of what they do, where they do it and how they do it. This will help both of you. You will know better how customize the solution whether they work in Radiology, Endoscopy or wherever. The end user will appreciate that you took the time to understand their specific role and requirements. They want to be involved. It is in their best interest because they are going to be using this in the end.

Consider the end user, where the computer is physically located and how and what the end users will access. Then focus on how can you increase speed and efficiency for the end user. Solutions should be customized for different groups so that end users are more efficient in their day to day tasks and in the end, the IT department will shine.

Scott Richards

Scott is a member of the Professional Services team as a Technical Deployment Manager . He has been with Imprivata since 2006 helping customers deploy and manage OneSign successfully in their environments.