Orion Health Case Study

Long-distance relationships: when distance is just a number

Orion Health is a global, award-winning provider of health information technology, advancing population health and precision medicine solutions for the delivery of care across the entire health ecosystem.

Founded in Auckland, New Zealand in 1993, Orion Health’s focus for 29 years has been on delivering software, services and support for healthcare organisations to empower clinicians and caregivers with the right information to deliver the best possible care.

The challenge

Orion Health employs over 600 people in 15 offices across 13 countries. Its technology is used by hundreds of thousands of clinicians across the globe to manage the health care of more
than 100 million patients. It is the most widely deployed population health management platform globally, with more than 55 large-scale (regional and country-wide) solutions successfully deployed in 13 countries.

However, providing the world’s number one health information platform brings its own set of challenges, especially regarding security and device management. The vast majority of Orion Health’s staff prefer Macs — 539 to be exact. (As at January 2021.) Managing that many devices in a single office is challenging enough — spread that across 13 countries and multiple time zones, and the complexity would quickly increase without the right set of tools to keep everything running smoothly.

The solution

Long before COVID-19 forcibly introduced companies to hybrid workplaces and the joys of remote support, Orion Health already had a well-established long-distance support relationship with Imagetext.

What had begun eight years before as a single laptop dropped into ImageText’s Auckland office for a service, had blossomed into a global support programme, managing all of Orion Health’s Macs anywhere in the world.

Kenny Taig, Global IT Support Manager for Orion Health, says that two-thirds of Orion staff are ANZ-based, with another 120 in North America and approximately 80 in Europe.

“As a health software provider, we are particularly sensitive about security and run a strict no personal devices policy throughout the company. The only exception is that staff can opt to use their personal phones, but only if they have Orion Health’s security software installed. Everything else is supplied by the company,” says Taig.

Arizona-based Taig has been with Orion Health six years and says that while COVID-19 introduced additional challenges in the business environment, the company was already well positioned for hybrid and remote work practices because of its approach to infrastructure and support.

“Part of my challenge as global IT support manager is ensuring we always have the latest — and best — security systems in place. Plus, with so many of our staff being developers, we are always on the lookout for cool new tools for the technical staff. That, coupled with ImageText managing the configuration and deployment of all our Mac computers, meant Orion Health was able to quickly respond to the challenges of COVID-19,” says Taig.

Phill Wade, Head of Technical Services at ImageText, says that centralised control of configuration and management of Orion Health’s global fleet of Macs is made easier by the company’s expertise in Jamf.

“More than 50,000 companies use Jamf to support 20 million staff around the world, so it’s very much the gold standard when it comes to professional Mac business management and support suites. Plus, we’ve been working with Jamf since not long after it was founded in 2002, so we’re comfortable with its capabilities and our expertise,” says Wade.

So how does a single laptop repair morph into a global fleet support relationship?

“That’s easy. Back in 2013 an Orion Health staff member based in Auckland dropped in a MacBook Air that wasn’t powering up for a service. They were impressed with our approach to service and
obviously spoke about it when they got back to their office. And it just grew from there,” says
Wade.

The benefits

Wade says that while ImageText supplies Mac hardware in New Zealand, overseas Orion Health sources it either directly from Apple or via reseller partners, depending on the geography.

“Through the use of Apple Business Manager, Orion Health can source any Apple devices from any Apple Authorised Reseller, who then assign the serial number(s) to Orion Health’s Apple Business Manager account. When a device first powers on, it checks with Apple’s server to see if it’s enrolled — at this point it sees it is, and is pointed to their single Jamf Pro instance for enrolment. Jamf Pro then delivers the same workflow globally,” says Wade.

ImageText has worked closely with Orion Health over the years to ensure the end-user experience is as smooth as possible.

“We’ve developed a self-service portal for the users so that once the initial Jamf workflow has completed, they can install additional software as required. And we’ve constantly refined it to make sure that users have the best experience and reassurance around what they are downloading and installing.”

”Even support software like TeamViewer is inside the portal, so staff know it is safe to download and install. That makes it a lot easier if users ever need remote support. They’re not left wondering if a piece of software is safe to install — it’s inside the self-service portal so they know it’s been approved,” says Wade

However, Taig says the key to success in challenging times is as much about people and relationships as it is about technology and systems. That’s a sentiment that ImageText Operations Director Edwina Mistry firmly agrees with.

“As a company we decided years ago that for us to enjoy and believe in what we were doing long term, we had to put people and relationships first. And our ongoing experience constantly confirms this approach is the right one for our customers and for us,” says Mistry.

Almost since that first laptop repair, Orion Health and ImageText have held monthly meetings to review immediate operational requirements, business trends and emerging technologies.

“When Orion Health IT management was still based in Auckland, we would meet at their offices. In these COVID-19 travel restricted times, and with Kenny based in Arizona, it’s now a monthly Teams meeting. But our approach and our philosophy to customer care doesn’t change, regardless of whether our meetings are virtual or in real life. For us it’s a fundamental aspect of how we do business,” says Mistry.

“You’ve got to be able to trust your team, both your staff and your key partners like ImageText, to know their stuff and get the job done at the required level. For me, that meant my biggest personal challenge around COVID-19 and working from home, was learning how to switch off at the end of the day,” says Taig.