Tech challenges facing digital health start-ups and SMEs - Part 2 – Are you overspending on data storage?

Breakthrough technologies like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) are changing the outlook of patient care. However, one challenge looms: many businesses are overspending on data storage and vast quantities of patient data is being stored and accessed. 

According to IT Brew, “In 2022, a Flexera survey of 753 businesses found they considered just 68% of their cloud expenditures as efficient on average, meaning just short of one-third was being squandered. A recent Aptum poll of 400 senior IT professionals from organizations with at least 250 employees found 52% admitted cloud inefficiencies had led to significant waste.”1 

As Chief Technology Officers, it’s our role to help tech start-ups and SMEs navigate the complexities of this growing concern. Optimising data storage is essential for both efficiency and cost-effectiveness. 

Facing the data storage challenge in digital health head-on 

Healthcare organisations are generating massive volumes of data at an unprecedented rate. From electronic health records (EHRs) to medical imaging files, wearable device data, and genomic information, the influx of data is overwhelming traditional storage infrastructures. This flood of data adds strain to existing resources and can increase costs, leading to significant overspending. 

However, the biggest issue is a lack of data strategy, leading to organic growth with no real thought behind it. What happens is, costs start creeping up with no controls in place. 

With a data strategy you will categorise your data and identify how it needs to be accessed, stored and secured. This allows you to have different storage types which will have different costs. Most companies will just dump all data into a database until it becomes too unwieldy or expensive. By that point it’s a much bigger job, as you need to cleanse, transform and migrate. 

You’d be in a much better position if you put a strategy in place as soon as possible because it’s cheaper to put the effort in at the very start. 

What’s causing healthcare businesses to overspend on data storage? 

The digital healthcare data explosion 

From online pharmacies to wearable tech, the increase in digital health technology and stringent regulatory requirements demanding secure data retention has led to an explosion in data volumes. Every patient interaction, diagnostic test, or monitoring device generates data, driving up storage needs. 

Strict security for digital health data 

Data in the healthcare sector is very firmly under lock and key. When accessing and using patient information, businesses have to comply with strict security and compliance regulations, such as the NHS Act 2006, the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Health & Social Care (Safety & Quality) Act 2015, current Data Protection Legislation (the Data Protection Act 2018) and GDPR. Safeguarding data integrity, confidentiality, and availability adds layers of complexity and cost to data storage solutions. 

Forgetting to refine data storage in digital health 

Poor data management practices, such as not reviewing redundant storage, lack of data tiering, and inadequate capacity planning, contribute to overspending. Without keeping track of your data storage and continually checking on its capabilities, you risk not using your resources to their full potential. This lack of management can lead to unnecessary expenses. 

Best practice advice for managing data storage in digital healthcare 

Take a multifaceted approach to ensure you’re not overspending on data storage. Combine technology with strategic management practices.  

Here’s our advice:  

1. Introduce a data lifecycle management strategy to classify data based on its value and use. Organising data based on its relevance and how often it’s accessed allows you to optimise storage resources and reduce costs. Data that’s used a lot can be stored on high-performance storage tiers. You can then archive less critical data using lower-cost, long-term storage solutions. 

2. Cloud computing offers scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, making it an attractive option for a digital healthcare start-up or SME grappling with data storage challenges. Using cloud-based storage solutions, you can offload the burden of infrastructure maintenance and use resources based on demand. By acting this way, you’ll be able to manage costs while ensuring the data is secure yet still accessible. 

3. Schedule time to regularly compress data and remove duplications to reduce storage footprint and costs. There’s an abundance of internet services that can help you remove redundant data and make the most of storage utilisation. 

4. Use predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms to forecast your future storage requirements. You can proactively scale storage resources to meet business needs by analysing historical data usage patterns and finding trends. Proactive planning should help reduce the risk of overspending. 

5. Consider introducing Software-Defined Storage (SDS) that decouples storage hardware from software, giving you greater agility and flexibility in managing storage resources. By taking storage management functions and automating tasks, SDS can help you to use resources efficiently and adapt to changing workload demands. 

6. Prioritise data security and compliance by introducing robust encryption, access controls, and audit trails. Compliance with regulatory requirements safeguards sensitive patient information and reduces the risk of costly data breaches and regulatory penalties. Both of which can harm more than your bank balance.  

Digital healthcare start-ups and SMEs can confidently tackle data storage challenges by understanding what’s causing the overspend and applying best practices to improve its use.  

Embrace advances in technology, adopt strategic management approaches, and prioritise cost-effectiveness to unlock the full potential of your data, drive innovation and improve patient outcomes. 

Read part one in our series on Tech challenges facing digital health start ups and SMEs – personalised healthcare. Or, if you’d like to find out how our CTO services can help your business scale and grow in digital healthcare, get in touch.