8
Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators
F E AT U R E
I
s technology disruptive or an industry savior? Certainly, there will always
be an impact on interpreters and their ability to provide better healthcare.
As technology changes today, it may not be as easy as one would think to
adopt new technology.
Changing technology shapes the industry and nothing has had more
impact than the “Clash of the Titans”. There is Microsoft, Apple, Google
and Facebook, and new “Titans” emerging, like Amazon and LinkedIn, plus
others we don’t know but will be commonplace in three years. On top of
that, we have BYOD, Bring Your Own Device, which in today’s environment
is in every business from large enterprises, large hospitals to small business
and small hospital and clinics. Just like the ”Wild West” landscape of the
19
th
century in the United States, we now have the “Mobile Wild West” with
everyone packing a BYOD.
Back then, cowboys were on horses and on the open prairies. Today the
techboys are in the clouds with BYOD connecting anywhere and anyplace
over ubiquitous wireless networks. You see the signs everywhere from “Free
Internet Access” to “Wireless on Board”.
Clouds have significant impact on everything
we do today. Every application you know
and every new one that is in someone’s mind
will be “Something As A Service”. Mobile
devices are everywhere in Hospitals with the
most popular brand being Apple with iPhones
and iPads. However that may not be the future,
as Android now dominates the smartphone
market with 79% versus Apple at 13%.
The overall number of physicians using smartphones
and tablets has grown significantly. Some interesting
statistics include:
• 38% of physicians use iPads and 4 out of 5 plans to buy one.
• 75% are sending and receiving emails
• 70% accessing electronic health records
• 68% researching information on medications.
the com
new technology may dis
By DAN GATTI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HEALTH CLOUD SOLUTIONS
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2010
2011
2012
2013
ANDROID
IOS
WINDOWS
BLACKBERRY
SYMBIAN
Smartphone Platform Market Share
Sources: IDC (share); Canaccord Genuity (estimated profit margins)
