How healthcare institutions can sustainably reduce their IT costs

More leeway through the integration of used software solutions

In the health sector, the cost pressure on the respective facilities, such as hospitals or care providers, has been high due to the existing system for many years. Unlocking efficiency potential in all areas is therefore a priority task for the responsible management in day-to-day business. 

In the hospital sector, the financial situation of many companies is extremely tense after the pandemic years. The next imminent reform of the federal government, as in the past two decades, will only provide short-term relief. Structural changes in the system and more individual leeway for the various health care institutions are needed to prepare for the future challenges. In this context, the digitalisation of administration as well as cross-disciplinary communication and diagnostic development through AI-supported applications and instruments will play a major role.

The goal is to reduce IT costs without sacrificing quality in day-to-day business and thus gain new financial leeway for urgently needed investments. In this blog post, we show how this can be successfully achieved with optimised licence management through the integration of used software.

How health facilities reduce their IT costs without risk

Our experience shows that most IT managers are already looking for pratical solutions that can be implemented in the short term in order to create new room for financial investments. The optimisation potential in the area of software asset management is increasingly coming into focus for healthcare groups and individual healthcare facilities, as the workplace-related requirements are very different. For example, considerable savings can be achieved in the area of organisation and administration as well as internal communication by using used on-premise software. Price advantages of up to 70 per cent compared to the latest licence version are possible and this is audit-proof, compliant and without quality losses in daily use. The annual savings gained in this way can then be invested elsewhere, for example in necessary cloud-based software solutions. It is not without reason that hybrid cloud models have enjoyed increasing popularity for some years now, especially in the hospital sector. 

The examples of the following health care institutions underline the reasons for a successful use of second-hand software:

Example 1: Asklepios profits sustainably from used software

The healthcare group Asklepios is one of the leading private operators of hospitals and healthcare facilities in Germany and employs more than 67,000 people at around 170 locations nationwide.

In this customer case, the managing director of Asklepios IT Services explains how he found a legally compliant and scalable solution after the end of support for various operating systems and applications with used software licences from PREO, with which he was able to reduce ongoing licence costs by around 50 percent without compromising quality.

Example 2: Medius Clinics prefers used software instead of cloud solution

The Medius Clinics are a non-profit company of the Esslingen district with 31 specialist medical clinics, 22 health centres and over 3,000 employees.

In this customer case, you can find out why the IT managers decided against the current Microsoft cloud solutions for the subsequent licensing of application software and operating systems and were thus able to achieve savings of 50 percent in ongoing licensing costs.

Example 3: Demmin District Hospital has relied on second-hand software for years

The Demmin District Hospital is one of the most modern hospitals in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with around 350 employees, 193 beds and 10 places in the day clinic.

Find out in this customer case why the IT managers have been relying on the advantages of used software licences from PREO for years and why, in addition to the financial advantages, the 100 percent audit security through the special Safe3 system plays a decisive role.

Additional advantage: sell software licences no longer required to PREO

The secondary software market not only offers health care facilities the opportunity to reduce their IT costs by purchasing used software. Additional income can be generated by selling existing and no longer needed licences to PREO. The basic prerequisite for successful asset management is the regular review of the software inventory based on current and future needs.    

Whatever the current licensing needs of your health facility, PREO's licensing experts will be happy to advise you on the advantages of buying or selling used software.

Inquire now free of charge

Why used software is currently particularly worthwhile in the health sector

The optimisation of existing software assets for the respective needs of a health facility remains a constant challenge in order to reduce IT costs and gain new financial leeway. More and more IT managers therefore rely on the advantages of used software licences, especially for widely used standard software from Microsoft, such as Windows operating systems and servers or application software like MS Office, and integrate them into their software architecture. The reasons for this are manifold and convincing:

• Since software does not age and does not wear out, used licences are in no way inferior to new goods in terms of functionality and security.

• Some used licences are up to 70 percent cheaper.

• Current Europe-wide price increases for Microsoft cloud products of 11 percent on average reinforce the financial savings effect. 

• Companies with high security standards in the areas of data security and data sovereignty, such as hospital companies, large care facilities or health insurance companies, continue to rely on on-premise solutions in order to reduce external dependencies such as vendor lock-in. 

• By using already established and well-known software, downstream savings can be achieved, for example through a reduced need for training and fewer internal support requests.

• An increasingly important factor for the use of second-hand software is the entry into a resource-saving circular economy as well as the extension of hardware cycles under the keyword Green IT.

Not only for healthcare institutions: Used software from PREO pays off several times over

We are one of the pioneers in the European trade with used software licences and market leader in Germany and offer medium-sized and large companies as well as public administrations a large selection of used volume licences at any time, with which they can sustainably optimise their current licence costs and benefit several times over:

• High savings in ongoing licence costs of up to 70 percent compared to the respective new version.  

• 100 percent legally and audit-proof licence acquisition with maximum transparency in all processing steps including complete documentation in the PREO licence portal "Easy Compliance".

• Many years of expertise in the integration of used software licences in classic network structures or hybrid licence models.

• Detailed market knowledge and extensive experience through the audit-proof transfer of over one million used software licences.

• Existing capacities for software licence management in large IT infrastructure projects with thousands of workstations and transnational locations.

• Convincing reference projects for healthcare institutions as well as other well-known companies from a wide range of industries.

Inquire now free of charge