Microsoft Azure (Microsoft) > Case Studies > Allscripts' Agile Transformation: Leveraging Azure for Cloud Migration

Allscripts' Agile Transformation: Leveraging Azure for Cloud Migration

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Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries
  • Healthcare & Hospitals
  • Life Sciences
Applicable Functions
  • Human Resources
  • Product Research & Development
Use Cases
  • Construction Management
  • Infrastructure Inspection
Services
  • Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
  • Training
About The Customer
Allscripts is a leading healthcare software manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. The company serves physician practices, hospitals, health plans, and Big Pharma. Thousands of hospitals, health systems, community practices, and pharmaceutical companies rely on Allscripts software to deliver smarter, more effective patient care. The company makes a wide range of software applications used by a spectrum of healthcare players to build open, connected communities of health. Pharmaceutical companies use Allscripts software to run clinical trials more efficiently. Hospitals and clinics use its electronic health records, financial management, and population health management systems. And, hospitals and pharmacies use its electronic prescribing solution. By collaborating with payers, health plans and programs, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, and employers, Allscripts has a panoramic view of the care process and uses that perspective to develop innovative tools that lower costs, improve care, and enhance both patient and provider satisfaction.
The Challenge
Allscripts, a leading healthcare software manufacturer, was facing several challenges. The company had to ensure that its infrastructure was secure, available, and performed well as a portion of its client base consumed its products using a software as a service model. Allscripts maintained six development/non-hosting datacenters around the world but wanted to curb datacenter sprawl and consolidate and centralize these facilities to reduce costs, simplify management, and increase security. Synchronizing the hosting and software development sides of the business was also challenging due to a siloed methodology that introduced inconsistent product deployments and support issues. In 2017, Allscripts acquired two companies with datacenter assets that needed a home, and fast. The two companies brought dozens of applications and Allscripts had nowhere to put them and their 1,000-plus virtual machines (VMs). The applications included a mixture of older versions of Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server, which were facing end-of-support challenges, and the remainder ran on the Linux operating system, which presented migration challenges of its own.
The Solution
Allscripts chose to rehost its newly acquired assets in Azure. The company’s decision was influenced by the Azure platform’s global datacenter footprint and its significant security posture, particularly with regard to healthcare regulatory compliance. Using a lift and shift strategy, Allscripts rehosted the acquired applications to Azure infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings—Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Storage, and Azure Virtual Network—in just three weeks. For one of the acquired companies, Allscripts used Azure Site Recovery to replicate on-premises VMs to Azure and then fail the VMs over from the primary site to the Azure datacenter. For systems that could not be migrated to Azure, Allscripts moved them to an Allscripts datacenter and set up a VPN between that datacenter and the Azure datacenter in hybrid fashion. For the second acquisition, Allscripts took advantage of the Azure Hybrid Benefit, an offer that lets customers reuse their existing on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses in Azure and realize licensing savings of up to 82 percent.
Operational Impact
  • The migration to Azure has dramatically accelerated both Allscripts' acquisition time and new product development time. The company has been able to shut down older, inefficient datacenters and focus more resources on developing great software. This has given Allscripts a competitive edge in the market. The company has also been able to transform its products faster and more cost-effectively in the cloud. By using Azure, Allscripts has been able to proceed with all manner of clever ideas that were previously off the table because of high development costs. The company has also been able to enhance its product functionality quickly and continuously and give clients the flexibility to deploy small enhancements or not.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Rehosted the acquired applications to Azure in just three weeks, compared to the three months needed to requisition servers and storage.
  • Moved 500 development VMs running critical healthcare applications to Azure using Azure Site Recovery.
  • Realized licensing savings of up to 82 percent by reusing existing on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses in Azure.

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