SDMS Estimates 30% Time Savings On Infrastructure Management After Their Cloud Migration

Anyone who’s ever had an ultrasound understands how important it is for a skilled sonographer to decipher the image. Since 1970, the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) has promoted and educated members in the science of diagnostic medical sonography. SDMS is the largest association of sonographers and sonography students in the world, and their small IT department makes their work possible.

“Our department is a strategic partner that enables and drives the core mission of the organization,” said Scott Farmer, Chief Information Officer at SDMS. “By leveraging technology effectively, we help the organization achieve its goals more efficiently and competitively.”

As a not-for-profit organization, SDMS runs with limited resources, both in budget and headcount. It’s a challenge for the IT team to manage physical equipment and invest in the latest technologies. Each team member also wears multiple hats, from performing system maintenance to updating websites. “We’re all over the map,” Farmer added.

The team was stretched thin, and their physical infrastructure prevented them from moving the department forward—specifically, taking the big step of moving their servers off their physical building premises and onto the cloud.

The Right Solution At The Right Time

Lumen previously partnered with SDMS to provide internet services with Lumen^® Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), and the Lumen team asked if they were interested in moving their environment to the cloud.

The timing couldn’t have been better. SDMS was approaching the end of their contract with their existing provider and was looking for a partner to help with a cloud migration. They knew their previous operating model was not sustainable, and in order to reduce costs and better insulate themselves against risks like outages, they turned to Lumen.

Lumen provided cloud consultation services for migrating specific servers and applications to Microsoft Azure while addressing challenges related to authentication, web servers and SQL servers.

Flexibility in project timelines was essential. Farmer said that adhering to a strict project schedule would have been tough due to the team’s daily priorities.

“Lumen was able to provide us with an estimated timeline based on the required number of hours to complete that project versus a rigid calendar schedule. It worked perfectly for our organization,” he added.

A Sigh Of Relief For The SDMS Team

After the migration, Farmer and his team noticed a substantial boost in infrastructure performance. Farmer noted, “Data transfers from our partner APIs occur much faster. Additionally, the reporting being pulled from our data warehouse responds much quicker.”

They see optimal performance during peak times and experience increased uptime with a reduced risk of server failures. “In our Texas office, we were constantly dealing with the power going out on stormy days. We can breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing we don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Farmer shared.

Their new cloud-based environment emphasizes enhanced security, and website maintenance is a breeze since the Azure content management system streamlines updates. “It’s easier for our staff to go in there and do the day-to-day content updates through that content management system because its performance is so greatly improved,” said Farmer.

Optimizing Costs And Resources

With the flexibility to scale resources up or down based on demand, the SDMS IT team can efficiently handle peak loads without over-investing in infrastructure, leading to enhanced resource utilization and cost management.

“By moving to the cloud, we’re able to reduce capital expenditures on hardware and infrastructure,” said Farmer. “Our operating expenses are minimized due to the pay-as-you-go pricing model. That ensures that we only pay for the resources we actually use.”

He added, “The move to the cloud has enabled us to reduce our office space requirements, so we’re going to save a substantial amount of money just on rent alone.”

Farmer predicts moving to the cloud will likely save SDMS 30–40% of the time previously allotted to maintaining physical infrastructure. Without the need to maintain on-premises servers, the team has lowered costs and freed employee resources, and these benefits ripple out to the rest of the organization.

“The cloud offers a robust and reliable infrastructure with high availability, leading to improved performance and satisfaction for our members, who we ultimately serve,” noted Farmer. “Hopefully, that will lead to increased revenue because we will retain membership and gain new members.”

For any team with limited budgets and heavy time constraints, “I would recommend Lumen to anyone,” Farmer concluded.

Lumen technology and expertise enabled the SDMS IT team to stay lean and agile while delivering an upgraded experience for SMDS staff and members.

To hear more about how Lumen customers made their businesses more robust and secure, check out more customer success stories.

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