IT systems don’t care about physicians' work. So why should physicians worry about IT?

Dr. Ralph Durden, a physician with a well established practice, considers himself on the cutting edge – literally and figuratively. He recently moved to digital x-rays and electronic patient records. Unfortunately, however, when his server goes down, his office staff cannot get anything done because they have to revert to their old paper processes.

Increasingly frustrated with the cost and frustration of dealing with viruses and system crashes, he installed a tape backup drive to hopefully recover his information in case of a disaster.

Like most physicians, he doesn't have an IT staff, and has run into problems in the past when the receptionist forgot to change the backup tapes on schedule. What's more, the office has been using the same set of tapes for months, and they are starting to look damaged. Dr. Durden is concerned that the next memory lapse or hardware failure will result in the loss of all his data.

Dr. Durden doesn't want to deal with the IT equipment in his office. He'd much prefer a system that can run itself and be maintained remotely by a company with experience in the IT field.

IBM Lotus Foundations Start is the ideal solution for Dr. Durden, providing the storage and backup capabilities he needs, while being simple and straightforward enough for him to feel safe running it in the background.

• No-fuss, worry-free disk-based backups are frequent and automated, eliminating the need for tape drives and the associated manual changes
• In case of an emergency, information can be recovered in minutes – there is no worry of patient data not being available
• Calendaring tools make it easy for Dr. Durden to arrange and manage his busy schedule
• The included firewall provides yet another layer of protection for sensitive patient information

Lotus Foundation Start's robust backup capabilities, coupled with its ease of ownership, enable Dr. Durden to focus on the business of tending to his patients instead of his IT systems.

* Fictitious character designed to illustrate customer pain points.