In this episode of the HIPAA Vault Show, we delve into the transformative potential of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) in Google Cloud for healthcare enterprises. As more healthcare organizations look to migrate their workloads to the cloud, understanding the benefits and best practices of VDI is crucial. Join hosts Adam and Gil as they explore how Google Cloud’s VDI solutions can enhance security, compliance, and efficiency in the healthcare sector. Learn about the advantages of VDI, real-world examples, and essential tips for a successful migration. Don’t miss this insightful episode packed with expert advice and practical guidance for healthcare IT professionals!
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Transcript:
Adam Zeineddine
Hello, and welcome to the hipaa vault show, where we discuss all things HIPAA compliance and the cloud. My name is Adam
Gil Vidals
and I’m Gil Vidals, and today we’re going to be exploring the topic of virtual desktop, VDI, and the Google cloud.
Adam Zeineddine
Absolutely, we are ready to get started with that. Let’s get started with the basics. Gil, what exactly is virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI?
Gil Vidals
That’s a good place to start with the basics. So VDI is a method to have a laptop or a desktop in the cloud. So you do have to still have, obviously, a terminal at your desk, a keyboard and a terminal. And that could be a very inexpensive system. I think that’s the difference. Some people may ask, well, why would you want to have a virtual desktop if you still need to have a, a real one at your desk? But the real one at your desk would be something very, very inexpensive, like a Chromebook, for example. It costs you a few hundred dollars. And then in the cloud, you have the real desktop workstation, where you have enough cpu and ram to do all your work that you need to do on that workstation. So that’s the essence of it.
Adam Zeineddine
And what makes VDI so beneficial for healthcare organizations?
Gil Vidals
Yeah, healthcare organizations really are struggling because, as you know, Adam and others in our audience know from just listening to the news, there’s one hack after another hack in the healthcare industry. So what VDI can do for you is you have a platform where the systems are in the cloud, they’re secured in the Google cloud, which is very secure if you follow their guidelines. And so instead of having a bunch of disparate systems across, you know, huge number of employees, where some may have an old Windows system, some have newer ones, you’re able to manage the fleet very close, very closely so that you can make sure everything’s updated, everything’s running properly, and you’re able to protect that fleet of desktop systems in the cloud. And that way they’re compliant. So compliance is a big deal. And you can also scale, Adam.
Gil Vidals
So let’s say you’re either building up more employees or letting go of employees. Either way, you could spin these up quickly. You can also make sure they’re all powered off at night. So you’re saving on the cost of those because you’re charged usually per cpu hour. So it’s a very cost efficient way of handling things, rather than the old way. Compare it to buying a bunch of systems, shipping it to somebody, you’re nervous if they’re installing the right antivirus you’re nervous if they’re running updates, you’re not quite sure what they’re doing, even though you’re training them and so on. So this is a much better way of handling it, I think.
Adam Zeineddine
Yeah. Now let’s talk specifically about Google Cloud’s VDI offerings. What does Google bring to the table?
Gil Vidals
Well, Google is known for being highly reliable and a robust infrastructure for security, so it’s considered a high performance environment. And you’re also able to integrate with all the services that Google has. Now this podcast. The purpose of the podcast isn’t to go over into the Google services, but just for now, we can mention that the Google Cloud services are innumerable. Every month they’re coming up with new ones. And some of those services would be very helpful to our audience. They might say, hey, I could take advantage of this service or that service. So they’re right there in the Google cloud. And also you have advanced security features that you can take advantage of, like encryption. All the systems are encrypted in the Google cloud. So unlike a desktop system that you may have for your employee, it may or may not be encrypted.
Gil Vidals
Probably not. And so in the Google cloud, you’re going to have all these systems encrypted right out the gate. And I think that’s pretty important. You can also have threat detection enabled for these systems and access controls to protect the sensitive data in the cloud.
Adam Zeineddine
Yeah. Last week we talked about migrating vmware workloads to Google Cloud. If you haven’t already, check that out. Do take a look at it. If you’re interested in vmware migration, also check out Hipervault.com if you have more questions about this. But when it comes to migration for Google Clouds VDI to Google Clouds VDI, rather, what are some of the best practices, Gil, for healthcare enterprises that want to migrate to Google’s VDI?
Gil Vidals
Yeah, anytime, Adam, that a company is changing a platform, you have one way of doing it for years, maybe decades, and now you’re going to introduce something else. I think the best approach is to have one of the managers do it themselves. In other words, if it were me, I would say, well, if this is a great solution, let me try. So I would get a system installed in the Google Cloud that’s going to be my new desktop, from which I’ll be doing all my work. And I would get that going. I would just start using it as the manager just to see what it’s like to make sure it’s working well that it performs as expected, that it’s not cumbersome because a lot of times the manager might make a decision at it, but they’re not really using it themselves.
Gil Vidals
And then the user base, the employees, are complaining, oh, this sucks, and I don’t like it. Well, management’s disconnected, right? You’ve heard that term in management. They’re disconnected. So it’s better for management to do it themselves. Get in the trenches, try it themselves, see how they like it. If they like it, the employees will like it. If they don’t like it and it’s a pain, then they need to refine the plan. Not give up on it, but just refine it. Work with the IT department. Say, hey, this thing’s slow. We need better storage. You know, get them to fix everything and test that out thoroughly. And then after that, then make a plan and say, okay, we’ve got 10,000 employees, so we’re going to roll this out.
Gil Vidals
We need to have a full inventory of all the employees, and we need to have a detailed migration plan and then do a pilot test. Don’t, don’t roll it out to all 10,000 employees. Day one, roll it out to ten employees. And if they’re happy, do 20. If they’re happy, dollar 50, and so on until you get everybody covered.
Adam Zeineddine
And can you share some real world examples of scenarios where healthcare organizations can successfully use Google Cloud’s VDI?
Gil Vidals
Well, there are different kinds of, or different categories of organizations that have adopted this. Telehealth providers in particular, are keen to use this kind of solution. Why? Because, well, they’re used to doing telehealth. So by definition, they’re working with patients that are remote, and so they’re used to that remote access and being in meetings all the time. So for them to do something virtually, they adapt to that pretty well. Also, hospitals have adopted VDI because primarily for cost savings, they’re able to save a lot of money on maintaining this fleet of systems and desktops. So that’s another kind of organization that’s adopted that.
Gil Vidals
And then research institutions are able to benefit, because when a research institution has a new project or a new study, they need to roll out that study quickly and get all the people that are going to be on that study onto their systems quickly. So that’s a great scenario where you quickly want to build up and then when the research project’s over, tear it down. And of course, you can’t do that easily with physical desktops. That’s quite hard because you have to be shipping them in boxes via ups and setting them up. I mean, that’s a real pain.
Adam Zeineddine
Fantastic. Well, that’s all for today’s episode. We hope you found our discussion on Google Cloud’s VDI insightful.
Gil Vidals
Yeah. And if you have any questions for the audience, if you’re interested in VDI in the Google Cloud in a HIPAA compliant environment, and you want to know more about it, you know, don’t be shy. Reach out to us. There’s no cost for us to talk to you or anything like that. So just give us a ring. We can sit down with you and review it more closely.
Adam Zeineddine
Yep, hipaavault.com for that. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to subscribe and join us next week for more on healthcare data security and compliance. Stay safe and stay secure.