Application Rationalization: Creating Capacity for What Comes Next

Application rationalization is about more than reducing the number of technologies a health system supports. It is an opportunity to simplify the environment, improve value, reduce burden, and create capacity for future innovation.

In a recent episode of the Visionary Voices podcast, Charity Darnell, Vice President and Assistant Chief Information Officer at Methodist Health System, spoke about her organization’s approach to application rationalization. One of the highlights of the conversation was Darnell’s insights into how application rationalization is less about cutting, and more about clarifying.

“I think cutting applications to cut them isn’t or shouldn’t be the goal. I really think it’s about why are we doing that? We want to be bold, we want to be future-facing, we need to ensure we don’t have a thousand applications that we’re trying to support, so where do we start?” said Darnell. “But I think it’s about lifecycle management. I think it’s about looking at what tools we have in our tool belt today, and how we can partner with those vendors moving forward, and then taking some of those smaller chunks out where we’re not utilizing technology anymore and really getting rid of those (applications).”

Download our infographic to learn the five key takeaways that all application rationalization projects should consider.