IT Strategies to Address the Semiconductor Chip Shortage

We’ve all heard about the chip shortage currently upon us. I’m not talking Doritos here, but semiconductors. These are used in everything from servers and PCs to cars and toothbrushes, and the manufactures of those little silicon jewels cannot make them fast enough. Pandemic-related supply chain issues still plague chip manufacturers’ ability to catch up. And while they’re building new fabrication facilities and getting them equipped to ramp up production, this requires time and money for the very expensive machines needed to make chips. The current forecast is that the chip shortage will last sometime into 2023.

What does that mean for IT groups and your organization?

We’ve seen longer wait times on deliveries of servers, computers, firewalls, switches and all electronic devices used in business—often months. This makes it more difficult to onboard new employees who need PCs, add server capacity, and help practices and clinics grow to meet patient demand. As the available supply of finished electronics that rely on chips limits your ability to get the devices, you need to consider your options.

Be more flexible

We’ve seen significant price increases in the available supply of computers and electronics, so you can pay more if you can find the device you want. But that’s not your only option.

By being more flexible in the configurations you require (CPU, RAM, disk storage), many more computers are available to you. Another option is to consider used or remanufactured equipment when purchasing. You can also extend the life of your current PCs by updating the operating system, refreshing them with a clean install, or installing a new OS such as Windows 11, which ships in November. Look at purchasing hardware warranties as well, to extend the life of those older computers.

Consider the cloud

Another strategy to consider is moving more of your computing needs to the cloud. We lift and shift servers from their on-premises location to the cloud on a regular basis. Most on-prem servers run at 20% to 30% utilization, while cloud-based servers generally run at utilization rates in the 50% to 80% range. And adding resources to a cloud server requires the flip of a switch and reboot to expand. This saves time, resources, and money as you grow your organization.

Remote desktop services (RDS) allow you to run PC workloads in the cloud. MTS is very good at delivering electronic health record (EHR) applications to clients using RDS running in the cloud to users’ desktops in the office and in their home offices as well. These applications are securely delivered standalone or as part of a desktop session. Line-of-business applications, accounting applications, and many productivity applications can be delivered in this way as well.

New offerings such as virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI) allow you to run your entire PC in the cloud and use an existing (old) PC, Mac, or tablet to access your VDI. Now a user’s entire desktop runs in the cloud, with all the applications and security that they require. Adding a new user requires creating a new user account, assigning them to a desktop, and delivering them their logon credentials. Presto, they are onboarded and ready to work. And they can use any device with a web browser or remote desktop app to logon.

Look to a partner for help

MTS is built to securely deliver the cloud to our clients. We build security into every solution we deliver, make it scalable to grow with your company, and support it so your practice can continue to serve patients without the worries and hassles of day-to-day management of all that is required to deliver these technologies.

As we all deal with not only the changes wrought by the pandemic, but also the challenges of the chip shortage, you do have options to manage the shortage. Assess what IT assets you have today and how you can extend their life, replace what you must, and consider the cloud and all it has to offer. Then give us a call to help!