If you’ve worked in tech long enough, you know we love our acronyms. We invent new ones, recycle old ones, and assign new meaning to the familiar. One term that’s evolved dramatically in recent years is “edge.” Once shorthand for laptops and workstations, it now represents something far more complex and far more critical, especially in healthcare IT.
What Is Edge Management?
To understand Edge Management, it helps to take a step back and look at how computing has evolved. We’ve cycled between centralized processing (mainframes, data centers, cloud) and decentralized models that bring compute power closer to where data is generated.
That’s the edge: local, real-time data collection and processing that improves performance, speeds response times—and supports devices engineered for unstructured data. And in today’s healthcare environment, that edge is expanding rapidly.
Smart Tech at the Bedside
Once smart technology entered healthcare, the edge wasn’t just about devices. It became about experiences. Digital front doors, connected beds, smart monitors, cameras, mobile workstations, and even autonomous robots delivering meals and linens now live at the edge. Add in computer vision for inventory tracking, spatial computing for clinical training, and AI tools that support bedside decision-making, and the edge is no longer a fringe component. It is central to care delivery.
More devices also mean more data. And more challenges for already overextended IT teams trying to balance cost containment, staff shortages, and patient safety.
Managing the Data Tsunami
Most hospitals have experienced slow but steady data creep over the last decade. The result is a mountain of unstructured data scattered across devices that often run on proprietary or disconnected operating systems.
Without clear policies for retention, backup, or recovery, healthcare organizations risk losing visibility into critical information that could inform diagnostics, workflows, and resource planning. That is why edge management is not just an IT priority. It is an operational imperative.
You also can’t talk about data without talking about security. According to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, only 54% of known edge vulnerabilities were fully remediated across healthcare organizations, and the median patch time was 32 days. Exploitation of these edge devices accounted for 22% of vulnerability-based breach entry points.1
Where to Start: Practical Steps Toward Healthy Edge Management
We couldn’t resist borrowing from Aerosmith’s Livin’ on the Edge:
“Tell me what you think about your situation / Complication, aggravation is getting to you…”
That lyric hits home for many IT leaders trying to wrestle control of a sprawling, unmanaged edge. The good news is that you are not alone. There are tangible steps you can take.
Start by naming edge management as a strategic priority within your IT steering committee. Then define outcome-based goals tied to measurable value: reducing endpoint loss, standardizing security protocols, or decommissioning outdated infrastructure.
Here are a few sobering data points:
- 60% of healthcare breaches involve the human element, including phishing, credential theft, and social engineering.1
- Phishing remains the dominant social engineering technique, with new tactics like prompt bombing growing in popularity.1
- Ransomware appeared in 44% of all breaches, up from 32% the year prior, with many attacks traced back to phishing emails or compromised credentials.1
If you’re launching an AI initiative, use it as a forcing function to evaluate the entire edge environment. Are those smart devices patched? Are logs being monitored? Are you capturing the data they generate in a way that supports clinical goals?
And don’t forget your traditional endpoints. Laptops and bedside tablets might feel “old school,” but they remain some of the most common weak points.
Need Help Getting Started?
Edge management doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Connection’s Healthcare Practice can help assess your current infrastructure, identify gaps, and develop an edge management strategy that supports both IT priorities and clinical outcomes through our solutions and services.
1Verizon, 2025, 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report
Jennifer Johnson
Jennifer Johnson, Director Healthcare Strategy and Business Development, joined Connection in 2010 starting in field sales and joined the healthcare practice in 2015. Jennifer has more than 20 years in IT, including prior roles in distribution and manufacturing. Jennifer holds her Certified Digital Health Leader designation from the CHIME organization and is a member of HIMSS, where Connection is a diamond sponsor. Jen was named CRN Women of the Channel in 2023 and 2024 and holds certifications from NVIDIA (AI Advisor- Sales) and Dell Technologies (AI Champion- Partner Sales).
