Microsoft is all in on an enterprise healthcare strategy (MSFT, MS)

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Software giant Microsoft announced plans to shutter its personal health record system, dubbed HealthVault, effective this November, marking an ongoing pivot toward honing an enterprise healthcare strategy, per MedCity News.

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For context, Microsoft debuted the platform alongside its healthcare division Healthcare Next in February 2017. But the service fell flat, with meager user engagement. With little success from its consumer-focused healthcare play, Microsoft shifted to emphasizing its business-focused strategy.

Here’s what it means: This is the latest move indicating Microsoft is strengthening its enterprise healthcare play in lieu of pursuing the consumer market.

Microsoft recently retreated from the consumer wearables market. Microsoft plans to ditch its Health Dashboard site and the web-connected features for its smartwatch and fitness tracker Band this June, and it discontinued sales of its wearables in 2016 — just two years after they were rolled out — as it struggled to get smartwatch sales off the ground in the increasingly competitive wearables market.
And Microsoft is ratcheting up efforts to woo healthcare clients with its intelligent cloud service. Microsoft unveiled an open source platform to help healthcare organizations improve data interoperability and develop new artificial intelligence (AI) tools. This creates an opportunity for Microsoft to leverage its expertisein AI and cloud computing to deliver providers tools that can power precision medicine and population health, for example.

The bigger picture: We think Microsoft’s focus on the enterprise health market will pay off.

An increasingly competitive healthcare market has made room for Microsoft to land new enterprise deals. As more nontraditional healthcare players eye the healthcare market for additional revenue, Microsoft has an opportunity to tap into new business. For example, Microsoft landed a partnership with Walmart in July 2018 and a deal with Walgreens this January to help the two retailers boost their IT infrastructure amid Amazon’s looming threat.
Microsoft has an established foothold among US health firms to help stave off its big tech competitors. While Amazon and Google are also ramping up their focus on the enterprise health market, Microsoft has been partnering with incumbents for years. Further, over 25,000 US health organizations currently use Microsoft Cloud, according to a new Morgan Stanley report shared with Business Insider. This market position gives Microsoft an opportunity to upsell current healthcare clients and forge new partnerships.

More to Learn

In the Big Tech in Healthcare report, Business Insider Intelligence explores the key strengths and offerings the Big Four — Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft — will bring to the healthcare industry, as well as their approaches into the market. The report explains how these services and solutions are creating opportunities for health systems and insurers. Finally, it outlines the barriers that are inhibiting the adoption and usage of the Big Four tech companies’ offerings and how these barriers can be circumvented.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Tech companies’ expertise in data management and analysis, along with their significant compute power, can help support healthcare payers, health systems, and consumers by providing a broader overview of how health is accessed and delivered.
Each of the Big Four tech companies — vying for a piece of the lucrative healthcare market — is leaning on their specific field of expertise to develop tools and solutions for consumers, providers, and payers.
Alphabet is focused on leveraging its dominance in data storage and analytics to become the leader in population health.
Amazon is leaning on its experience as a distribution platform for medical supplies, and developing its AI-assistant Alexa as an in-home health concierge.
Apple is actively turning its consumer products into patient health hubs.
Microsoft is focusing on cloud storage and analytics to tap into precision medicine.
Health organizations can further tap into the opportunity presented by tech’s entry into healthcare by collaborating with tech giants to realize cost savings and bolster their top lines. But understanding how each tech giant is approaching healthcare is crucial.

In full, the report:

Pinpoints the key themes and industry-wide shifts that are driving the transformation of healthcare in the US.
Defines the main healthcare businesses and strategies of the Big Four tech companies.
Highlights the biggest potential impacts of each of the Big Four’s healthcare strategies for health systems and insurers.
Discusses the potential barriers that will challenge the adoption of the Big Four tech companies’ initiatives and how these hurdles can be overcome.

Interested in getting the full report? >> Purchase & Download It Now

Source: Business Insider – zlarock@businessinsider.com (Zoë LaRock)