Perhaps not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant increase in healthcare systems adopting digital options in order to continue providing the full range of healthcare services.
To that end, CVS Health and Microsoft recently announced a collaboration that aims to continue and accelerate that digital health transformation through AI and cloud computing.
“We are rapidly transforming into a consumer-centric, integrated health solutions company, taking a digital-first, technology forward approach to all that we do,” Roshan Navagamuwa, CIO of CVS Health said in a statement. “Business services at this scale requires a new level of partnership. Our collaboration with Microsoft will accelerate this work and empower our employees to provide quality care that is more personal and affordable.”
According to the new partners, the collaboration aims to help accelerate a data-driven, personalized customer experience. For example, CVS Health will develop retail loyalty and personalization programs that use advanced AI models, while also enhancing its pharmacy capabilities and delivering customized health recommendations when and where consumers need them.
Moreover, the partners aim to enhance retail employees’ ability to address customer needs through the use of Microsoft Teams and Office products. The new collaboration also includes a cloud expansion, with CVS Health choosing Microsoft Azure as the cloud provider for over 1,500 new and existing business applications, expanding the company’s multi-cloud presence.
The companies note that the healthcare sector is not alone in its turn to digital services to weather the pandemic. Indeed, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit study commissioned by Microsoft, organizations across all sectors, including healthcare, have accelerated transformation initiatives and have begun to rely more on digital tools.
According to the report, “(t)he survey found that organisations that were digitally prepared had an advantage in navigating the upheavals and challenges presented by the pandemic. They already had the tools and platforms to shift to remote work, recalibrate supply chains for changing demands and disruptions, and transact with customers in new ways. As the pandemic began spreading around the world, the digital infrastructure they put in place allowed them to not only remain competitive from a business perspective, but also to respond to societal disruption in a more nimble way.
In addition to exploring the use of innovative technology to support consumers, employees, and ecosystem partners, the collaboration also aims to automate administrative and predictive processes and reduce waste through digital health co-innovation.
“We are excited to partner with CVS Health on its digital transformation journey, collaborating together on how the company manages health data at scale, improves the customer experience, and drives operational efficiency,” said Judson Althoff, Microsoft’s chief commercial officer. “With the Azure platform and its AI capabilities, we will combine the power of data, the expansive reach of CVS Health’s world-class solutions, and Microsoft Teams to connect health care experts and create customized care and services that enable people to live healthier lives.”
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