28 February 2008

At the recent Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society 2008 Conference and Exhibition, Microsoft announced it has signed a joint marketing agreement with SAP America Inc, a subsidiary of SAP AG, through which the companies have agreed to work together to deliver solutions that meet the unique needs of the healthcare industry. The companies’ collaboration will seek to help healthcare organisations increase operational efficiency and reduce costs using software to automate and streamline processes that are today often manual or based on cumbersome legacy technology. The companies will focus their healthcare collaboration activities in the United States.

“Healthcare is a complex industry, with slim margins, tight budgets and high administrative costs,” said Tim Smokoff, general manager of healthcare for the worldwide public sector team at Microsoft. “There is tremendous opportunity for these organisations to lower those costs and create value through the power of software. Together with SAP, we want to help the healthcare industry realise that value.”

For the healthcare market, the two companies will collaborate to leverage existing technologies including Duet, their joint product to provide seamless access to industry-leading SAP business processes and information via the familiar Microsoft Office environment. Health organisations could gain a great deal by streamlining processes for their managers with Duet, especially when it comes to people and suppliers.

“SAP helps healthcare organisations integrate industry-specific administrative processes in order to drive efficiency,” said David Corbett, vice president of the US healthcare practice at SAP America. “Duet is a great example of the groundbreaking co-innovation between SAP and Microsoft; through this joint go-to-market initiative, Microsoft and SAP will enable providers to further streamline processes and drive down costs, all while improving the overall quality of care.”