Pfizer to Form Tech Venture With Microsoft, IBM (enjoy free WSJ thru work.com while it lasts)
"Drug maker Pfizer Inc., moving onto the turf of health-technology companies such as WebMD Corp., is expected to announce today that it will form a joint venture with partners Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. to sell software and services to doctors.
The new company doesn’t yet have a name or a chief executive, and the companies declined to specify how much money the participants are contributing. But in its stated goals, the venture echoes what companies such as WebMD have been trying to accomplish, with frustratingly slow results. That includes eliminating the costly administrative paperwork that ties up much of doctors’ time and automating clinical functions, such as prescribing."
If this works, it’s interesting for many reasons. IBM and Microsoft working together on a large scale is an acknowledgment to realism. A year ago all the big marketplaces projects seemed to go to Oracle. Now Microsoft gets this bid, and another one with the British government. Who’s developing the custom software in these deals? Microsoft is supposed to do only shrink wrap stuff. Is MCS (Microsoft Consulting Services) taking delivery responsibility and subcontracting to custom development shops?