It’s almost impossible to name an industry that hasn’t been transformed by technology. But as technology advances, so do the opportunities for transformation.
Consider two of the biggest industries in the US: Healthcare and Financial services. Not coincidentally, they’re also two of the most affected by new business demands and new technologies.
Healthcare
This industry was burdened with cost challenges even before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act; now, the industry has been mandated to improve patient care and reduce costs. It must get better at identifying patients with chronic conditions, to shift services from in-patient care (more expensive) to outpatient care (less expensive).
One of the best ways to tackle these challenges and achieve transformation is to focus on making data-driven decisions—that is, using data to predict trends. Being truly efficient about this, of course, means compiling data from a variety of sources. In healthcare, these days, this means being able to compile and analyze data from electronic medical record (EMR) applications, from medical devices that are part of the growing Internet of Things and even from social media.
Financial Services
This industry is more likely to be for-profit than nonprofit, but the challenges revolving around whom it serves and how well it serves them are still the same. Financial services firms are facing increased competition from online banking services as well as from a burst of new payment options for consumers (if consumers pay for 
everything from a stored-payment app on their smartphone, that will reduce a bank’s transaction fees).
Just as in healthcare, financial services firms must arm themselves with data for better decision-making. They must get better at improving customer relationships, identifying growth strategies and addressing competition while continuing to manage risks. What services are customers looking for? Which services cost more to deliver than to reap in profit? What are customers saying on social media about their banking and financial relationships? The insights are out there, waiting to be aggregated.
Simplifying Data-Driven Decision-making
Unfortunately, pulling together all the capabilities necessary for developing data-driven systems—hardware, software, deployment—takes time and expertise, something that many organizations are short of. That’s why Microsoft, HP and Sogeti have banded together to help organizations with their transformation needs.
Together, they have crafted a set of systems and services, a converged solution, to give organizations a head start on their data-driven decision-making. Microsoft contributes its Analytics Platform System (APS), which helps organizations address any number of structured and unstructured data analysis challenges.
Hewlett-Packard contributes its HP’s ConvergedSystem 300, combining server, storage and networking technologies in a single enclosure. It’s optimized for high-performance virtualization workloads, and can be expanded with onboard storage to create the equivalent of eight servers.
Sogeti brings them both together, with not only years of implementation and analytics experience, but also insights into how organizations use data and how they can best benefit from it—no matter what the source is.
Visit the IDG KnowledgeVault today to view the following assets:
- Three Videos: Data Driven Decisions for Healthcare
- Infographic: Big Data Storage Analytics
- Brochure: Data Driven Decisions for Healthcare
- Tech Dossier: Hadoop Integration Adds Promise (and Complexity) to Big Data Projects
- White Paper: Building a Foundation for Big Data Storage and Analytics
- Big Data Storage and Analytics: Market Pulse research results deck
- Presentation: Data Driven Decisions for Healthcare