Opus IRB uses information from clinical trial sites on serious adverse events to protect participants, but this can take several days to weeks, affecting the participants’ health and safety. So Opus IRB deployed vrSafety, developed by Umbra Global to run on Windows Azure, and became the first in the industry to achieve real-time adverse event reporting, which can help save lives and reduce risk for trial sponsors—two reasons that Opus IRB is expanding its business.

Cerner offers a range of IT solutions for the healthcare industry worldwide. In 2012, after making a case to senior management, it deployed Microsoft Lync Server 2010 with enterprise voice capabilities to 4,500 employees, avoiding US$700,000 in telephony costs. The IT team then set out to implement Lync Server 2013 and deploy enterprise voice capabilities and enhanced conferencing features companywide. Cerner expects to ease communications, improve employee productivity, and save more than US$3 million over the next three to five years.

The implementation of the Telbios platform and Microsoft technologies for CRM in healthcare enables general practitioners in the four cooperatives that operate in the Local Health Authorities in Lombardy (Bergamo, Como and Milan) to assist chronic patients. The system is part of the CReG (Chronic Related Group) project, which provides a number of disease management services centred around patient care, home telemonitoring and educating and empowering chronically ill patients. The objective of the program is to transform the traditional passive health care in active one through a program that focuses on prevention and control that improves the quality of life of the patient and drastically reduces hospitalization costs. At the present time there are 306 General Practitioners involved in the 4 cooperatives for a total of approximately 37.000 patients followed under the program.

Siloah St. Trudpert Klinikum, a leading hospital in Germany, wanted to optimize healthcare and demonstrate its pioneering endoscopic surgery to visiting physicians. The hospital decided to implement a digital operating room from medical-instrument maker Richard Wolf based on Microsoft technology that connects multiple endoscopic devices and data sources to a central control with a touchscreen interface. The solution also integrates with a video-conferencing system so that visitors can observe surgeries in real time. As a result, the hospital is optimizing patient care, enhancing medical training, and improving efficiency and workflow.

As the Federal Government introduced new quit smoking programs in 2010–11, the Queensland-based phone service, Quitline, faced a challenge. Executives wanted to deliver these new programs, but to be eligible, they had to create far more detailed reports than was possible using their current database. Using an Agile deployment methodology, Microsoft Services took the lead in a fast-paced deployment of the newly released customer relationship management (CRM) product, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. Completed in less than four months, the new CRM is a huge success. According to the Quitline Manager, a highly committed effort has created a CRM with exceptional reporting capabilities, and which staff love to use. Best of all, CRM reports, dashboards and workflows can be configured without additional coding, reducing long-term support costs.

Cryobanks International India is a progressive, growing organization that provides private stem cell banking. With multiple independent applications, the company wanted to streamline operations for its laboratory and the medical equipment business. To support its plans, ensure commercial viability and handle a high volume of customer interaction, it needed a robust, scalable and integrated ERP solution. With the help of IL&FS Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Cryobanks India deployed Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. With this, it has also seen significant improvement in its business performance. The company now saves 10 percent in time, resources and cost. The return on investment is excellent because of the quick deployment, ease of use, and automated workflows that aid faster decision-making.

City Harvest has 30 years of experience making the fastest connection between a donor with excess food and a person in need. Now, it’s making an even bigger difference. By improving internal efficiencies and external relationships using Microsoft Dynamics software, City Harvest has nearly doubled its rescued food deliveries while keeping costs the same.

Virginia Women’s Center (VWC) focuses on providing superior care to patients and has embraced integrated advanced technologies to support providers and staff in their healthcare collaboration. In March 2013, VWC was approaching its annual True-Up licensing reconciliation and contacted SoftwareONE to assist. Through a Microsoft Software Asset Management (SAM) Baseline engagement, VWC was able to streamline the inventory process, confirm the center’s licensing position, and validate management of the IT budget.

Great River Health Systems, a regional provider of healthcare, sought a better solution for medication management. To improve efficiency and patient care, its hospital replaced manual processes and upgraded its distribution platform with an intelligent system from Microsoft and Omnicell based on Windows Embedded. As a result, Great River has reduced delivery time of patient medication from 1.5 hours to 30 minutes, cut $400,000 in inventory costs, and expects rapid ROI and ongoing annual savings of $300,000.

The Unified Communication project will enable estimated savings of over € 850,000 per annum, generated by lower staff movement costs and reduced telecommunication expense. In addition, it is estimated that the initial investment will be recovered within 12 months.