CVS Health and Microsoft Form Alliance for Digital Transformation

REDMOND, Wash. and WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health and Microsoft are working together to accelerate the retailer’s digital transformation. 

The strategic alliance is focused on developing innovative solutions to help consumers improve their health, while empowering over 300,000 CVS Health employees — including front-line workers — with tools to better serve over 100 million people, according to the companies this month.

Organizations in every industry — health care in particular — have “grappled with the need to adapt quickly,” since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We are rapidly transforming into a consumer-centric, integrated health solutions company, taking a digital-first, technology forward approach to all that we do,” said Roshan Navagamuwa, CIO, CVS Health. 

“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.”

Microsoft is collaborating with CVS Health on how the company manages health data at scale, improves the customer experience (CX), and drives operational efficiency, said Judson Althoff, chief commercial officer, Microsoft.

Althoff said that with the Azure cloud platform and its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, Microsoft will combine “the power of data,” the expansive reach of CVS Health’s solutions, and Microsoft Teams.

The partnership will connect health care experts and create customized care and services that enable “people to live healthier lives.”

CVS Health and Microsoft Partnership initiatives

• Customized care: By combining information from different areas across the company, CVS Health will enhance its omnichannel pharmacy capabilities and deliver customized health recommendations. CVS Health will also scale up retail loyalty and personalization programs that use advanced machine learning (ML) models running on the cloud computing service Azure. Data science will also be used to improve access to care and health outcomes. 
• Enabling front-line workers: Through the use of Microsoft Teams and Office products, CVS Health will be more agile, enabling retail employees to more easily consume key information needed to answer common questions and solve customer needs faster.
• Digitalizing operations: CVS Health is leveraging Azure cognitive services, like computer vision and text analytics for health that automate tasks. In specialty pharmacy, for example, CVS Health has digitized intake, including the 40% of prescriptions that arrive as paper or fax, helping technicians fill prescriptions.
• Expanding cloud services: CVS Health selected Microsoft as a preferred cloud provider for applications. Azure will expand the company’s “already formidable” multicloud presence to over 1,500 new and existing business applications in Azure cloud.
• Innovative solutions: Microsoft HoloLens, Dynamics 365 Guides, and Remote Assist can simplify complex procedures with intuitive tools to help support CVS Health employees. Microsoft Azure AI and cognitive capabilities can also extend to automate administrative and predictive processes and reduce waste.