to choose Office 365. In addition this makes more room for using Share Point for collaboration efforts as well as having video and other capabilities that are built into Office 365. If you ever had to monitor and take care of Exchange on a client/server operation, then you will appreciate cloud services for sure. With 65,000 mailboxes you can bet the IT folks were happy to have this come along. I don’t know how many of the opt in services are included but having connectivity with social networks is also a huge help and this could give more time to the IT folks to work on their “risk” business intelligence items which are always at hand with insurance companies.
In addition Blue Cross has a bit of money tied up with their own BI ventures which you can read about at the link below as the parent company moved to San Francisco to start yet one more incubator. BD
Blue Cross Venture - Blue Health Intelligence Proving to Be Very Costly And Received Another 9 Billion From Undisclosed Source–Subsidiary Watch
Press Release:
REDMOND, Wash., and INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — June 14, 2012 — WellPoint Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced WellPoint’s completed migration to the cloud that includes its internal 
productivity platform and more than 65,000 email boxes. WellPoint collaborated with Microsoft to deploy Microsoft Office 365, which allows associates to collaborate in a virtual environment, share desktop screen views, host virtual meetings, instant message and streamline communications. This yearlong process included a multiphase migration to the cloud environment. Office 365 allows the more than 37,000 WellPoint associates to communicate via chat, video and audio.
WellPoint’s affiliated health plans serve nearly 34 million members, more than 62 million people through subsidiaries, and are continuously working to improve the customer experience. The collaboration with Microsoft is expected to provide the support needed to help give customers the best service in the industry. When associates can communicate in a collaborative, efficient manner, customers receive prompt, efficient service.
WellPoint is working toward more coordinated care management delivery for customers, which includes access to the latest medical evidence and accurate and complete member information contained within a security-enhanced cloud environment. This technology serves as the foundation for WellPoint’s internal communications, with WellPoint’s goal to eventually offer the same collaborative communications to affiliated health plan providers and customers.
“We are leveraging the cloud and Office 365 to achieve new levels of collaboration internally,” said Andrew J. Lang, senior vice president and chief information officer, WellPoint Inc. “Our next step is to enhance our collaborative communication capabilities to our affiliated health plan members and our health care plan provider partners by enabling solutions that help in improving the coordination of care.”
“In today’s hypercompetitive marketplace, health plans must focus their limited resources where they matter most — empowering people and teams to deliver exceptional customer experiences, be more productive, and respond quickly to change and opportunities,” said Dennis Schmuland, chief health strategy officer, U.S. Health and Life Sciences, Microsoft. “For WellPoint and other health benefit organizations, an always up-to-date cloud service such as Office 365 offers the agility to respond quickly to change and opportunities, and by substantially reducing IT operating costs, it frees resources for more strategic uses.”
About WellPoint Inc.
At WellPoint (NYSE: WLP), we believe there is an important connection between our members’ health and well-being—and the value we bring our customers and shareholders. So each day we work to improve the health of our members and their communities. And, we can make a real difference since we have nearly 34 million people in our branded health plans, and more than 62 million people served through our subsidiaries. As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, WellPoint serves members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as the Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), and Wisconsin. In a majority of these service areas, WellPoint’s plans do business as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, or Empire Blue Cross (in the New York service areas). WellPoint also serves customers throughout the country as UniCare and in certain California, Arizona and Nevada markets through our CareMore subsidiary. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com
About Microsoft in Health
Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world through software innovation. For over 16 years, Microsoft has been providing a broad portfolio of technologies and collaborating with partners worldwide to deliver solutions that address the challenges of healthcare providers, public health and social services, payers, life sciences organizations and consumers. Today, Microsoft invests in technology innovation and works with health organizations, communities and over 20,000 partners around the world to make a real impact on the quality of healthcare.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.
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