Microsoft announced new AI tools for healthcare organisations during the 2023 HLTH conference this week which could directly challenge Google, according to GlobalData tech analyst Amy Larsen DeCarlo in an industry update.
Despite the large quantities of data produced within the healthcare sector, only 3% of it is used according to research by the World Economic Forum.
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By combining AI and analytics, Microsoft’s new Fabric platform provides companies with analysis of structured and unstructured healthcare data from electronic health records, labs systems, and medical devices.
The result of Microsoft’s release, says DeCarlo, is a “healthcare portfolio that stands out in a crowded space.”
Fabric’s ability to unlock the potential for an overwhelming, and underutilised, volume of data could lead to faster diagnoses and therefore treatment of patients.
DeCarlo points out that Microsoft has heavily invested in its healthcare portfolio and developing an “exceptionally strong partner ecosystem”, but still faces a highly competitive healthcare sector where its competitors are investing a similar amount of time and money.
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By GlobalDataShe also notes that AWS and Google Cloud are pitching their own territory within healthcare, especially when it comes to AI solutions.
Despite this, DeCarlo reinforces that the medical sector is traditionally slow in adopting emerging information technologies.
“It remains to be seen how eager the medical profession will be in broadly tapping artificial intelligence for clinical insights,” she states.
Whilst 17% of businesses answered that they had a very high rate of adoption for AI technology in a 2023 GlobalData market readiness survey, a further 35% of respondents stated that they currently had a low adoption rate.
