07 Jan 2009

Business needs 'driving cloud take-up'

Core business needs, such as managing costs and boosting performance, were behind a leading pharmaceutical firm's decision to adopt cloud computing technology.

Dave Powers, an IT professional at US-based Eli Lilly, told John Foley of Information Week that that has been "a sense of urgency to change" at the organisation.

Mr Powers added that Eli Lilly's move to the cloud has been driven by the need to manage costs more effectively while investing in high-performance computing for the firm's pharmaceuticals research team.

The drugs company is also thinking about ways to improve the coordination and management of cloud-based IT services, Mr Foley noted in the article.

Microsoft this week announced that it is accepting entrants for the Microsoft HUG (health users group) 2009 Innovation Awards, which are intended to acclaim the successful impact IT technology can have on improving the quality and efficiency of service within the healthcare industry.