Walgreens selects Microsoft as strategic cloud provider in seven year deal

Pharmaceutical giant Walgreens Boots Alliance is making Microsoft its strategic cloud provider, focusing on connecting Walgreens stores and health information systems with a sprinkling of artificial intelligence (AI) on top. The companies have signed a seven-year agreement with various strands. On the practical side, Walgreens will roll out Microsoft 365, the latter’s enterprise suite, to more than 380,000 employees and stores, while the ‘majority’ of Walgreens’ infrastructure will move to Azure. On the conceptual side, plans include collaborating with healthcare providers and baking in the ‘fundamental design principles’ of data privacy and security, a multi-year research and development investment, as well as providing more personalised healthcare services. Among the more intriguing concrete details was the planned launch of 12 in-store ‘digital health corners’ where retailers could target select healthcare-related hardware and devices.