Acceleration Economy
  • Home
  • Cloud Wars
  • Analyst Content
    • By Category
      • AI/AI Index
      • Cloud/Cloud Wars
      • Cybersecurity
      • Data
    • By Interest
      • Leadership
      • Generative AI
      • Partners Ecosystem
      • Process Mining
      • Sustainability
    • By Industry
      • Financial Services
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • Retail
    • By Type
      • Guidebooks
      • Summits
      • Roundtables
      • Video Moments
    • By Vendors
      • All Vendors
      • AI/Hyperautomation
      • Cloud
      • Cybersecurity
      • Data
  • Courses
    • Cloud Wars Top 10
    • Selling AI, Cloud, Data & Cybersecurity
    • The Demise of Traditional Go-To-Market Strategies
  • What we do
    • Advisory Services
    • Marketing Services
    • Event Services
  • Who we are
    • About Us
    • Practitioner Analysts
  • Subscribe
Twitter Instagram
  • Courses
  • Summit NA
  • Dynamics Communities
Twitter LinkedIn
Acceleration Economy
  • Home
  • Cloud Wars
  • Analyst Content
        • By Category
          • AI/AI Index
          • Cloud/Cloud Wars
          • CybersecurityThe practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks.
          • Data
        • By Interest
          • Leadership
          • Generative AI
          • Partners Ecosystem
          • Process Mining
          • Sustainability
        • By Industry
          • Financial Services
          • Healthcare
          • Manufacturing
          • Retail
        • By Type
          • Guidebooks
          • Summits
          • Roundtables
          • Video Moments
        • By Vendors
          • All Vendors
          • AI/Hyperautomation
          • Cloud
          • Cybersecurity
          • Data
  • Courses
    • Cloud Wars Top 10
    • Selling AI, Cloud, Data & Cybersecurity
    • The Demise of Traditional Go-To-Market Strategies
  • What we do
    • Advisory Services
    • Marketing Services
    • Event Services
  • Who we are
    • About Us
    • Practitioner Analysts
  • Subscribe
    • Login / Register
Acceleration Economy
    • Login / Register
Home » Will Salesforce, Oracle & Microsoft Battle to Acquire Cerner for Industry Cloud?
Cloud

Will Salesforce, Oracle & Microsoft Battle to Acquire Cerner for Industry Cloud?

Bob EvansBy Bob EvansMay 26, 2021Updated:April 13, 20235 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

Nintex ad about process governance

Nintex ad about process governance

As the industry-cloud phenomenon intensifies and the major players hunt for high-potential acquisition targets, healthcare-tech giant Cerner saw its stock jump yesterday amid speculation that Microsoft, Oracle and Google could be pursuing it.

I think it would be entirely logical to add Salesforce to that list of big cloud providers that might be interested in Cerner, one of the world leaders in electronic health records and connected data across the complex healthcare value chain.

While this is rumor about Cerner is currently nothing but pure uninformed speculation, it could at the same time also be the first indicator of what will certainly become an intense effort by those companies and others to snatch up successful providers of industry-specific solutions.

Among the likely candidates to be doing such hunting: 

  • on my weekly Cloud Wars Top 10 list, Microsoft is #1, Google is #3, Salesforce is #4, and Oracle is #6; and
  • on my new Industry Cloud Top 10, Salesforce is #1, Google is #2, Oracle is #3, and Microsoft is #6.

The logic is simple: all of those huge cloud providers—as well as SAP, Infor, IBM and others—have targeted the healthcare vertical as one of the biggest and highest-potential industries ripe for focused innovation in the cloud. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has specifically stated that healthcare is the “most important” vertical market, and his company recently laid out $20 billion to acquire Nuance, an AI powerhouse with huge potential in the clinical field. I analyzed Nadella’s vision and his company’s industry-cloud ambitions recently in SAP & Oracle Beware: Microsoft CEO Nadella Declares “Industry-First Focus”.

And within that top-priority vertical, Cerner is the category king and major player, with a $23.6 billion market cap and about 24,000 employees. In a recent conversation with the head of Salesforce’s industry-cloud business, executive vice-president Jujhar Singh referred to Cerner as the “500-pound gorilla” in the healthcare space and pointedly described the various ways Salesforce has partnered with Cerner to unleash more value for healthcare providers and individual patients.

For its most recent quarter, Cerner reported that revenue was down 2% to $1.39 billion. So, while it’s not growing, the company’s got annualized healthcare-technology in the range of $5 billion from many thousands of customers across the globe. 

In addition, on its May 5 earnings call, the company disclosed that CEO Brent Shafer will be stepping down as soon as the company is able to hire a new CEO. Also, it recently hired a new CFO, and is clearly positioning itself for some big changes in how it operates. Whether that could include an acquisition is anyone’s guess, but the appetite for that type of an acquisition is very healthy among the major cloud vendors. 

Shafer’s looming resignation aside, at the company’s annual customer event in October 2020, he gave a keynote talk that included this overview of the role Cerner currently occupies in the market.

“Cerner has provided important insights and helped make clinical and operational decisions easier for more than 40 years. Today we’re using actionable data to truly transform health care,” said Shafer. “More than ever before, we have tools, technology and innovations to fight this global pandemic. Whether it’s working with health systems from around the world to set up field hospitals, sharing data to help stop the spread or delivering intelligence to better manage patients, equipment or bed availability, we rushed to support the work of health care providers across the globe.”

An article on the Cerner website highlighting Shafer’s presentation also offered this perspective on Cerner’s reach and breadth.

Using data to drive global health care transformation isn’t new for Cerner. The company – started in 1979 – has been a global leader in electronic health records (EHR) for more than 40 years. During that time, Cerner has amassed 250 million patient records supporting 80 million patient visits each year. Paired with nearly 600 patents – more than all core competitors combined, and up nearly 100 new patents from a year ago – Cerner’s investments in technology are nearly $800 million each year to improve and launch new products designed for more effective and cost-efficient heath care delivery.

If data is the new currency, it sounds like in the healthcare field, Cerner is sitting on quite the stash. And as every major tech vendor surges into the market for industry-specific solutions, that’s exactly the type of investment profile the major tech providers are looking for.

RECOMMENDED READING

Microsoft, SAP, and Google Cloud: the Bizarre Love Triangle

Microsoft & Mars: Do Customer Experiences Outweigh Revenue & Profits?

SAP Goes FinTech with Bold New Approach to Industry Cloud

The Transformational CIO: Juggling Hypergrowth, Culture, “Magnetic Leadership”

Microsoft Investing Billions to ‘Verticalize the Cloud’ for Industries

Microsoft Reveals Plan to Leapfrog Oracle, Google, Salesforce in Industry Clouds

IBM Cloud Renaissance: General-Purpose Clouds Out, Industry Clouds In

Google Cloud Hypergrowth Triggers More Billions from Alphabet

Microsoft’s Killer Acquisition: GitHub Soars 70%

Subscribe to the Industry Cloud Newsletter, a free biweekly update on the booming demand from business leaders for industry-specific cloud applications. 

 

Cloud Wars is on YouTube! Keep up with our latest podcast episodes, daily Cloud Wars Minute commentary, and interviews shedding light on the greatest growth market the world has ever known.

Cloud Wars Industry-Specific Solutions Latest Articles Microsoft Oracle Salesforce
Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
Co-Founderuser

Bob Evans

Founder, Cloud Wars
Co-Founder, Acceleration Economy

Areas of Expertise
  • Cloud
  • Digital Business
  • LinkedIn

Founder of Cloud Wars and Co-Founder of the Acceleration Economy, Bob leads the strategic direction of the global analyst network and actively covers the Cloud and Digital Business categories. Creator of Cloud Wars Top 10, a ranking and ongoing analysis world's most influential tech companies driving digital business and the digital economy. World-class strategic communicator focused on emerging business strategy, disruptive innovation, and forward-looking leadership.

  Contact Bob Evans ...

Related Posts

Workday Revs Up GenAI Innovation Via New Co-Creation Programs

October 2, 2023

Transforming Healthcare Workflow With Oracle’s Greg Pavlik

October 2, 2023

Comparing Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft Supply Chain Innovations: Finding the Perfect Fit for Your Business

October 2, 2023

Workday Revs Up GenAI Co-Creation Innovation

October 2, 2023
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts
  • Workday Revs Up GenAI Innovation Via New Co-Creation Programs
  • Transforming Healthcare Workflow With Oracle’s Greg Pavlik
  • Comparing Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft Supply Chain Innovations: Finding the Perfect Fit for Your Business
  • Workday Revs Up GenAI Co-Creation Innovation
  • The Business Impact and Opportunity of Generative AI

  • 2X a week
  • Analyst Videos & Articles
  • Exclusive Digital Business Content
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Most Popular Guidebooks

The Business Impact and Opportunity of Generative AI

September 29, 2023

The State of Process Mining 2023: Unlocking Efficiency and Driving Customer Satisfaction

July 31, 2023

How Workday Creates Agile Monetization Opportunities for CFOs

June 21, 2023

Why & How to Create a Zero-Trust Framework

June 12, 2023

Advertisement
Acceleration Economy
Twitter LinkedIn
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Get In Touch
  • Advertising Opportunities
  • Do not sell my information
© 2023 Acceleration Economy.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

  • Login
Forgot Password?
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.