Specialization and Global Reach Characterize the IT Services Landscape — Digital Healthcare and Productivity

Specialization and Global Reach Characterize the IT Services Landscape — Digital Healthcare and Productivity: "Specialization and Global Reach Characterize the IT Services Landscape By Wendy Wolfson April 10, 2007 | While the low hanging fruit was harvested in the first wave of healthcare-IT outsourcing, both national and global companies now report that the biggest opportunities lurk in niches. Moreover, traditionally entrenched players like EDS and Oracle are ceding ground to new global companies, say observers. Even modest IT services companies that deal mainly with community hospitals are tapping employees located outside U.S. borders. Stir into this frothy market the steady growth of software provided via an application service provider (ASP) model, the growing desire by healthcare providers to outsource billing, and the ongoing need for systems integration and suddenly the outsourcing landscape looks more nuanced and complicated. 'The healthcare domain is becoming more specialized and competitive,' says Anubhav Saxena, associate vice president of HCL Technologies, in Sunnyvale, Calif., a division of a $3.8 billion company of 41,000 employees, operating in 17 countries. Healthcare-IT comprises around 5 to 8 percent of HCL's revenues.