Google LLC today said that its cloud business is working with nonprofit healthcare organization Highmark Health and Tapestry Inc., a publicly traded fashion company, to support their information technology modernization efforts.

Pittsburgh-based Highmark is a major regional health insurer and hospital operator. It also has a presence in a number of adjacent areas such as vision care. Highmark, Google said today, has inked a six-year contract to build a software platform on Google Cloud that’s aimed at reducing administrative work for clinicians and allowing them to access patient information more smoothly.

The system will be called the Living Health Dynamic Platform. The plan is that it will use Google Cloud’s analytics and artificial intelligence features, as well as the Cloud Healthcare API service, which provides a way to import clinical data such as MRI scans into the search giant’s cloud. The latter service includes privacy features for anonymizing medical files and managing the process of requesting patients’ permission to use their data.

The Cloud Health API is one of a growing list of industry-specific cloud solutions that Google has launched as part of a strategy to win more business from customers in major vertical markets. The company launched its newest industry-specific offering for the healthcare sector only weeks ago.

Highmark is hiring 125 extra staffers to support development work in the Living Health Dynamic Platform. Additionally, the group and Google will create a joint panel, officially the Highmark Health-Google Cloud Data Ethics and Privacy Review Board, to oversee how the the platform processes data. The panel will work to ensure “uses of data are consistent with prescribed ethical principles, guidance, and customer expectations of privacy,” the companies said. 

“The Living Health model takes the information and preferences that a person provides us, applies the analytics developed with Google Cloud, and creates a proactive, dynamic and readily accessible health plan and support team that fits an individual’s unique needs,” said Dr. Tony Farah, Highmark Health’s chief medical and clinical transformation officer.

The other cloud deal Google announced today is with Tapestry, the New York-based operator of the Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman luxury fashion labels. It’s a multiyear contract to move Tapestry’s  SAP SE business management software to Google Cloud.

So far, the deal has seen Tapestry shift its deployment of SAP’s S/4HANA suite of enterprise resource planning applications to the platform. The project was carried out with the help of consulting firm Lumen in about three and a half months. One of the benefits of the migration, Google said, is that Tapestry can now use its Network Intelligence Center diagnostics service to pinpoint connectivity issues that may be causing issues for online shoppers. 

SAP workloads are a big focus for the major cloud providers because the German firm’s software is extensively used by big businesses. Last year, Google introduced a dedicated program to help companies move their on-premises SAP deployments to its cloud, while rivals have been actively targeting  SAP customers as well.

Photo: Google