IBM muscling in on IDEO?

I always like to see a bit of stepping on toes in the corporate industries, mainly because I am a massive gossip queen and love the drama. Naturally in a professional capacity any movements made in the tech sector is also of great interest but if we are just talking brass tax then, mainly the gossip. I was therefore incredibly excited when I found out that IBM looked to be muscling in on IDEO’s medical profile, ad seeking to bring their dogs to the race in this sphere. IBM have long wanted to get into the medical side of things however and we have seen for a number of years that they have been trying to develop certain hardware and software, as well as bidding for contracts within the medical sector. 

Room For Two?

Now on the face of it you may say that there is probably room for both IBM and IDEO in the medical environment and you’d be right, assuming that they were delivering on different areas which, well they aren’t. IBM are looking at a wealth of options in terms of what they can create to deliver high quality service to the medical sector and IDEO already have most of those locked down. This therefore is very much an act of war on the part of IBM, who clearly believe that they are going to be able to create higher quality systems and become a global leader for healthcare around the world. 

Instruments 

The real money maker in the medical sector is the instruments which are used, ventilators, x-ray machines etc. What IBM believe that there is scope for, and somewhere which IDEO don’t seem to be massively focused is on is creating machines like this which have the ability to communicate throughout the hospital. IBM have a number of prototypes which look hugely impressive and which essentially will see them creating intelligent machines which will be used as new hospital instruments. For my money if IBM are able to deliver on their promise then there is no reason for the medical environment to work with both companies, as IBM will have blown the opposition completely out of the water. 

Opinions 

The head of IBM’s business consulting services had this to say when asked about what the future of IBM in medicine looked like:

“Increasingly, our clients are seeking new insights into customer needs, innovative design ideas and ways to harness technology to create breakthrough products and gain market advantage. This capability makes IBM Product Design Consulting Services a valuable complement and unique differentiator to the Product Development and Delivery solutions we currently provide global electronics clients,”

I don’t know about you but for my money that certainly looks like a call to arms and spells out a key area of the future of the technology giant. Regardless of my particular passion for the gossip, this is still a very newsworthy story, watch this space.