McKesson Enterprise Information Solutions (EIS) and Infor™  have joined together to form a strategic go-to-market partnership that will improve customer choice and aid healthcare organizations in better managing and reducing supply chain costs.

The partnership has two major components; the first will see Infor, which acquired Lawson Software in 2012 and helps automate more than 70 percent of large U.S. hospitals, offer customers and prospects McKesson Strategic Supply Sourcing™, a unique cloud-based supply chain procurement solution that helps drive sustainable savings for medical surgical supplies through improved contract compliance and identification of cost savings opportunities. The second component of the agreement will see McKesson EIS offer Infor CloudSuite™ Healthcare, a comprehensive suite of healthcare applications including financial, human capital, and supply chain management capabilities, enabling customers to take advantage of the increased security, agility, and lower total cost of ownership available through cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP).  Augmenting EIS solutions with Infor CloudSuite Healthcare will enable EIS to further modernize its ERP portfolio and support customer evolution to cloud-based services.

“We believe industry investments in cloud-based applications will continue to accelerate, while advancing to meet hospital challenges to enable accounting, operations management and reporting,” said Russell Smith, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Workflow Solutions at McKesson. “As healthcare customers seek SaaS (Software as a Solution) ERP options, we will work to help assure their future needs can be addressed, while also helping to ensure that their departments and facilities run efficiently and effectively.”

With integration between McKesson Strategic Supply Sourcing and Infor CloudSuite Healthcare, users can experience a more comprehensive ERP Suite that provides modern architecture while also enjoying improved workflow and reduced supply costs.  This integrated suite is expected to feature the latest in cutting-edge user experience design from Hook & Loop, Infor’s Manhattan-based internal creative agency.

“Diminishing reimbursement rates and increasing government regulations are putting a financial strain on healthcare organizations,” said Michael Poling, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Infor Healthcare. “With revenues decreasing throughout the industry, supply cost control has become more critical than ever. By partnering with McKesson, Infor is able to provide customers an integrated cloud ERP suite with industry leading supply chain procurement capabilities to help drive sustainable savings within a healthcare organization.”

EIS continues to be committed to its existing McKesson ERP suite as an on premises solution, including McKesson Supply Chain Management™, McKesson Fiscal Management™, and McKesson Human Capital Management™ and its customers.  Additionally, this strategic partnership does not have any effect on the Paragon^® suite of products.

“We understand the value that our current McKesson ERP Solutions, McKesson Human Capital Management, and McKesson Fiscal Management™ provide our customers,” added Smith. “Together, with McKesson Supply Chain Management, these solutions have been multiple time winners of the annual Best in KLAS award for the enterprise resource planning marketplace. Our focus is to provide ultimate flexibility for our customers in choosing what ERP solution offering works best for their organization. By partnering with Infor, we are simply offering another ERP alternative, meeting the needs of our customers looking for a system that supports a cloud-based IT architecture.”