InformationWeek

December 22, 1997

McKesson Adds IT Unit

Company to set global IT standards for drug distribution business

cKesson Corp. is creating an IT organization to leverage its data warehousing and Internet efforts in the competitive area of pharmaceutical distribution. The $18 billion company named James Watkins to the new position of CIO for the organization charged with developing and implementing a common IT architecture for pharmaceutical distribution.

Watkins, who will report to McKesson VP and corporate CIO Carmine Villani, joined the San Francisco company in 1992 as a director in the company's IT division after a 20-year career at IBM in services support systems. He was most recently a senior VP for IT.

Watkins is also charged with reducing costs by eliminating redundant efforts and operations. His organization will work with McKesson General Medical-a medical-surgical supplier to physicians, clinics, and long-term-care and home-care sites-as well as Medis, McKesson's Canadian subsidiary, and Nadro, a M exican pharmaceutical distributor in which McKesson has a minority interest.

McKesson has been selling off its businesses that are unrelated to pharmaceuticals while acquiring related businesses. Medis was procured in 1991; a 23% stake in Nadro was taken in 1993; and General Surgical was purchased earlier this year. Watkins is expected to help combine the systems of the acquisitions and improve McKesson's ability to operate internationally.

In the United States, McKesson's intranet and extranet allow its mobile sales force as well as customers to access the company's data warehouse for decision support using sales data. Says Watkins, "In the distribution business, the Internet is still in its infancy stage, and we have to look at how we want it to play out here."

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