Google has finally come out with a new program that supports its core brand competence. No, the program is not the newly announced ability to serve third party video ads, it’s a venture with the Cleveland Clinic designed to help patients take greater control over their medical records.
The idea of creating and aggregating one’s health information into a single patient profile (Where have I heard that word before?) is a core competence based on search that Google seems to have forgotten. If they can pull this off with the Cleveland Clinic and we can find measurable positive results in patient outcomes, Google won’t have to spend millions on other silly ideas like allowing people to place radio ads via the Google platform. This idea is big. And it’s ownable.
I have long ranted that Google has lost focus in product development. This announcement gives me hope that there are actually some people at Google with their eyes on the real prize. Google’s initial mission, for those who never knew or forgot it, as articulated by co-founder Sergey Brin was “We deliver the world’s information in one click.”