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Pharma Industry is Going Big on Data and Digital with KanBo

The overarching burden of expectations on the pharmaceutical industry in the post-pandemic world has redefined how pharma companies approach business practices while ensuring efficient operational excellence.

Any large enterprise including pharma organizations has no choice but to embrace big data and digitization to acquire the competitive edge they need to succeed in the overcrowded and cutthroat market. With a multitude of new companies and entrants, with data-and-digitization-backed success, looking to undercut the big competition, established pharma companies have been forced to reshape their planning and strategy so they can continue to be a dominant force in the market. What this means is that they are in a predicament where they need to allocate resources to go big on data and digital.

The organizations that fail to adapt in terms of embracing digitalization will find it more and more difficult in the future to compete. That being said, major pharma organizations are now taking digitization and big data seriously but they also realize that their objectives cannot be achieved without overcoming a myriad of challenges, bottlenecks, and hurdles. Digitization of a large-scale business requires absolute informational transparency, work visibility, security, and agility and such infrastructure is often challenging to create. This is where KanBo offers a comprehensive solution for pharma companies who want to go for digital transformation as well as digitization. KanBo brings a digital strategy software that can be deployed by large enterprises that don’t want to deal with the challenges associated with digital transformation.

Understanding Digital

When we talk about ‘digital’ in general, it usually means anything related to computers. However, the term has different meanings and perspectives in the context of the corporate sector and large enterprises. When an organization is said to be going or embracing ‘digital’, it has three primary components including the following.

  • Digital Strategy – This is a form of strategic management and a business answer or response to a digital question. It is often best addressed as part of an overall business strategy.
  • Digitalization – Also known as digitization, it is the process of converting information into a digital format. The result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document, or signal by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of points or samples.
  • Digital Transformation – It is a strategy that entails radical modification, introduction, and optimization of business processes with digital technology to ensure enhanced productivity and efficiency.

Pharma Industry Should Embrace Big Data and Digital to Meet Targets Specified by the UN

One of the key reasons for large enterprises, including pharma companies, to go digital is to meet their sustainability goals. As we move forward and realize the crucial significance of transforming business operations into sustainable processes, the more resources, focus, and energy we need to spend to alleviate the impact of what we do on this planet. That’s the reason why the United Nation’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs has set forth a set of targets and indicators that can only be achieved when pharma organizations embrace big data and digitalization. The key objectives include the following.

Building Sustainable & Resilient Infrastructure

The first target set by the UN is to create reliable, high-quality, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure to provide assistance in economic development and general human well-being. The focus must be on equitable and affordable access for everyone.

Promoting Sustainable & Inclusive Industrialization

By 2030, the UN expects large-scale organizations to actively promote sustainable and inclusive industrialization to improve the industry’s share of GDP and employment. These goals should align with national circumstances and the companies should aim to double their share in underdeveloped countries.

Improving Access of Small-Scale Enterprises

In developing countries, people have poor access to medical and health services, including affordable care and assistance. The pharma organizations should promote the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises.

Enhancing Resource Efficiency & Adopt Clean Technologies

Another target set by the UN for large-scale enterprises is to retrofit industries and upgrade their infrastructure by 2030 for better sustainability. They also need to focus on using clean and eco-friendly technologies along with enhanced resource efficiency and optimized industrial processes.

Encouraging Innovation and Scientific Research

By 2030, large organizations should aim to encourage innovation, enhance scientific research, and upgrade the technological capacity of their industrial sectors, particularly in developing countries.

  • Promote and assist in developing resilient and sustainable infrastructure providing better technical, financial, and technological support in developing countries
  • Provide assistance for domestic innovation, research, and development in underdeveloped countries
  • Improve quick and easy access to communication and information technology and attempt to provide affordable and widespread access to the internet

Big Data and Digitization Objectives of a Modern Pharmaceutical Enterprise

When it comes to big data and digitization, many large-scale pharma organizations have talked in length about their risks, objectives, and challenges. It means that while a number of pharmaceutical companies are considering going big on data and digital, they are also wary of the hurdles that could potentially make the transition less seamless. Let’s take a look at the factors and objectives that most pharma enterprises are currently contemplating.

Avoiding The Risk of Missed Opportunities

There is no doubt that the digitization of business processes along with big data and artificial intelligence has reshaped how the pharma industry operates in the modern world. That’s why any pharmaceutical company that’s not prepared to go big on data and digital runs the risk of missing out on opportunities. From acquisition and marketing to selling and supply chain management, digitalization has completely transformed strategic and operational paradigms. Any large enterprise that’s either reluctant or makes a half-hearted attempt at going digital is at a major risk of being left behind by their competition. As digitalization has made way for emerging business models and new opportunities to enhance health care and patient servicing while boosting business revenues and profits, many processes and trends have become obsolete. These no longer competitive strategies and procedures need to be shunned in favor of going big on data and digital.

Leveraging Advanced Data & Analytics

One of the most formidable and probably crucial goals for pharmaceutical organizations is to leverage advanced data and analytics so they can develop and nurture a culture of high-performance decision-making. The deployment of digitalization and big data means that business is now in a great position to gather, sort, process, and categorize information and present it in a highly visualized manner in the form of charts, reports, and presentations. This gives decision-makers a complete overview of the industry and they are in a much better position to make informed decisions that can propel the business and drive sustainable growth. Don’t forget that advanced data and analytics also enable businesses to evaluate different aspects of the business and identify bottlenecks and weaknesses. This means they can target their solutions at the very problems which ensure operational excellence across departments at all levels.

Enhancing Service and Product Quality

With digitalization and big data, pharmaceutical companies have the option to invest their financial and human resources into endeavors that are directly related to improving drug discovery and development. The moment valuable and meaningful data and insights are at the disposal of their departments, they can leverage the information to create better strategies, enhance business and operational procedures, introduce efficiencies, and eliminate any weaknesses and redundancies. This gives pharma organizations a much better chance to gain a competitive edge in the market with their operational excellence. Another aspect of pharma that companies aim to improve is their interaction and engagement with patients, doctors, physicians, paramedical staff, consumers, and other stakeholders. Digitization allows them to automate a multitude of business processes which doesn’t only ensure efficiency but introduces convenience and seamless experiences as well.

Improving Technology Infrastructure and Informational Quality

When it comes to introducing efficient business processes and operational systems, it cannot be done without improving data quality and enhancing technology architecture. Embracing digitization and big data gives the pharma industry the opportunity to make reforms and optimize its technology stack and overall infrastructure that translates into seamless business processes and systems. With streamlined technological architecture, departments can operate at their optimal capacity without wasting any resources. For instance, the deployment of KanBo, one of the most comprehensive work and business process management platforms, will deliver enhanced informational quality along with the ability to ensure cross-departmental transparency and work visibility. Given the times we are currently living in, the pharma industry needs to gather, process, and evaluate information on a regular basis to ensure they are prepared to provide adequate services, products, and solutions to all stakeholders. Going big on data and digitalization will allow these large-scale enterprises to manage information in a far more effective and efficient manner.

Creating a Desirable Work Environment and Culture

It doesn’t need to be said that the expectations of the modern workforce are quite different in the twenty-first century. They don’t only expect their employers to provide them with quality technology but all the tools they need to develop an efficient office environment that enhances the working experience. With digitization and access to data, pharma organizations can learn what works for their company and how they can engage their employees more effectively. This gives them the opportunity to attract and retain the best talent and skillset in the market as employees make decisions based on the culture and work environment offered by the employer. With access to data analytics and assistance from the digitalization of business processes, companies can also learn about their weaknesses and disadvantages and work to eliminate them or reduce the impact. A desirable work environment is more likely to retain the workforce allowing for improved efficiency and work quality in the long term.

Ensuring Quick and Convenient Scalability

As we have learned during the pandemic, the pharma organizations need to manage fluctuating demands of different drugs which means they have to scale up and scale down certain operations based on the demand factor. Through digitization and automation of business procedures and processes, it becomes much easier and quicker for pharma companies to scale their operations without having to invest heavily in terms of finances and labor. This ensures that the organization is agile and flexible enough to adapt to the changing circumstances without absorbing any losses for making ad hoc pivots and strategic shifts. High scalability also provides large-scale pharma businesses to expand their operations across the country as well as internationally. Digital processes and data can be migrated to different locations with relative ease while ensuring the security and privacy of sensitive information.

Investing in Research and Development

One of the biggest advantages of going big on data and digitalization is that it allows pharma companies to collect highly valuable data which can be used in the research and development of new drugs, cures, and treatments. Identifying different features, characteristics, and behavior of the drugs through automated processes puts them in a much better position to conduct targeted research which has far more chances of delivering meaningful results. This way pharma companies can create and deliver more effective solutions which is beneficial for consumers, patients, distributors, doctors, and all other stakeholders. With access to insights and analytics, pharma organizations can also hire experts and professionals who can bring effective strategic advantage for the company using available data and information.

Preparing for the Future of Healthcare

For any industry, the future cannot be imagined without digitization and big data. The pharma sector is no exception. It means that one of the most promising goals for going big on data and digital for pharma companies is to develop and foster a future-friendly brand that allows them to interact with all kinds of partners including nimble startups and large-scale industries. This will also prepare them to embrace future disruptive healthcare potentials such as artificial intelligence (AI) based digital disease management and patient care.

How KanBo Helps Pharma Organizations to Go Big On Data and Digital

Whether you are running a healthcare startup or a large-scale pharma conglomerate, when you are about to go digital, you need a focused comprehensive platform that acts as the centerpiece of your big data and digital strategy. That’s where KanBo, an agile and feature-rich work and business process management platform, can make things easier for any type of business regardless of the scale of their operations. With KanBo, pharma companies can ensure work visibility and informational transparency and don’t have to create any silos that often create an unwanted wall between different departments that need to collaborate to be more efficient and effective.

It doesn’t matter if you are a top-level executive or a team member, KanBo has all the building blocks for every hierarchical setup of an organization.

For C-Level Executives – KanBo acts as a digital headquarters

When the upper management is searching for strategies, projects, tasks, knowledge, internal communication along with news, organization community connection, and integral applications, they can rely on KanBo to get access to anything they want. The software isn’t just a comprehensive and agile work management platform but a digital headquarters that acts as the cornerstone of your digitization strategy and deployment. With KanBo, the top-level executives of pharma organizations can see the big picture in the form of an overview and have immediate access to reporting in a visualized form. This enables them to make quick but high-performance decisions that can have a positive impact on the overall organizational strategy.

For Citizen Developers – KanBo provides a low code platform for convenience

When we talk about low-code, we usually refer to a visual approach to software development that enables faster delivery of tasks, projects, and applications through minimal hand-coding. Low-code platforms democratize app development, particularly for the “citizen” developers — who are fundamentally business users with little to no formal coding experience, such as business analysts or project managers. These tools enable less technical employees to make a larger business impact in numerous ways, such as relieving IT department backlogs, reducing shadow IT and taking more ownership over business process management (BPM) workstreams. This brings a more efficient and streamlined operational architecture which is fundamental in embracing big data and digitization.

For Citizen Developers – KanBo as a no-code platform for those with zero experience

No-code development platforms (NCDPs) allow programmers and non-programmers to create application software through graphical user interfaces and configuration instead of relying on traditional computer programming which can be far more complicated. Coding requires a certain level of skill and experience which many middle managers and employees might not have. No-code development platforms like KanBo are closely related to low-code development platforms as both are designed to expedite the application development process. These platforms have both increased in popularity as companies deal with the parallel trends of an increasingly mobile workforce and a limited supply of competent software developers.

Information Workers – KanBo is a work organization platform for projects and processes

Simply put, a process is a well-defined procedure that involves a sequence of steps that need to be taken in order to produce a result, whereas a project is a temporary course of action that aims to deliver a distinctive product, service, or result. For managing and handling these processes and projects in a seamless manner, KanBo provides a focused platform with all the features required by the employees. Using the building blocks of the software, information workers across a multitude of teams and departments can coordinate and collaborate effectively.

Final Word

We’re living in a new world where an astray virus is now dictating the terms. In these tough times, if any industry has a responsibility to meet mounting expectations, it’s the pharmaceutical sector. In a cutthroat market, it is no longer an option for the pharma companies to embrace big data and go digital – it’s now a necessity. Any company that doesn’t take digitization, automation, AI, and big data seriously is going to find itself in trouble in the coming years. However, the goals these pharma organizations want to achieve and the challenges they have ahead of them are at odds with each other.

This is a problem that can be solved with a comprehensive and agile work and business process management software like KanBo that ensures security, informational transparency, work visibility, and operational agility.

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