The Way Forward for Life Sciences: A New Digital Strategy
(3 minute read)
Although most life sciences businesses had already started down the path toward digitally transforming, the impact of the current pandemic has created a greater sense of urgency. Seemingly overnight, pharmaceutical and medical device companies saw a significant surge in demand – all while struggling to address supply chain disruptions and adjust to production capacity issues and workforce constraints.
As they work through these issues, life sciences businesses will likely put a greater focus on digital technology to ensure they are better prepared to handle future disruptions. But the traditional approach to digital transformation, based on large-scale implementation projects, will not work. Today’s environment requires a nimble approach that allows a business to pivot and refocus as business conditions change.
We believe the path forward will be a service-based approach to digital transformation that provides a quicker, smarter way to respond to changes in technology, in the industry and in the business.
Challenges and Opportunities in the ‘New Normal’
In this new environment, the life sciences industry is being forced to deal with several challenges that can also become opportunities for future growth:
- R&D and Product Lifecycle Management: The ability to speed up product development while maintaining the health and safety of patients is critical. In order to do this, life sciences companies need to use structured and actionable digital data to replace paper-based processes and better automate manual work.
- Supply Chain Risks: Current disruptions to the supply chain have presented serious challenges for the storage, handling and transportation of products under temperature-controlled conditions. There is a growing need to have visibility to the global inventory of life-saving drug batches/lots and serialized medical devices across the entire value chain – from source of supply, to distribution, to the end patient.
- Manufacturing and Logistics: It has become increasingly challenging for life sciences manufacturers to keep up with supply volume for high-demand items; especially when subcontractors are operating at lower capacity due to labor shortages. In some cases, this has caused life sciences companies to partner with competitors (co-opetition) or across other industries to meet the demand for life-saving drugs, vaccines and medical devices.
The Path to a New Digital Strategy
The path forward for the life sciences industry will require a renewed commitment to digitally transforming the business. However, the traditional approach no longer makes sense. Life sciences companies need a more streamlined approach that will make their transformation efforts faster, more flexible and forgiving.
This new approach is Digital Transformation as a Service (DTaaS). No matter what your business challenges and opportunities may be, NTT DATA Business Solutions has an approach that allows you to capitalize on new opportunities without a massive capital investment, and with the ability to pivot and refocus as business conditions evolve.
- A dynamic technology roadmap to plot your course
- A flexible delivery model so you can pivot, as needed
- Subscription pricing – simple, easy, affordable
This new approach can help you break down barriers so your business can continue to grow – even in these uncertain times.
For more information about how your business can rethink its digital strategies, I encourage you to download our e-book, Rethinking Digital Transformation for the Life Sciences Industry.