Until recently, quality was the highest priority in the life sciences world. Companies used to spend an average of ten years and billions of dollars researching the next big medicine to meet patient demand. Due in part to the pandemic and technology advancements, life sciences companies have now identified speed as a priority, second only to quality.Â
Life sciences companies primarily have the capability of discovery, development, and manufacturing of therapeutics. Thanks to technological advancements, we’ve moved to a world where data, analytics and technology serve as a strong component in drug development. Combining these three factors could elevate a life sciences company’s value to be greater than the sum of its parts. Â
Life Sciences Operational Challenges for CIOs Today
Life sciences companies today have access to more technology capabilities to support their operations than ever before, which has dramatically accelerated the pace of product research and development. Now, organizations are finding that their old approaches are just that – outdated and unable to scale for future growth.
For CIOs, the biggest challenge is that they’re like the restaurant staff running dishes from the back of the restaurant to the front. In other words, for a long time, CIOs have largely been in the foundational business of ensuring that any systems and technology needed were functioning properly. If they did their job really well, processes ran smoothly with no complaints or issues otherwise arising. However, if something went wrong, the CIO was to blame and was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. These days, the CIO role would better resemble the restaurant maître d’. Thanks to the transformational changes the life sciences industry has seen surrounding data, analytics, and technology, the CIO is at the forefront of the restaurant’s operation.Â
The CIO is responsible for setting the strategic direction for not just how a company will deliver on its stated objectives but also for driving the strategic direction around what those objectives should be. In the past ten years, life sciences companies have asked themselves whether they’re simply a drug manufacturer or if there are other opportunities to provide greater value to patients and healthcare providers (HCPs). This has led to a strategy that the industry unofficially calls “pill plus,†where organizations look at ancillary services and benefits that could improve the clinical outcome for a patient. CIOs are put at the front and center of not only digital transformation initiatives but identifying new potential lines of business as well.
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Life Sciences CIOs of Today and the Future
As CIOs have access to more technology-enabled capabilities and the opportunity to identify and determine new potential lines of business, they are becoming more like the restaurant owner than a host. They are the ones deciding which new dishes will be put on the menu and which point-of-sale system will be used when guests check out. In the same way, the life sciences CIO is now the one deciding which new ancillary products and features will be commercialized and how these will be delivered to the patient and/or HCP.
In today’s post-pandemic world, we’ve established the standard of a new medicine being researched, developed and commercialized within just 12-18 months. And alongside these developments, the CIO is pushed to move the additional lines of services forward to match this rate of speed. The world is moving at a more intense pace than at any point in human history, and the technological capabilities at a CIO’s disposal are increasing at an equal rate. Simply put, if a company cannot keep up with the pace of change, it will quickly find itself in a diminished position.Â
Rather than researching a business strategy for the ancillary services until it’s deemed perfect for an introduction to the market, CIOs must take a more evaluative and assessment approach to their new lines of business. Similar to software development, where they are constantly listening to customers, innovating new product features and capabilities, and releasing those new features to market on a regular basis, CIOs of life sciences companies need to look at their patients and HCPs and find out what they can do for them now, as well as how they can build on that in the future. This strategy requires immense speed compared to traditional life sciences research and development. Large life sciences company CIOs will need to embrace this new approach to break down the traditionally siloed functions to enable this type of organizational agility that will benefit not only the additional offerings but also the main line of medicine developments.Â
Conclusion
For pharmaceutical CIOs, this is an opportunity for reinvention. They can now provide value to their organizations in a way that was previously unattainable. The CIO role is well-positioned to lead the charge to implement new strategies that integrate data, analytics, and technology to drive the commercialization of new medicines, vaccines and medical devices. This way, patients will get the care they need, the right information, and the right medicine in a much more efficient way.Â
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