Unique perspective on Digital Transformation, 4 different views on the challenges across the Pharma Industry

Current Digital frontiers for Diagnostics, Operational Technology, Data, Commercial & Marketing 

The technology industry has always been an incredibly fertile ground for buzz words and pseudo trends with ever shorter life cycles. Concepts, tools and technologies are mushrooming. The energy is high for digital transformation, countless projects are being piloted – many fail to scale.

While there is no alternative to experimenting and constant learning, their experience is that, through robust strategic planning and a large dose of discipline, many pitfalls can be avoided. 

Hernan, Jens, Mark and Neyran are working in different parts of the healthcare industry within Switzerland. They are a multidisciplinary team, with experience in engineering, operational technology, diagnostics and commercial; with significant experience in stakeholder engagement and management.

They share a passion for the digital transformation of the healthcare industry with a focus on improving the lives of patients with technology. In addition, beyond patients, they strive to  improve the experience that healthcare professionals have with their companies. Along the way, they help to create even more meaningful jobs for countless colleagues - augmented by digital tools. 

Through these common interests and their belief in collaboration, they teamed up during Covid-19 to bring together their insights which will be summarized in a series of articles appearing over the coming weeks:

What can go wrong in your digital transformation journey and how can you avoid mistakes? - Neyran Erlevent

Making legacy organizations fit for digital customer engagement - Jens Christmann

Evolving from paperless to a future adaptive digital plant - Hernan Vilas

Digital Transformation needs a back to basics enterprise approach… - Mark Holcroft

This is what you can expect:

What can go wrong in your digital transformation journey and how can you avoid mistakes?

Many companies (including pharma and life science companies) have started or are in the process of starting their transformation journeys. Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the process (or rather forced the process for many industries and companies). As companies embark on this journey they tend to make similar mistakes and fall into the pitfalls. In this article you will find my personal experiences as well as what I have learnt talking to other industry experts around common mistakes that are done (regardless of the industry you are in). You will also find tips and tricks on how you can avoid these mistakes and complete digital transformation of your company.  

Making legacy organizations fit for engaging digitally native customers

Jens will explore critical action areas for the digital transformation of the commercial operations in the pharmaceutical industry – i.e. the "front of house" functions Marketing, Communication, Medical, Sales.

Today, nearly 70 percent of healthcare professionals (HCPs) are digital natives. They no longer depend on the information from sales representatives – let alone physical meetings with them. Just adding digital channels to a company's communications mix, however, neither satisfies the demands of HCPs nor the challenges pharmaceutical companies face in the digital era. 

The forthcoming article will be based on practical insights and propose a strategic yet pragmatic approach that is scalable to the needs of pharmaceutical companies of any size.

Evolving from paperless to a future adaptive digital plant

The Pharma industry has collaborated since years to pave the way to enable a higher level of digital maturity with the aim to deliver cutting edge medicines to our patients with the highest quality.

The BioPhorum Digital Plant Maturity Model is a good example of that effort to accelerate the digitalization of pharma operations.

The adoption of new technologies has to deal with the challenge that the process must stay in compliance with the standards defined during the process development and qualification stages.

Dealing with these tensions (innovation and compliance) is key to maintaining a robust process while being able to leverage the value from new digital technologies.

Several topics are driving the agenda in the Tech Ops space and I will share my view on how the industry is approaching them:

• How to enable data-driven operations to systematically deliver Golden Batches?
• What are the IT Challenges in Cell & Gene Therapies? 
• Lab of the Future. Paving the way for In-line monitoring to enable Real Time Batch Release.
• Why Digital Tech Transfer is fundamental to accelerate time to market?

Digital Transformation needs a back to basics enterprise approach…

Everyday many of us are contacted with “quick digital wins” and “low hanging digital fruit”, the technology hype is at an all-time high. Our digital vocabulary has exploded at all levels within our organisations. 

Technology sales teams are in contact with the CEO, CFO, CDO and CIO and often in that order! The promise of an investment into software with built-in intelligence, that will solve your company's pain points. Technology is touted as the sole answer to drive down your operational expenses whilst increasing customer centricity.

Our businesses continue to rise in complexity, new models for creating value are increasing and competition is at an all-time high. Every executive on the planet knows that they need to do something with digital to remain competitive.

However I believe we need a back to basics enterprise approach, for many organisations there are multiple value chains and streams. We have complex touch points and overlapping processes, we use shared IT services to deliver critical capabilities that support our processes. We need a single approach to how we visualise and understand our business and the technology that supports it.

Technology is a clear enabler but only when you manage your business with a holistic model, we cannot continue to grow disconnected technology solutions that fix pain points in the hope of digital transformation for our businesses.  

How can we manage this complexity and ensure that our technology investments are aligned and drive a digital transformation? How can we avoid a digital folly?

About the authors

Jens Christmann 

Jens is a global director for digital channel marketing at Mundipharma International. As a member of the global digital center of excellence, he is responsible for enabling omnichannel customer engagement.  

As an expert in marketing, communications and change management, Jens successfully helped shaping acquisitions, mergers and digital transformations. He has over 15 years of professional experience in national, European and global positions. His international working experience as a global team leader in the USA and as a member of national management boards in Europe have given him a very broad perspective. 

Jens studied political science at Freie Universit?t Berlin and DUKE University, North Carolina/USA. He worked as a TV journalist before starting his career in agencies and corporations. He is married with three children and lives in the greater Basel area. 

Neyran Erlevent

Neyran works at Digital Transformation Office of Roche Diagnostics and is a Program Lead. Neyran started her career in the USA and worked in Digital Marketing Agencies focusing on eCommerce. Later on she worked as a mobile and web product manager for a large telco in Turkey. She has been working in the Healthcare industry for the last 12 years. Throughout her career she has worked in the Digital Marketing, IT and Digital Transformation fields and took several regional and global roles. Neyran has an MBA from Bentley University (MA, USA) and a graduate degree in Marketing from Harvard University (MA,USA). She is married , has one daughter and is passionate about crossfit, biking and running. 

Hernan Vilas

Hernan leads the Global Operations Technology and Digital team of Lonza Pharma in Basel, Switzerland.

He has 20+ years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical industry responsible for large-scale programs in different areas like Manufacturing Operations Management (MES/MOM), Data & Advanced Analytics, Shop Floor Serialization and Cell & Gene Therapies.

As an industrial engineer by education, he has a passion for technology and innovation; able to identify industry trends, disruptive technologies, best practices, and assess their possible impact on the company strategy.

He is passionate about driving digital business transformations through the use of digital technologies and innovative business models to improve performance. 

Mark Holcroft

He is leading the digital transformation for Lonza where he holds the role of Chief Digital Officer. A strategist that connects business needs and technology to capture new value. At Lonza he is focused on a data culture transformation that will build the foundations for a digital business.

He has over 20 years of professional experience in technology, primarily in pharmaceuticals but also in banking, chemicals and laboratory testing services. He has worked across cultures in a number of global positions driving the technology direction.

Mark is originally from the UK but has been working in Switzerland since 2012. He studied biological chemistry at Leicester University.