Top IT Challenges for Pharmaceutical Companies
Pharmaceutical companies are facing greater complexity, price pressure and increasing security threats. All require innovative technology solutions to help drive operational efficiency, data and system security and regulatory compliance.
What are the top IT challenges and possible solutions for pharmaceutical companies today?
1. Changing Regulatory Requirements
Digital health care is driving many innovations across industries, especially pharma. However, companies, industries and regulators are not always in sync when it comes to developing sound compliance protocols. Automation, for example, is revolutionizing the way companies address many processes, including the documentation and reporting required for compliance.
Companies need to be responsive to rapidly evolving market demands, while at the same time meeting the changing, different, and detailed regulatory requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European markets and other regions.
However, for pharma companies to rely on automation and other emerging technologies, there needs to be greater confidence in core areas, including:
- Data integrity and validation
- System integration
- Excel and SharePoint management
Data are often stored in silos and accessed via different platforms. Companies need to integrate data while maintaining integrity. Low confidence in data accuracy can cast doubt on internal researchers and regulators, prompting the need for better data analytics tools. Automation solutions allow pharma companies to reduce the costs of data management, improve data quality and add operational value. Those improvements allow companies to get treatments to market faster while ensuring no harm to patients.
2. Complex Supply Chains
Supply chains are integral to pharma success, whether in pharma R&D or manufacturing. A complex network of suppliers, vendors and partners need to communicate, collaborate and share information in real time. Transparency and speed are critical.
That means having the right solutions in place for data sharing, communication, document management and collaboration.
In addition, sourcing and validation are vital, however, to keeping illegal, tainted, counterfeit and stolen substances out of the supply chain. The U.S. Congress adopted the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCMA) in 2013 to address these concerns. These traceability requirements for prescription drugs have affected manufacturers, distributors, repackagers and dispensers. These requirements have forced manufacturers to have tools that allow for greater transparency throughout the supply chain.
Dispensers, for example, cannot accept product ownership without a full transactional history. Standardization and streamlining efforts have helped the industry, but technical solutions are still necessary to make sure compliance for the entire supply chain.
3. Cybersecurity
Intellectual property (IP) is a core asset for pharma companies. Protecting these IP assets is critical and often rely on securing a company’s data. With the growth of cyberattacks, companies need broad and deep protection at every level. Addressing the range of cybersecurity threats — malware, ransomware, phishing and viruses — means equipping companies with multiple defenses.
At the network perimeter, next-generation firewalls are needed to monitor potential intrusions and suspicious behavior. Throughout the infrastructure, changes need to be tracked and anomalies alerted to security personnel. At the device level, desktop computers and mobile computers need powerful anti-malware protection that is automatically updated and constantly monitoring.
To address their critical IT needs, pharma companies need a proven partner with industry-specific experience. BCS CallProcessing offers a full suite of IT services designed to meet your company’s greatest needs. To learn about BCS solutions in cybersecurity, managed services, telephony and video collaboration, data storage and monitoring, and WiFi networking, contact us today.
Learn about BCS’ solutions for pharma companies
Related Content
