The pharmaceutical sector is one of the most regulated ones in the country but at the same time it is also one that has been high on the digital transformation agenda. The Pharma Leaders Connect program organized by APAC News Network in conjunction with Schneider Electric recently in Mumbai included a panel discussion on precisely how the pharma companies are leveraging digital for better efficiency and operational excellence.
The panelists included Narendra Saini, CDO, Lupin, Aniruddh Galgali, Director – Strategy Europe and Emerging Markets, Cipla, Dr Manjul Joshipura, Sr. Vice President, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Senthil Kumar V, Vice President, Business Head, Industrial Automation,
Schneider Electric and Kishan Kendre, Global Head- Information Security, Sun Pharma. These tech stalwarts from the pharma sector focused on the key challenges faced by the industry in
terms of efficiency, quality, and productivity.
The panelists also deliberated on staying up-to-date with the latest digital solutions and technologies in order to remain competitive in the pharmaceutical industry. Subsequently they predicted the impact of digital solutions on the future of the pharmaceutical industry, and the new opportunities emerging as a result.
Narendra Saini emphasized that even while going for digital, the pharma companies still have to focus on their top lines as well as improving their margins. “We need to look at measurable RoIs even in case the returns take one or two years in coming,” he added. “Five years back the question was do we need to invest in digital, but now that bridge has been crossed. Today I would not look at investment in a digital project in isolation but rather creating a digital ecosystem,” Saini concluded.
Aniruddh Galgali especially focused on creating this digital ecosystem and ensuring that it runs smoothly and successfully. “All mainstream pharma companies today have multiple stakeholders involved in the system and not just the internal stakeholders. There is the whole doctor community, distributors, retailers all involved. They are all you internal customers and stakeholders. You cannot start running digital projects in isolation but look at involving all these stakeholders to get meaningful measures of your RoI,” he added.
Dr Manjul Joshipura was more candid and forthright about the industry pressure to get automated and invest in IT and digitization. “When we are talking about Pharma 4.0, to invest in IT has become a norm for every top company. Be it the sales operations or marketing or your manufacturing setups, you are looking significantly at going digital now,” he added.
Coming from a cybersecurity background, Kishan Kendre put forward a different perspective. :”With data mostly moving from on-premise to cloud, there is need to audit the scale of technology and digitization that is being deployed across organization,” emphasized Kendre. With data automation happening at the same time as the industry needs to conform to regulatory requirements, there is a big challenge to secure your operations too.
Senthil Kumar focused on more intelligent data coming from connected devices and the neec to follow more precisely the industry protocols and the process controls. And finally, there is the need to analyze the intelligent data to optimize the productivity of the business.
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