| As outsourcing providers climb the pharmaceutical value chain, Mark Kobayashi-Hillary at the National Outsourcing Association stresses the importance of data security in protecting and maintaining a healthy customer/vendor relationship
Pharmaceutical companies are realising far greater benefits from outsourcing than originally thought. Outsourcing in the pharmaceutical industry initially took hold as a strategy to control costs and tighten the focus on core competencies. However, this trend has developed quite dramatically, and the pharmaceutical industry is pioneering next generation outsourcing processes. Within pharmaceutical outsourcing, providers are now perceived as valued strategic partners who can provide tighter controls over important capabilities, the flexibility to meet evolving needs and, perhaps most importantly, as engines of innovation that can create value – and revenue – for the future.
There are several reasons for this move up the value chain in the outsourcing industry. Pharmaceutical companies are realising that they have a larger range of services and functions that could be outsourced than they first thought. Additionally, cost pressures are increasing, fuelled by competition from the growth of smaller biotechnology companies and pressure to reduce time to market. The specialisation offered by outsourcing providers, and their ability to make constant and intensive use of their capital, means that this move up the value chain is set to continue. Pharmaceutical companies are even outsourcing research and development in order for them to concentrate on what they perceive to be more core activities.
These outsourcing providers are now handling huge amounts of complex and incredibly confidential data. This is data that cannot and must not get lost, mislaid or accessed by anyone apart from authorised personnel. |
