Gearing up IT for future growth…

This blog post is a look back at topics I’ve written about this year with a look towards 2012. At the start of this year I had set a goal to cover some areas. In my current job I have been able to work with clients to help solve problems across these areas.

The table below summarizes the topics I’ve written about in my blog.

This is the time of the year when predictions are made and the trends that I see for Life Sciences and Healthcare are as follows:

• Social Media – the industry has to come to grips with how to leverage these tools to create and effective means of communications to patients and doctors. I expect to see a move from one-off projects around Twitter and Facebook to a more ‘integrated’ approach to the use of social media (a more popular term being used is ‘social enterprise’).
  

• Cloud Computing – given the tight IT budgets this offers the best avenue to quickly change existing business processes to meet the needs of the organization.
• Mobility – the explosion in smart phones and tablets will drive the need for IT to give access to analytics and the data to help accelerate decision-making. Companies are making rapid strides in this area and are looking for ‘productivity’ improvements in the Sales and Marketing areas (impacting traditional CRM solutions).
• Business process improvements – I’ve discussed supply chain management yet there are opportunities to further integrate existing customer relationship management (CRM) and product life-cycle management (PLM) solutions. Now that Life Sciences and Healthcare companies have implemented their IT solutions there is still a need to find more productivity savings.
• R&D and Clinical Development – there is a huge shift in the way drug development and clinical trials will be performed. The traditional models have not worked and you can expect to see smaller investments and reduced team sizes with the focus on ‘rapid’ drug discovery and development. WE started to see how this is impacting the IT solutions necessary to do these processes.

There is economic uncertainty as we end this year. I am looking to focus on these topics to help IT organizations improve the chance for ‘growth’ in the new year.

So in 2012 I hope to also focus on these topics since they are important to me:

• Diabetes – this has affected both family and friends. Managing this disease continues to be a challenge for a lot of folks so how can IT solutions improve the lives of those touched by this disease.
• Personal Health – I have brother who continues to do well as a kidney transplant survivor and partners that are aging. What systems are being developed to help patients gather, watch and keep up their ‘personal’ data? I’ve recently started using “fitbit ultra” a device that helps check my health and log personal data. I’ll update you on the use of this device at some point in 2012.
• Sponsor a child – we live in a great country and I have searched for a way to help others. Earlier this year I sponsored a child through “food for the hungry” organization based in Phoenix, AZ. A great organization. They connected me with a boy from Nicaragua and my sponsorship pays to help improve the education of this child. I’ve done a lot investigation and would recommend this organization based on their commitment to making this a better world and the way they use these funds. You can find more information on: www.fh.org/sponsor .

On a personal note I really appreciate my LinkedIn and Twitter network. I would also like to thank my colleagues and partners who have helped make 2011 both a successful and interesting year.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and have Happy New Year.

Jim

 

Time to ‘Tune-up’ your Supply Chain

This month my focus is on Supply Chain in Life Sciences. As we head towards the end of the year budgets are being planned and IT projects are being prioritized for next year. Many companies are reviewing their current IT investments in light of mergers and acquisitions and projects that will add to the company’s business ability. My discussions have been around how best to improve your operations at a minimal cost. No one seems to want to buy new IT systems and they want to extract ‘value’ from their current IT systems.

Time to ‘Tune-up’ your Supply Chain

Ask yourself if you are getting the most from your current Supply Chain? Do you feel you’re gotten significant return from your SAP or Oracle investment? It seems everyone had one of these IT solutions. I believe the reason most companies should be looking at their Supply Chain is as follows:

1. Most firms have invested in IT solutions to help react quickly and expect demand. We now are moving to ‘collaborative’ business processes as a means for extracting added value from your partners.
2. Companies need to give supply chain ‘visibility’ so that the organization can make faster and better decisions.
3. Business process improvements need re-training for your people.

I get this now how do I get there?

The answer is to create a ‘road-map’ for your supply chain that includes opportunities (projects) specific to your business systems. The key is how to develop this road-map. You need to have the following:

• Supply Chain experts that can analyze your data and processes.
• IT ability to look at how your SAP or Oracle solutions have been installed.
• Our company has developed a unique set of tools that can analyze your Demand, Supply and Inventory.

We’ve created a project approach to this kind of analysis. Over the next few months I plan to promote this approach for Life Sciences and yet this approach is not just for this industry. I know this can be applied for any industry that is looking to get more value out of their IT investment in supply chain. As we gain traction in the market I hope to offer some proof points to this approach.

I would be interested in your comments and suggestions on this topic.

Thanks,

Jim

 

Change is inevitable…

Last month I spoke about the ‘model’ for integrating clinical operations. In this blog post we’ll review the solution that was presented at the Oracle “OpenWorld” conference held earlier this month. There is also two links to collateral that you can use to help understand how the solution works at the end of this blog post. I welcome your reaction and comments.

I’ve written about ways to improve R&D from the idea of “ERP for R&D” through “Integration” of key business processes. In summary the background issues that I think drive this solution are:

• Access to relevant data
• Getting out of the IT business within R&D
• A solution that is scalable to meet tomorrow’s business needs

How does this solution solve these issues?

Data integration

Starting with ‘Access to relevant data’ – there have been many attempts to create an IT landscape for R&D. This best-of-breed approach favors decisions that support the best solutions to meet a specific need. Yet if you take a step back and ask how I can get access to facts to make ‘key’ decisions this approach falters. The solution approach being offered starts with the premise that the user needs access to key data. Based on an individual’s role you get access to key data and permission to upload new data. This removes the user from having to make the required ‘conversions’ between solutions to create the information needed. The benefits include:

• Adaptive trials can now be easily facilitated
• Financial decisions tied to key outcomes of clinical trials can be reviewed and decided upon
• Users get to focus on the science of creating new medications and treatments and not the nuances of the technology

Getting out of the IT business – the biggest advantage to this solution is that Pharmaceutical companies can focus on their core business goals of producing new products to complex diseases.

Global access to data

You now have a scalable approach to R&D. This solution not only accommodates your scientists and statisticians you can also invite clinical research organization (CROs). Data security is also key to this solution since you may be adding other teams to help in the development of new clinical products. The solution also takes globalization into consideration as a result of today’s clinical trials.

HCL Unified Clinical Operations Platform

HCL Innovation through Integration

Thanks,

Jim

 

Integration for RandD

The purpose of this blog post is to summarize a model for ‘integrating’ clinical operations. I’ll summarize the goals for this model and describe the background and next steps around such an offering. Over the past few months I’ve been engaged with several clients in discussing how our IT Services Company could create such a platform. This new platform should meet the following:

• Lower Operating Costs
• Increase Productivity
• While maintaining Quality and Compliance

There are several very good software solutions yet we know that there is a lack of an ‘integrated’ process that can ‘unify’ the R&D clinical data landscape of IT solutions. The key here is a focus on ‘transformation’ rather than ‘yet another technology implementation.’

In a earlier blog post titled “Improving the Business of RandD” (31Mar2011) the focus was on cloud computing and how this technology could lead to an ‘integrated’ business process. Since companies would be relying on IT Service providers to host these applications. In another blog post “Is It Time for “ERP for RandD?”” (30Apr2011) I spoke to the need for integrated business processes. Now I’ll look to pull these to thoughts together for a more complete view across clinical operations.

Let’s start with the Users

This integrated approach would address users that include Pharmaceutical companies, Clinical Research Organizations (CROs), and any Healthcare entity. We would leverage cloud computing solutions to offer the users with a portal that supports:

• Single point of information capture
• With access to data by role, study and function
• Single sign-on

Content Layer

Here there is a dedicated source of content by pharmaceutical company. Various databases would be organized with content ranging from electronic data capture (EDC) to clinical and scientific data warehouse (CSDW).
Key to the content layer:

• Standards
• Dedicated source by pharmaceutical company
• Providing flexibility to support variety of data sources

Business Shared Services

Supporting the users and the content is layer of business services ranging from:

• Component user support
• Compliance
• Change management
• Staging and data migrations services
• Data reconciliation

Our team will be presenting this approach at the upcoming Oracle OpenWorld conference in October. In addition to this we will also be presenting on the topic I wrote about last month – Serialization. I am very appreciative of my colleagues – specialists in a variety of topics. What I find satisfying is in ‘stitching’ all this together. We now have several interested clients and the possible next steps are to deploy this solution and that will take some time. I would be interested in hearing from you – and your comments on “Integration for RandD.”

Thanks,

Jim

 

Gearing up for Serialization…

I recently attended an Oracle product training session for ‘serialization.’ The Life Sciences industries, and especially pharmaceutical and medical device companies, are gearing up for the need to offer product traceability. This blog post will be the basis for a possible industry presentation later this year.

Oracle product/training

There are several solutions that address pedigree and serialization. A recent article by Carla Reed provides a great background to this topic. (Reed, Carla. “Beyond the mandates: Finding business value in mass serialization and supply chain visibility.” Pharmaceutical Manufacturing June 2011: 34-36.) I can recall as early as 2006 when radio frequency identification (RFID) tags were introduced as the solution for the industry. We know that for various reasons this never panned out due to price for the tags and adoption within the industry. Today a good example of this technology is the use of RFID with the devices that help automate toll collection on the various US highways.

Alternative technologies to RFID tags include 2D barcodes. Printers can create these unique tags at a fraction of the cost of RFID tags. The Oracle solution allows you the ability to attach these tags and their associated numbering at any level within your product hierarchy. This data can then be organized into a ‘pedigree’ document for your product. This would be analogous to ‘shipping’ papers that you would normally prepare once you prepare to send your product off to a distribution center or local warehouse.

Implications for supply chain

Now doubt that technology alternatives exist to help solve the problem of product traceability and authentication. Companies today are being forced by local and global regulations for the need to provide traceability solutions. The questions for many companies is just how to go about solving this problem. Let’s first decide what you want to ‘track’ within your product and your business process. I often describe the application of technology with the use of a ‘babushka’ doll (or Russian nesting doll). Where do you want to apply a tracking solution within your product? How do you want your supply chain to track your product?

Why IT services?

An interesting comment came out of the training session when one of the attendees asked “when would I use an IT services company?” Some manufacturers have looked to their packaging and labeling suppliers to provide the ability to ‘serialize’ and track their products. This would be a great idea were it not for the fact that these suppliers lack the resources and ability to discuss the need for traceability within a ‘business process.’ This became very clear when the discussion turned to when do you apply serialized information? You see no two products are manufactured in the same way.

Some manufacturers use production order with routing to make their products and some use process orders and recipes for their products. That was a tough conversation and when I raised the fact that production and process orders can often be mixed – well let’s say that the value of IT services providers that can navigate a client’s business process answered this question.

Some next steps

In my opinion IT service providers need to offer:

• The ability to understand a client’s business process and offer cost-effective solutions to the application of serialization and product traceability.
• Provide the ability to organize a series of steps within a project to deliver a solution. You need good project management – deliverables that includes documentation (yes it is a validated environment) – with skilled resources. Ask your IT service providers if they have any ‘accelerators’ for this type of work?
• Have the technical ability to apply Oracle and SAP solutions. This is a mixed technology environment and there is no one solution to solve this problem.

I will let you know if this turns into an industry presentation later this year.

Thanks,

Jim

 

The Need for Storytelling

What does ‘storytelling’ have to do with leveraging technology for improving Life Sciences processes? In today’s rapidly changing world of technology you owe it to yourself to learn about and practice the ‘art of storytelling.’ In this blog post I want to give you a summary of why it is a vital skill to learn and practice, some basic do’s and don’ts, and a great reference on this topic.

Why it’s vital to hone your ‘storytelling’ skill

Selling technology is more difficult these days because of the way your audience process information. You’ve got more competitors looking to compete for the same business. Companies continue to ‘innovate’ and how do you offer these new ideas to the market?

Throughout your career you’ve learned to become an ‘expert’ in a given technology. Ask yourself what distinguishes you from your competitor who happens to be in the same field? I’m in IT services where success does not always mean that you have the lowest rates/cost. I constantly receive feedback that while the competition has the best price they fail to deliver on improvements to the business. Can you tell a story around why your company can do a better job delivering the same IT service?

Basic do’s and don’ts

When we prepare for bid defense or engage with a net new client I’ve often discussed how many slides we should use in a typical presentation? Many of you have ‘off-shore’ resources that can do a wonderful job in applying graphic skills to improve the look of a presentation. So here are some basic things to look out for that will hopefully improve your delivery of your ‘story.’

Do’s

• Go through a process of gathering ideas and developing a timeline for your pitch.
• Know your audience – who are you selling to….
• Manage the time to deliver your message.
• Practice your timing. Your slides should be a reminder to the audience of your topic.
• Finish early and look to engage in a Q&A.

Don’ts

• Do not use your presentation as a document. I’ve seen off-shore resources offer lots of text on each slide (simply move this to your notes section).
• Avoid the use of small fonts on your slides.
• Resist the temptation to develop your story in PowerPoint. Use a drawing tool (Visio) or Word to outline your ideas. If you collaborate with your team make full use of posit notes to organize your presentation.
• Avoid acronyms and abbreviations, and do not take for granted that your audience is ‘technically’ at your level.
• Read the text from your slide. I know this is basic presentation training. Yet I’ve seen too many presentations where this continues to happen.

Recommended reading

A few weeks ago I posted on my LinkedIn Reading list a book entitled: resonate by Nancy Duarte. The author dissects ‘storytelling’ from content through delivery. What Distinguishes this book are the examples she uses to illustrate key points. I find myself referring to this book to prepare for various presentations.
I highly recommend this book.

Thanks,

Jim

 

What is your Strategy for Mobility?

The driver for this new blog post came as a result of my recent trip to the SAP Sapphire conference in Orlando. I have an interest in technology and focus on the #mHealth (mobile health) aspects of Healthcare. It was during several discussions with key executives that you realize that few companies are prepared to handle the shift in the industry around ‘mobility’ more specifically the use of smart phones. Many IT organizations drive a strict policy around the use of smartphones. When I joined my company there was no strict policy. It is left up to the user to decide what his or her needs are and make their choice.

I previously wrote about a solution back on June 15^th, 2010 entitled: Aligning Life Sciences and Healthcare IT. Part 2 A Practical Mobility Solution for Doctors and Nurses. We delivered a system that met the needs of a client for one specific problem using one form of technology. Last year this was a great example of the use of smartphones to improve the productivity and communications between nursed and doctors in providing ‘improved’ healthcare. When I reflect back on this if the client decided to change smartphone technology what would this do to the current process in place? One statistic that highlights the acceleration of smartphones is that by 2013 that there will be 6 billion devices!

In many organizations IT can be a deterrent in today’s rapidly changing world of mobility. There are a few things IT cannot change or control:

• You have a ‘fixed’ budget
• No control over changes in ‘compliance’
• No way to expect your user’s increasing expectations

Evolving Technology versus your Fixed Budget

Users are looking to manage their time by finding ways to be more productive. As the pace of smartphones increases I believe there needs to a strategy that is ‘agnostic’ to the end device (whether you use an iPhone or an Android device). I recently ‘tweeted’ the following message: “David Mosher talks about how tablets are changing #medicine http://bit.ly/jsgDF0 RT @ONHealthcare: #mobility #healthit “ New apps are being released that can greatly improve various facets of healthcare. I am convinced technology is accelerating faster than IT policies.

Another example of how technology is changing the way IT provides support to their users. Google recently announced their “Chromebook.” In short these are laptops with no applications installed on the end-user device. Everything is running off of cloud services. So how can I lower my costs and allow for security, and at the same time give the users flexibility of using technology their most comfortable with….

• There are several companies looking to offer their own “apps” store. This allows users to easily download company specific and widely used applications.
• Deploy a mobility strategy… at the Sapphire conference I’ve seen solutions that allow IT to give access to key business processes

The SAP mobility strategy may be one choice that allows IT the ability to ‘connect’ key processes and make them on any device. This also includes the relevant data that can be used to make key business decisions. As more and more workers look to collaborate the mechanism to manage all this is ‘how fast can IT push this data out’ and into the hands of their workers to make key decisions.

IT groups must now see how they can balance the enterprise with mobility to create the ‘mobile enterprise.’ Over the next few months there is a concerted effort to prove this in the market. By providing a roadmap and tool kit to help organizations set up this mobile enterprise. Some of these components are here today and others are still being developed, and to reach this potential your mobile strategy should have the following attributes:

• Device independent
• Deliver and Enterprise – ready security solution
• Provide integration to ERP/CRM

This strategy will eventually evolve to include Business Intelligence as well as governance, risk and compliance later in the year. What I will be focusing on is the ability to help Life Sciences companies fulfill this ‘mobile strategy’ through a series of investments and proof-of-concepts. As this proceeds I will offer a future blog post to cover this story.

I’ll conclude this blog post with a reference to an interesting article found in Computerworld May 23^rd, 2011, Opinion: Halamka: Facing down VUCA, and doing the right thing.

The author, John Halamka, describes how IT leaders deal with ‘unpredictable demands; ever-changing technologies; and all on a fixed budget.’ These leaders must embrace VUCA and ultimately move from the left to the right. With the world exploding with data and businesses looking to compete in the new world the article pretty much sums up how to prepare yourself to meet this challenge and turn it into an opportunity for your business.

Volatility                      ->                                        Vision

Uncertainty                       ->                              Understanding

Complexity                ->                                       Clarity

Ambiguity                ->                                     Agility

Thanks,

Jim

 

Is It Time for “ERP for RandD?”

Admittedly this is not a new concept. When enterprise resource planning (ERP) was first introduced the focus was on integrating finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service. ERP provided the means for ‘integrating; the business processes within an organization. So why raise the topic of “ERP for R&D?” Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices develop new products in an environment that is driven more by science than a ‘business process.’ Scientists will suggest that forcing a business process into R&D limits their creativity. Today we are well aware of the problems facing R&D: lack of new products, reduced productivity, significant capital cost with diminishing results in terms of new products.

In my last blog post “Improving the Business of RandD” the focus was on the impact that cloud computing could have on R&D. Platform as a service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are alternatives that can help IT supplement their existing business process. Today contract / clinical research organizations (CRO) are being used to supplement R&D in the area of clinical development. Basic research and clinical manufacturing (in some organizations) are also being ‘outsourced.’ Given this quilt of organizations and separate business processes I’ve concluded the need for “ERP for R&D.”

 

Ultimately change will occur. I read an interesting article “Pharmaceutical Innovation Hits the Wall: How Open Innovation Can Help” by Henry Chesbrough. He writes about the need for changes to the industry’s innovation process. You may already know about the industry’s focus on ‘blockbuster’ drugs where the business is using science to find that next billion dollar product. Which comes at the price of research in seeking medications for smaller patient populations, so I contend that the business processes with R&D need to be ‘integrated’ with visibility to the data across the organization. I do agree with the point that Henry makes in his blog post that ‘there needs to a change in the innovation process.’

I have begun this journey to offer ERP for R&D as several of my customers have asked our company to give end-to-end services. I would like to see the industry focus more on new treatment and medication innovation and leave the IT to systems integrators (SI). Unlike software development companies SIs is pretty much agnostic to the software solution and more about how to drive out cost and improve IT performance.

Thanks,

Jim

 

Improving the Business of RandD

A lot has been written about Cloud Computing. In “Tech Giants look forward to Cloudy Days” this speaks to the competition between Apple, Google and others that want you to store your files on their technology. In “Here’s Why Cloud Computing Is So Hot Right Now” talks about the shift from client-server to ‘shared’ hardware located away from the corporate offices. In a earlier blog I wrote called “Managing my data…”I detailed my experiences with my data after my laptop was damaged. Learning to use and apply cloud computing is the focus of this blog post with an emphasis on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices R&D.

Lately I’ve been working in the R&D area and specifically on the business processes that extend from Basic Research through New Drug Application (NDA). Most of you have heard about the impending loss of revenue due to patent expires of branded pharmaceuticals. The question is what can be done to “Improve the Business of R&D.” For starters most companies have realized that IT is not their core business. IT is just an enabler of the business processes within a company, and most executives I know want to focus on the core business of creating new medicines and treatments. Then there is the high amount of effort needed to make sure ‘compliance’ is maintained to the local regulations, when it comes to making these products. Add to this situation if IT develops a ‘homegrown’ solutions within R&D.

In the past information technology (IT) was used to serve the needs of the R&D. Today there is a need to see how IT can accelerate the business within R&D. The example that comes to mind is how kids use technology (cell phones, laptops, tablets, etc.). They just use it to do whatever it is they are looking to do. Make it simple and the user will consume more of this technology. Today we’ve come to the conclusion that IT is not keeping up with the demands of R&D. So how can we improve this?

Cloud computing offers the ability to expand IT capacity in an ‘on demand’ fashion. We’ve begun to take this concept one step further. What if IT services providers created an infrastructure or platform ‘on demand?’ Google Mail (Gmail) is an extreme example of this where users can get access to their email through cloud computing. As more users go to Gmail capacity expands to meet the needs of the users. I say this is an extreme because the cost model for Gmail is different from a R&D model.

Imagine a day when you can ‘rent’ a process – add database capacity – replicate existing IT landscapes in the cloud. We refer to this as process-as-a-service (PaaS) where you can use any given process via the cloud. Allowing you to add new users to a business process on an as needed basis. We can also provide infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). We’ve had clients ask if we can offer the servers organized in a specific fashion to support their business process. Companies can leverage these services and get out o the IT business of maintaining and supporting these systems.

Is this a novel idea? Not really – other industries have enacted similar PaaS and IaaS solutions. What makes this different is that within Life Sciences (especially Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices) you have to discuss the regulatory aspects of your IT systems. And ‘yes’ we can support a cloud computing environment that is compliant to the FDA regulations. IT services providers would have to offer this in order for Life Sciences customers to use these solutions.

What is exciting to me is that we have the opportunity to apply cloud computing for the industry and create a fully ‘integrated’ process which, I believe, will improve the business of R&D.

Thanks,

Jim

 

Drug shortages will impact Healthcare…

Supply chain

Most of us are excited about the changes occurring in healthcare around mobile applications, electronic health records and the advent of social media just to name a few examples. Yet there is a mounting concern with the rise of drug shortages now reported at “178 a 3x rise since 2005!” A look at the FDA web site for drug shortages shows a list of both generics and branded products with the reasons for the shortages (including manufacturing delays, increase in demand, etc.). We’ll look at the background of the industry, the traditional view of supply chain, current factors facing the industry, and what companies can do to ‘improve’ their operations. Recognizing the need to convert your improve your existing operations will be good business and the consequences will directly impact you and I.

Key facts about the industry

According to IMS Health pharmaceuticals sales in 2011 is expected to reach 880 to 890Billion USD, which is a growth of 5 to 7%, and is 1% higher than the 2010 expectations. The current view of the supply chain includes:

• In the US market the top 10 pharmaceutical companies give some 60% of the total US sales.
• As products come off patent Generics control the prices of these products.
• The wholesalers may also negotiate prices between the manufacturers and the Pharmacies.

The traditional view of the supply chain

The driver for any supply chain is to offer:

• Product at a ‘reduced’ cost
• Faster to market
• Delivered at a high quality

Apply this to the previous diagram and you can see the challenges that face healthcare. As the view of the patient and pricing for these products are disconnected. This diagram gives you the full view of the Healthcare supply chain:    

 

 

 

The Healthcare Supply Chain

 

Current factors influencing the industry and the Healthcare supply chain

The following factors have influenced the market:

• Mergers and Acquisitions – have reduced the number of manufacturers as companies have consolidated to make up for the loss in patent expiry and look to increase market share (Merck and Shering Plough, Pfizer and Wyeth, and Teva and Barr Labs are just a few examples)
• Regulatory issues – it is harder for manufacturing sites to recover from an FDA violation. This delay can lead to drug delivery delays.
• Government control over pricing – as the cost of healthcare rises many governments are dictating the price of drugs (Spain, Canada, Turkey and Greece). This puts the supplier at a disadvantage to be able to deliver products at these ‘reduced’ prices given the cost for raw materials.
• Globalization – in response to some of these factors many companies have already moved their operations to off-shore locations. India for API manufacturing.
• Risk Management – having the ability to ‘view’ any of these problems can lead to drug shortages. Supply chain operations must therefore give this visibility so the right changes can be made.

Taking these factors into account and with a view of the ‘future’ of the healthcare supply chain from Gartner:

How can I ‘improve’ my operations?

I now work with a variety of companies that look for solutions to ‘improve’ their processes. We began his discussion trying to understand why there are so many drug shortages, and I would suggest the following as a means of enhancing your supply chain operations:

• Refocus business growth and performance across the entire healthcare supply chain. This includes both the patient as providers of healthcare with a C level sponsor that understands that the aspects of healthcare lie outside of your companies boundaries.
• Collaboration. Look to improve demand from both your suppliers as well as your customers. Provide visibility and metrics that you can mutually share.
• Leverage IT as an enabler to meet the first two points. Make investments that promote organizational visibility. Specifically analytics solutions that provides management with a view the business as a result of this investment.
• Governance. This process does not happen overnight. Change management is an ongoing process and you will need leadership and support to sustain these processes as they evolve over time.
• Invest in skills and talent within your organization. I’m in the IT services business and you would think this takes away from my opportunities. There is a tendency to think that these processes can be solved through off-shore support capability. While this is true I am taking about the need to enhance your folk’s ability to understand the entire healthcare supply chain.

I am convinced healthcare can improve yet the threat of drug shortages can impact any course of treatment if the right products are not available. What I hope to do with this blog post is a summary of the problem and possible solution. I welcome your suggestions or comments to improving this blog post.

Thanks,

Jim