The Challenges Facing Pharmaceutical Companies
As with any other industry, the Pharmaceutical companies too face a multitude of challenges. While not all of these challenges are factors for each and every company certainly each organization face a few of these. These challenges include:
* an acute shortage of domain expert skills * challenges in recruiting, training * retaining and managing knowledgeable associates in a context of contractors vs permanent staff.. * pressure from external market factors and internal pressure to reduce costs and enhance shareholder value * focus resources on core activities like R&D and marketing. * reduce infrastructure expenses not directly related to core functions * reduce IT expenditure * reduce overheads to free up resources to invest in new research * accelerate development and time to market cycle times
The list above is not expected to be a comprehensive list of challenges faced by Pharma companies today but a snapshot into some of the major issues and pressures faced by most industries. Outsourcing is a method by which companies try and overcome or at the very least mitigate some of the detrimental effects of these challenges. The BPO industry has specific expertise to address a lot of these issues as they were some of the very first issues that they had to overcome as they came into their own.
Take for example, process orientation of BPO companies. This merits a special mention as their genesis depended on developing the ability to break down any activity into discrete tasks and there on each task into several constituent processes and sub-processes. Each process is backed up by Key Operating Procedure (KOP) manuals. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are set for each process which defines the quality of the delivery and metrics defined for each. Flow charts and process maps are designed to further elaborate and strengthen the understanding of the task on hand. A feedback mechanism is also laid down through sharing of
* an acute shortage of domain expert skills * challenges in recruiting, training * retaining and managing knowledgeable associates in a context of contractors vs permanent staff.. * pressure from external market factors and internal pressure to reduce costs and enhance shareholder value * focus resources on core activities like R&D and marketing. * reduce infrastructure expenses not directly related to core functions * reduce IT expenditure * reduce overheads to free up resources to invest in new research * accelerate development and time to market cycle times
The list above is not expected to be a comprehensive list of challenges faced by Pharma companies today but a snapshot into some of the major issues and pressures faced by most industries. Outsourcing is a method by which companies try and overcome or at the very least mitigate some of the detrimental effects of these challenges. The BPO industry has specific expertise to address a lot of these issues as they were some of the very first issues that they had to overcome as they came into their own.
Take for example, process orientation of BPO companies. This merits a special mention as their genesis depended on developing the ability to break down any activity into discrete tasks and there on each task into several constituent processes and sub-processes. Each process is backed up by Key Operating Procedure (KOP) manuals. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are set for each process which defines the quality of the delivery and metrics defined for each. Flow charts and process maps are designed to further elaborate and strengthen the understanding of the task on hand. A feedback mechanism is also laid down through sharing of