Cloud Computing

The Microsoft Cloud for Biotech and Pharma Manufacturers Just Got Better

by | Jul 16, 2021 | , , , , ,

Merit for Life Science just became more powerful because Microsoft today announced a new level of integration coming between Dynamics 365 (D365) and Teams. This includes Teams integration with Dynamics 365 sales, marketing, customer service, and field service workloads with operations to follow. Microsoft is essentially saying, “Use Teams as your front-end app for work, with everything else operating as a context-intelligent side pane within Teams.”  Merit for Life Science advances Microsoft's base business and productivity apps to fit the unique needs of pharma and biotech, so this announcement is especially powerful for our industry and our customers.  Multi-step Processes Get Mainstreamed Why?  In biotech, our customer acquisition process tends to be multi-step,...

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Low Code/No Code: In Life Sciences, Extend Carefully

by | May 25, 2021 | , , , ,

The old joke is that you can do anything with software if you have enough money. With an army of programmers, it was basically true. But now there is a new way to develop software quickly and with much lower investment: low code/no code programming, a.k.a. codeless app development. Essentially, modern digital platforms have created visual building blocks that can be assembled according to user experiences designed by “citizen developers,” a term coined to describe these non-traditional programmers. Imagine building applications or extending functionality without ever writing a line of code!    Microsoft Azure and Power Platform Tools Microsoft has a deep execution of this development approach in Azure with their Power Platform tools. Canvas apps are "no code," and model-driven...

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Is Your Data Estate Maximizing its Property Value?

by | May 18, 2021 | , ,

When I hear biotech and pharma executives talk about their company’s “data estate,” I know the Microsoft and Amazon people have been meeting with them. I also think of the little British man who ran the estate on Magnum PI. His shtick was to be intimidating because his ferocious Dobermans listened to him. With just the right nod to his dogs, they would viciously attack the perpetrator.  Data as the Foundation of Digital Strategy In the past, executives looked at their IT strategy and their business apps as the ultimate foundational component. The prevailing thinking was, “How do I get all of my data into one place that is secure and enables all the workloads I think I’ll need to execute our strategies?” Increasingly, innovative biotech and pharma business executives are looking at...

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Cloud computing: A smart move for FDA-regulated businesses?

by | May 11, 2021 |

As recent as five years ago, biotech and pharmaceutical companies were apprehensive about operating FDA-regulated business applications - like finance and operations - in the cloud. The concept of SAAS ERP or cloud computing was not only daunting, but it also raised a lot of questions. But now the tide has turned, and life science manufacturers are embracing cloud computing, viewing it as not only a smart move but a necessary one. Here are three reasons why cloud computing can be a smart move for FDA-regulated businesses: 1. Cybersecurity  Five years ago, when we still flew around the world on airplanes, I sat next to a cybersecurity expert making his way from San Francisco to Paris in an emergency response to a global 500 company that had been hacked. The hackers had been inside...

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5 Considerations for Getting to a Validated, Cloud-based ERP Solution

by | Mar 30, 2021 | ,

If you produce products in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, or biotechnology, your organization must maintain system validation. The FDA defines this as:  “establishing documented evidence that provides a high degree of assurance that a specific will consistently produce a product that meets its predetermined specifications and other quality attributes.” [General Principles of Software Validation | FDA] According to FDA rules, systems that enable processes that could harm or kill humans if deployed incorrectly must be validated. This impartial review is known as Independent Verification and Validation or IV&V. Validation doesn’t mean that the solution deployed is free from any defects, but it should establish confidence that the solution is tested as reliable in its performance...

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CapEx Vs OpEx: Cloud Computing

by | Apr 18, 2018 | ,

Traditionally, IT expenses have been considered a Capital Expenditure (CapEx). Today, with the move to the cloud and the pay-as-you-go model, organizations have the ability to stretch their budgets and are shifting their IT CapEx costs to Operating Expenditures (OpEx) instead. This flexibility, in accounting terms, is now an option due to the “as-a-Service” model of purchasing software, cloud storage and other IT-related resources. Cloud computing made simple When it comes to cloud computing, organizations now treat IT services as a utility like water: products or services supplied by a vendor that is paid for as you consume it. And while you and I may not know how to build or manage water treatment plants or distribution systems, we assume our vendor is providing us water that is safe...

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