What’s holding back digitalization of biopharma R&D?
August 24, 2020
August 24, 2020
Last year, we checked in with research and development (R&D) executives across the globe through a survey to see how the biopharmaceutical industry is faring with the adoption of digital capabilities. Our report Driving Digitalization in Biopharma R&D: Which Direction Should You Take? highlights the survey findings and details the changes from similar research we conducted three years ago—including an increase in the belief that digitalization will help companies achieve their strategic imperatives. We also found that large-scale adoption of digital capabilities is lagging, and we explored the reasons why. Our survey reached 250 life sciences R&D executives across various levels and functions, from a wide range of company sizes and locations.
In this survey, executives confirmed that they see the potential value of digitalization across R&D. At the same time, they also reported significant risk aversion to large-scale adoption of digitalization, especially among the largest companies. At the same time, digital tools and platforms are becoming more integral to how companies collaborate, analyze and manage data, and enhance the patient experience.
Executives report that they are seeing opportunities for these digital capabilities to achieve real, measurable value in their organizations. 88% of survey respondents said that using real world data across R&D would enhance decision-making, and 77% believe the ability to better manage data across the enterprise could deliver measurable business value.
Much of this potential value still lies ahead of us, based on the current level of digital adoption. Less than half of the respondents said they have achieved their desired state of digitalization, which is not too surprising since it requires significant investment, the right talent, and often involves major organizational change.
These barriers further add to the risk aversion that was noted as one of the most significant barriers to adoption, especially in larger organizations. In companies with market caps over $10B, 75% of respondents said that risk aversion was preventing an embrace of digitalization. Just 36% of companies are adopting digital as a key strategy in R&D, while 49% of respondents said they are exploring, and 15% are still taking a “wait-and-see” approach to see how others fare first. That’s 15% too many who are unwilling to commit to driving digitalization ahead.
All of our life sciences clients have moved to adopt some form of digitalization, but many struggle with scaling those capabilities. Part of this struggle is related to how R&D functions are tackling digital transformation and our survey showed the following roadblocks to digitalization:
From this survey and from our own experience in working with our life sciences clients and beyond, we see an increasing commitment for the adoption of digital technologies across R&D. This has become even more pronounced today, with the need to enable virtual engagement solutions for both employees and clinical trial participants, and the urgent need to deliver new solutions to patients faster than ever before. Tackling the barriers to digital transformation in a thoughtful way will help to overcome the inertia that many of our R&D executives are experiencing, and those life sciences companies who succeed will be taking the lead in the development of new life-changing treatments.
Follow this link to the survey findings, titled Driving Digitalization in Biopharma R&D: Which Direction Should You Take? You can listen to our podcast and read the full report, including the steps that companies should take to accelerate the pace of transformation.