Pharma is known for its late adoption of new technologies. The industry thoroughly studies risks, pros and cons, etc., before adopting any new technology. But now as companies are being compelled to streamline their process and reduce costs, they are finding new ways to optimize complex processes by adopting cloud computing. The advances in cloud computing, benefits of the cloud “pay as you go” model, low capital investment and low run costs will drive innovation in products and bundled services quick to the market

One of the major advances in cloud computing technology is the ability to consume vast amounts of data feeding from a variety of sources. That said, normalization of that data is imperative, as inconsistency can lead to semantic dissonance. For example, in the acute care setting, most medication identification is driven by coding that originated in the electronic medical record (EMR), which is unique to a particular instance of that EMR. When a health system uses a different code to represent a specific medication, data veracity becomes a big challenge for pharmacy.

From a pharma company’s perspective, the biggest benefits of using cloud computing are:

Sales reps can increase their effectiveness by accessing shared data stored remotely.

Working in the cloud allows your sales team to make use of mobile e-detailing tools.

Research shows that going cloud-based is a sound business investment that’s likely to yield a considerable ROI.

According to a Dell report, companies that invest in cloud technology, digital technology, security solutions, and data analytics solutions have their revenue increased by up to 53 percent faster than competitors uninterested in these various forms of technology.

Besides the impressive ROI, cloud-based systems are particularly attractive to pharma companies as they don’t require a massive upfront cost with their pay-as-you-go set-up, reasonably low equipment, installation, and maintenance costs.

1. AI for data analysis: AI can churn the details of pharmacy sales activities, sociodemographic information, location etc. From this, sales potential of the pharmacies can be determined and based on sales potential of the pharmacies, efforts can be customized based on categories of interest (e.g. price sensitivity or responsiveness to promotional activities, etc.). The AI & machine learning solution can also go further & gather additional information beyond sales potential. With these insights, the sales & marketing teams can target individual pharmacies with custom market strategies and allocate resources to maximize returns. Interestingly, one of the most powerful solutions for that is a widely recognized technology — artificial intelligence. In combination with the computational might delivered by cloud computing, AI is helping Pharma companies derive valuable insights. They put them to use to develop new medications, drive better decisions, and so much more.

2. Better collaboration: More and more pharmaceutical companies are now becoming increasingly reliant on cloud computing to help their R&D teams across the globe work together & execute clinical trials.

3. Big data analytics: Genomics has come into its own in the recent past and established itself as a thriving part of the Pharma industry. However, for it to thrive and offer better value to the world, it is imperative to access insights based on the analysis of various factors relevant to genetic data. Here big data and AI, fortified with cloud computing, are helping these companies find patterns in genetic data. It helps predict the risk of infection, foretells response to treatment plans and medicines, etc. Furthermore, big data analytics in genomics has helped make sure that the entire process, i.e. accessing data, processing, and analysis is done at an accelerated pace, since it can make or break the company’s chances of success.