Pharma companies are increasingly seeking the latest in the IT field, and cloud computing is one of them. With the massive amounts of sensitive information that pharma companies have to store, secure and manage, making use of the cloud has piqued the interest. Organizations across various industries have realized the value that cloud technology brings to the table and so have migrated their data to either a hybrid or a public cloud. With the help of cloud technology, businesses can benefit from big data without having to incur other data expenses. Since, pharma is a multifaceted sector with complicated rules and regulations, to meet the growing demands and challenges cloud offerings seem to be a safe choice. To stay on the top of their game with innovative ideas, customer engagement, new drug development and so on, the pharma sector has quite been in the trend since the pandemic. Data of any industry of any type is of utmost importance, the same applies to the healthcare and pharma industry where data security is crucial. Pharma companies carry a large amount of highly sensitive data which consists of medical data, healthcare records, formulas and confidential information of drugs and medicines history as well as new ones yet to be made. When adopting cloud services, everything from servers, hardware’s, maintenance and security is the responsibility of the service provider, which fulfils the requirements of the pharma sector perfectly. Data security and confidentiality is the only reason why pharma companies do thorough research before getting on board with any kind of new technology.

Since, the pandemic, along with pharma several other sectors have also swiftly embraced cloud services. Especially, the medical industry has been in serious need of innovative ideas and tools for developing, discovering and producing drugs, vaccines, and other material to catch hold of the virus situation which was the global need. A massive amount of time and investment goes to researching, screening through historical medical data and formulas. Cloud computing’s strengths come in work during the rigorous R&D stage, clinical trials, sharing of trial methods, formulas and other important information, where data is the key. Among various cloud services like Platform as a service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) is used majorly by the pharma sector. With on-demand hosted services, flexibility and access to data and business applications along with managed client relationship management, SaaS is highly considered by the pharma sector. Cloud adoption has helped make the healthcare process more efficient, convenient and budget-friendly.  

Let’s take a look at the top six benefits that cloud services bring for the pharma sector.

Advanced Security: As established earlier, the pharma sector has massive loads of sensitive data. To protect and secure this giant data and store it with a trusted source to get unlimited access without any hiccups is where Cloud comes into the picture. Cloud services, allows pharma and medical brands in the industry to store their data with a service provider, who takes full responsibility for the data. This helps the CIO’s, CTO’s and other decision-makers to rely on a trusted source for their data that ensures full security. This also creates a hassle-free process for the companies as a single cloud service provider meets all their needs and they do not have to handle and manage 10 other data related aspects while also doing their regular work.

Multi-Device Support: Doctors and other healthcare professionals have to access and share patient and other medical data regularly. This sharing and accessibility is not just limited to national borders but runs on a global level. Hospitals, pharmacies, insurance companies, labs and other such institutions have to share data in an orderly fashion, which requires them to have access from anywhere in the world. Cloud computing allows the storage of this data and makes it globally accessible from any device in the world.

Artificial Intelligence for Analytics: With the help of AI and machine learning, analyzing from the massive chunk of data for the relevant and needed information has become simpler. There are AI tools available that help doctors predict a patient’s health patterns and treatment studies for a more accurate diagnosis. Being able to mine from the given data to gather useful insights within a limited period is extremely beneficial to the sector.

Reliable Scalability: Just as any other industry pharma industry also has a dull period, unlike the past 2 years. While there are days where the demand is high and the use of cloud services is equally high, there are times when the demand is low. In such low demand circumstances, cloud services allow businesses to decide their scalability. This aspect of cloud computing benefits medical professionals to continue their practice without uninterrupted workflow.

 Cost-Effectiveness: Migrating to cloud services means pharma companies do not have to deal with buying software’s and timely updates or other hardware-software protocols in-house. The service provider takes responsibility for all the maintenance required along with other necessary operational details. This makes migrating to cloud services a relaxing process from the start and saves money as well as valuable time of IT experts of the pharma companies.  

Better Communication: The jewel of any organization is their communication process. For pharma, industry communication plays a major role as their decision making is a complex and sensitive process. Effective communication with the right use of data is an essential part of the medical field. On-time decision making with accurate data for the medical professionals is helping shape the industry and make better decisions. 

 In conclusion, it is safe to say that Cloud computing has surely revolutionized the pharma industry, with effective tools and services making easier process for medical professionals.

(The writer is the Chief Revenue Officer, ESDS Software Solution Limited)