MICROSOFT
have the potential to transform how pharma companies conduct business in China . The most pressing question I hear from pharma executives is , should we stay or should we go .”
Walker also points out that the pharma industry is being disrupted by smaller biotech firms , along with tech-savvy companies . He likens what ’ s happening here to how Uber and Lyft have changed the taxi business .
“ It ’ s the same in the pharma industry , where you ' ve got countless small biopharmas that , from an R & D perspective , are pumping out way more patents than the traditional players .
“ A lot of that has to do with their ability to be nimble and they also leverage technology at its fullest . With the bigger organisations you ' ve got a big ship to turn , and you ' ve got a lot of moving pieces .”
“ Many of my customers are regional ecosystem hubs that serve specific markets ”
MIKE J . WALKER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GLOBAL HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES STRATEGY , MICROSOFT
Technology is a conversation for later in the relationship Technology is vital , but Walker says it is “ always a conversation I have later in the relationship ”. But it is very much a conversation that needs to be had , because many supply chains as they stand are simply ill-suited to being digitally transformed .
“ Supply chains can be very linear ,” he says . “ The connections between the ecosystem of partners can be brittle and fragile , and there is a growing need to make sure supply chains are modular , dynamic and provide transparency across the entire value chain – and you can ' t do that in a sequential , linear , compartmentalised way with technology .”
He adds : “ You have to do it in a way now that is much more decentralised than what it was before . There ' s a significant amount of processes around reconciliation of data that is introduced because of that .”
14 microsoft . com