Top 15 Systems Challenges and Problems for the Life Sciences Industry to Solve

Zanovoy has been working with Life Sciences companies for over 15 years, and during this time, we have seen a number of key challenges present during implementation as well as after go-live. Below we outline the top 10 challenges that our clients have faced throughout the process and how Zanovoy has solved them.

Spend Management

The life sciences industry is subject to a number of different regulatory compliance requirements, which can make it difficult to track and manage to spend. Zanovoy has extensive experience in implementing spend management solutions that help our clients to better understand and control their spending.

Coupa spend management helps life sciences companies automate the procure-to-pay process, track spending, and improve compliance. From managing budgets, payment approvals and workflows through to vendor analysis, Coupa gives Life Sciences companies the tools they need to control cash flow and optimize spending.

Unique Inventory Management Challenges 

Life sciences companies often have to manage large amounts of inventory, which can be challenging to keep track of, especially when inventory is stored across multiple locations and warehouses. Zanovoy has implemented several critical workflow automation and life sciences software solutions that has helped our clients to better manage their inventory levels, including inventory balancing, streamlined inventory transfer requests, and demand and supply planning automation.

Maintaining Regulatory Compliance

Life sciences companies are subject to an increasing number of regulations from various bodies and authorities, which can make staying compliant a challenge. Zanovoy has years of experience working with regulations that life sciences companies need to adhere to. We can help you to ensure that your software solutions are helping your team follow leading practices in compliance and product reporting.

Program Management

The life sciences industry is highly competitive, and companies are under pressure to bring products to market quickly and efficiently. Program management software from Zanovoy can help you to better manage your product development process, track progress against milestones, and allocate resources effectively.

Programs in this industry are often large, multi-disciplinary, and involve a wide range of stakeholders, and need to be tracked with a level of granularity. Zanovoy’s Life Sciences bundles extend NetSuite’s native functionality to be able to manage Programs and Indications. We are also able to manage the automation of CRO contract management, as well as accruals, prepaid positions, and rebalances depending on the billing and delivery cycles of your program research partners.

Implementing Reporting Best Practices

Life sciences companies are required to report on various metrics, meaning a flexible and user-friendly report-writing solution is key. Zanovoy has worked with our clients to develop a suite of reports that help present financial and operational data to better support decision-making across all business departments.

Ensuring Data Security

Life sciences companies often have to deal with sensitive data, making security a challenge. We work with our clients to develop custom user types across many different roles to ensure your team only has access to the information they need and that sensitive data can only be accessed with the right level of privilege in the system.

Designing Data Management Policies

The life sciences industry generates a large amount of data that needs to be carefully administered and managed in order to ensure outputs are correct and that the information and reports used to manage the business are accurate. Zanovoy’s approach to data management helps to ensure that life science businesses can make use of all data being collected.

Contract Lifecycle Management

Managing contracts in the life sciences industry can be difficult and time-consuming. Not having a system to manage contracts increases risks and exposes the business to potential legal liabilities.

Zanovoy has worked with our clients to develop a contract lifecycle management solution that is tailored to the needs of life sciences companies. The Zanovoy solution helps businesses to track and manage contracts from inception to completion and provides visibility into all aspects of the contract lifecycle.

Business Process Automation

The life sciences industry is complex, and manual processes can often be inefficient and error-prone. Over the years, we have designed and implemented a range of business process automations using NetSuite’s SuiteFlow functionality, as well as custom scripts to automate processes that are unique to a specific business requirement.

Efficient Program Management

The life sciences industry is fast-paced and constantly changing, making program management challenging. Zanovoy has created custom modules specifically for the life sciences industry to align NetSuite’s core functionality in a way that closely aligns with the unique needs of the industry.

Other Life Sciences Industry Problems

The life sciences industry is an ever-evolving sector that focuses on developing innovative solutions to improve the quality of human life. While the industry presents a wealth of opportunities for growth and innovation, it also poses a number of significant challenges. From intense global competition and complex regulatory requirements to the growing demand for new medical and pharmaceutical solutions, companies in the life sciences industry face a multitude of obstacles that must be navigated in order to succeed.

Increased Global Competitiveness

US companies operating in the life sciences industry are facing intense competition on a global scale, particularly in sub-sectors such as pharmaceuticals and biotech, where multinational collaboration is increasingly common. To succeed in this environment, project managers must have the ability to manage projects across borders and work hard to attract projects to the US.

Ensuring Clinical Trial Results  are Globally Accepted

Despite this challenging landscape, the US has a strong reputation in the life sciences industry, providing a solid foundation to build upon. However, there are still areas of improvement to be made, particularly in the clinical trial sub-sector. To maintain its position, the US must ensure that its regulations align with those of the EU for clinical trial projects to be successfully brought to its shores.

Ensuring Government Investment is Consistent

Investment in research and development (R&D) is critical to success in the life sciences industry, and the US must increase its spending on R&D projects to maintain a competitive edge. While the government has set a target of 2.4% of GDP to be invested in R&D by 2027, the life sciences sector requires continued and increased investment in R&D to ensure its success.

Meeting the Increased Demands from an Ageing Population

One of the biggest challenges in the life sciences industry is meeting the demands of an ageing population. This presents both challenges and opportunities, with new medicines and treatments required to treat diseases that are becoming more prevalent as the population ages. MedTech projects also present an opportunity to empower people to make early diagnoses and take preventative measures, ultimately improving healthcare outcomes for an ageing population.

Attracting Top Talent from a Global Pool of Candidates

In the highly competitive and rapidly evolving life sciences industry, attracting top talent is crucial to the success of project teams. With the increasing demand for new medical and pharmaceutical solutions, project teams are becoming more global, with staff located in various regions around the world. To effectively manage these global teams, project managers must have the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively across different cultures and time zones. This includes utilizing advanced communication technologies and building strong relationships with team members.

About Zanovoy

Zanovoy is a New York-based NetSuite Alliance Partner that specializes in implementing and customizing NetSuite for businesses in the life sciences industry. We have over 15 years of experience working with companies in the life sciences industry, and our team deeply understands the unique challenges and needs of businesses in this sector.

Our team of expert consultants has helped companies in the life sciences industry to streamline their back office administration, develop efficient reporting processes, ensure data security, design comprehensive data management policies, automate business processes, and manage programs effectively.

If you are interested in learning more about how NetSuite can help your life sciences company to run more efficiently and effectively, contact us

Are you interested in learning more about NetSuite for Life Sciences Companies?

Contact us today to schedule a consultation. We would be happy to discuss your specific needs and challenges, and show you how NetSuite along with Zanovoy’s Life Sciences Modules can help your business to run more efficiently and effectively, and be ready for fast growth. We also offer managed services for life sciences companies, to help minimize the burden of managing and maintaining Life Sciences ERP solutions like NetSuite. Contact us to learn more.