Cloud Computing: Pharma Takes the Plunge

Data security and Integrity

Tier one vendors – Workday, Concur, Plateau, and others – are often as secure as our internally hosted systems. Cloud vendors undergo a rigorous certification process that indicates the level of security around their systems.

Whether we use the Cloud in any given instance depends on the application, vendor, and type of data. For example, I don’t envision maintaining our plasma donor management system in the Cloud in the foreseeable future because of the type of critical information it contains.

Other Concerns

Regulators in markets including the Europe, Russia, and China are increasing their compliance requirements around data privacy for Personal Information (PI) to ensure companies are properly managing the data.

Companies have to demonstrate to the regulators that these systems have been properly implemented and are properly managing PI.

Pros and Cons

We see Cloud as a strategic imperative, as more and more solutions become exclusively Cloud-based.

One change the industry is struggling with is how to deal with the impact the Cloud has on the IT budget. In the past, traditional systems have been capital costs that were depreciated over a number of years. The Cloud, however, cannot be capitalized.

This is a problem in numerous industries, mainly from the standpoint of internal governance when going through the budget process.The net budget impact to the company is about the same for Cloud-based and traditional solutions.

Pharma’s Wariness

The industry’s wariness of the Cloud has definitely eased. It comes down to the kind of data you maintain in the Cloud, i.e., data with or without PI. By requiring prospective vendors to undergo a rigorous audit, pharmaceutical companies can ensure the vendor has the proper architecture and processes in place to safely and effectively maintain company data.