New digital tools emerge to offer manufacturers another option for data management.
As I hunkered down and took the reins on the November/December 2015 issue of Pharmaceutical Processing, I found myself reflecting quite a lot on the emergence of new technologies.
My husband and I recently closed on our first house, which introduced us to the strange new world of contracts, bills, and how to sign your life away. Financial privacy? No longer applicable to home-owners. During this process, I was struck by the amount of official paperwork that was done on physical copies. What I mean by this is: I had to print out papers, sign them, and scan them back into the computer to then send them to the corresponding parties. Paperwork also found its way to me through the mail and at any meetings related to the house. And for a millennial such as myself, the idea of keeping track of paper copies was nothing short of daunting.
I imagine that is how some manufacturers feel in their own lives, particularly with all of the new technology emerging in the past decade that is only now being implemented for many of us. In one of the stories for this edition, I had the opportunity to chat with Glenn Keet, CEO of Clinovo, about electronic data capture (EDC) systems. According to their research, many professionals to this day still utilize hard copies for clinical trials. (My hat is off to you! For, that is no small task.) Yet, there are also many professionals who are slowly making their way over to the digital realm, and utilizing tools such as EDC systems.
Knowing the amount of data that is involved in clinical trials or even in the supply chain of pharmaceuticals, the sympathetic part of my mind once again strayed to the daunting stack of house-related papers on my own kitchen table—pages and pages of information that I will have to keep track of… somehow.
In another story, I interviewed Patricia Santos-Serrao, RAC, Senior Product Manager at MasterControl, who divulged some of the building blocks behind operational excellence—one of which was documenting (recording the processes that need to be put in place). For me, my mind automatically brought up the image of an organized series of folders on my computer as the idealized system of organization. However, I know many others who operate much more efficiently with paper copies in file folders or binders.
It could be the millennial in me who always finds herself intimidated by the large amounts of data in physical copies, but I find the shift to digital methods of organization (such as cloud platforms) an exciting change on the horizon for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers—providing them with another option for organization and processes.
With new ways to maintain and organize data, professionals can shift their focus to more pressing matters—like what’s for lunch.
Click here to read the November/December 2015 edition.
