Make It Simple: Making the Switch from on Premise to SAAS for Pharma Companies

We are in the pharmaceutical industry - an industry in which data security plays a significant role. Especially in Germany, data has always been kept in the company's own systems, on infrastructure procured specifically for this purpose.

To focus more on the core business in the future and scale flexibly, many companies decide to move to the cloud (to a provider that understands its IT business).

Within the consulting around a cloud strategy and the outsourcing of data - out of their own infrastructure, many customers therefore explicitly ask:

'Where will my data be in the future? Can I be sure that no data will be transferred to other European countries or even internationally?'

Even established consultancies such as Capgemini know: the "IT Trends 2021" shows that the importance of data security and data sovereignty influences the cloud strategy of the business and IT managers surveyed. (Source)

Therefore, a SaaS provider that keeps all of its data in Germany - and under the highest security standards - is more in demand than ever.

For many years now, the trend has been to move applications to the cloud and use them holistically as Software as a Service, or SaaS for short. But what exactly is a SaaS service? And why exactly are so many companies moving?

Companies purchase a scalable and highly available service as a web-based solution. The complete management, including updates and security management, can be taken over by their provider. The data, as well as the application itself, is made available in a cloud environment.

The reasons for switching to the cloud - to a SaaS solution - are often varied. The topic of outsourcing IT landscapes and departments is frequently not subject to the core competencies of, for example, pharmaceutical companies but also companies in other industries. 'To concentrate again on the core processes and the technical core business' is often the main focus. The issue of scalability and the associated growth is another reason for companies to rethink and improve their data strategy.

• Focus on the core business: The focus should be increasingly on the core competencies - for example, the pharmaceutical business, and not on the management 'around it'. Companies often lack the necessary experts to map IT processes efficiently. Involving an IT service provider for precisely these processes frees up existing resources and supports this strategy.
• Clear responsibilities: Holistic responsibility for the availability of the application is outsourced. The provider should be experienced in providing 'managed services' and thus deliver everything "from a single source". In contrast, contact points for several providers entail long communication channels and thus cost a lot of money and time. Through direct access to the applications and databases, the service provider can react much faster. This eliminates waiting times for third parties in the event of an incident.
• Saving costs: The elimination of many coordination processes between multiple parties involved reduces the organization's efforts. Resources can concentrate on their core business and significantly improve results. A SaaS provider can achieve and thus offer a more cost-efficient serv by managing many customers while maintaining the same quality.

• Joint collection of requirements and wishes
• Analysis of the users/business processes to be migrated
• Analysis of the previous architecture and interfaces
• Definition of the new SaaS solution based on the requirements and analyses
• Preparation of the new SaaS solution (products, processes, capacity, performance)
• Relocation of the previous test system to the new SaaS solution
• Test and fine-tuning the test system
• Moving the previous production system to the new SaaS solution
• Test and fine-tuning the production system
• Monitoring of the SaaS environments (test and production)

The switch to a SaaS solution not only follows the current trend but can also help companies competitive advantages in the long term.