Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - April 2008 - (Page 22) 22 Technology: CIO Focus April 2008 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe Doing IT Right George Laszlo looks at key challenges faced by pharma and biotech CIOs and offers practical approaches to overcoming them. There are three challenges that should be on any CIOs list: • changing the operating model of IT • consolidating IT assets • adopting a holistic approach to IT. Each of these deserves close scrutiny and can be solved in a variety of ways. In this article, the author will only offer a single solution to each. The reader should not assume that it is the only viable solution. Change your IT operating model One of the most serious and perennial chief information officer (CIO) concerns is the maintenance of a fruitful relationship with the business. Nowhere is this more evident than in the life sciences sector and especially within large, established pharmaceutical firms. One could say that the chasm or disconnect between IT and its constituents is wide and deep. Put bluntly, the business community is forced to use a single provider of services and does so reluctantly and with trepidation. Of course, they take for granted the shared services that are provided flawlessly (for example, network connectivity, email, back-up). On the other hand, they dread dealing with IT on anything that has to do with their own area of expertise. Clearly, something is wrong and requires the key changes below. 1. Refocus the office of the CIO and the IT organisation as a standards and metrics-based organisation. In other words, set up the rules under which systems and services need to be started, implemented and operated. Include in the rules the expected metrics from those systems and services. 2. Embed key IT leaders into the business organisation with hard-line responsibility to the business owner and dotted-line responsibility to the CIO. These IT leaders should know the business inside and out and be responsible for making IT enablement recommendations to both the business and the CIO. Ryan McVay/Getty Images
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