Using Desktop Virtualisation, pharma companies can cut down costs
Tell us about the concept of DV.
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| Vishal Khare |
Traditionally, individual desktops have been a hard-coded combination of operating system, applications, and user settings, and managed one-by-one on an ongoing basis. Many IT organisations we speak to are looking at Desktop Virtualisation (DV) to upgrade their entire approach to desktop management. In this context, DV is a natural technology evolution to deliver high value, high performance end-user computing that is simple to consume and optimised for operational efficiency. To simplify the concept, the applications, desktop operating system and user data is hosted in the data centre and decoupled from the endpoint (any device such as smart phone, tablet, PC etc) rendering it as a mere access point for users. So the user gets the same experience as his original PC terminal, but the data is secure in the data centre with no transactions happening at the end-point devices and no data being stored there.
In India, we have seen a change in mindset of IT organisations. Most of them are looking for virtualisation and cloud like models of delivering IT, which means services are on an ‘on-demand’ format.
In what way pharma companies would benefit in getting FDA approval if they implement DV solutions? Do you have any case study to prove this?
The process of drug discovery is extremely lengthy and very tedious. To market a product after the process of drug discovery takes about 12-20 years and it costs about $one billion to the pharma company. Also, only 0.01 per cent of the drugs that are discovered receive the FDA approval. There is also a lot of due diligence that is required. Some of the steps which are very important during the period of 10-20 years are drug discovery and development, clinical trials, FDA review and finally the approval.
Today, IT is increasingly becoming a very relevant component of the pharma industry. With declining R&D productivity, change in drug discovery technologies, it is very clear that the pharma industry is in the phase of transition. The future of pharma sector will ultimately see pharma manufacturers, regulators, prescribers and patients taking advantage of the technology. Across the industry, value chain research and time-span for business process determine who read the profit from years of intensive research and development. Pharma companies will actually need to go beyond the traditional R&D for their globalisation strategy to achieve success. For a pharma company, it is very important that they look at the holistic picture, where they can reach out to with their new drug and how they can market it to a larger audience within the country and beyond.
In the overall scenario, technology becomes very relevant to the pharma industry. There are many companies who are investing in various kinds of networks, sales force automation technologies, ERP for their organisation. How DV fits into the entire process of FDA approvals or other important steps that a pharma company requires to take, is that it can play a role in securing access to information: in FDA approval process, drug discovery and development process, re-clinical trial or clinical trial. This is because there is lot of data exchange and information sharing required between different groups of people in a pharma organisation. There are pharma companies that are operating at a global level, where the teams are based in multiple locations and they need to collaborate and have a secure and flexible access of information flowing between them. Inter-branch collaboration is another area where DV plays a significant role. Leading pharma companies are using Citrix technologies internally that has helped them to maintain security of the information and also helped in other internal processes.
Efficient and productive field force is a necessity for any pharma company. DV would add to the productivity of this field force. However, will it add to the cost as well?
In a pharma company, the field force is an integral part of the organisation. The employees have to make face to face visits to physicians or purchasing managers in the hospitals and try influencing the prescribing habit for their drug within the medical fraternity. They look at various ways or methods to ensure increase in current prescriptions, build relations with doctors and deliver samples of their drugs to them.
DV adds value to most of these activities. In case of all these activities, information is very critical. Companies need to have a repository of the information which has to be available with the employee at all times to be able to complete these kind of activities. When the employee talks about various drugs, he has to ensure effectiveness of communication while convincing the doctor about the value addition of the drug, share data on how the drug is helping the patients, etc.
In case of DV, all the data is moved into a central location and Citrix delivers everything that is required from the central location. It becomes very easy for the employees to be able to access the information in a handy format. Another advantage is that they can carry any device, as it is not necessary for them to carry a laptop or any other heavy or costly device. They can even access the required information from cyber café etc.
The deliverables of the sales person can be very easily achieved by DV in a much more effective and optimised format, since the information is relayed in a secure format and it is always available. Cost can be managed by using various innovative methods such as adopting to work-shifting policy, or encouraging employees to bring their own devices etc.
The field force does not require a special training as the technology is very simple. There is a common utility called the Citrix Receiver across all devices. The user needs to click on the icon and the user name and password window opens. The look and feel is very similar to what the employees have been using. The employees can continue to use all documents, files and folders as they have been doing in the past. Initially, a bit of hand holding may be required to showcase the new way to use the solution. However, the biggest advantage of Citrix’s DV solution is the rich-user experience which makes the user feel like nothing has changed as part of his desktop experience.
Pharma industry deals with a very confidential data. What are the chances of this information getting leaked/ hacked during the process of its transmission from the server to the field force?
Pharma companies are very heavy on R&D and information regarding new drug developments, new deliverables to existing drugs, etc is really critical. When a company continues to work in the traditional desktop environment, an employee can store data on his local desktop, which could lead to the event of his data being compromised or stolen.
DV helps you to centralise everything including the OS files and folders, which means that everything is moved to a central repository, thus the IT and the pharma sector are at an advantage. Firstly, it is very easy to manage as the data is centralised. Secondly, since all the data is within your access, it is easy to control it. Thirdly, you can check or monitor the users.
DV technology also has a feature that allows you to record everything the user does during his/ her work hours. Thus, DV makes it very simple and secure for companies to manage and monitor. Also, the solution is secure by design. It means that, conceptually there is nothing moving out of the data centre which can be compromised. The only thing moving out of the data centre is the virtual image or the interface of the desktop, applications and data, so no one can hack or take information out of it. The entire communication is also encrypted. Whereas, in a traditional computing format, there is a backend data centre with application, data base, servers, etc and a PC, which is at the front end. They communicate with each other and there is a network where data flow takes place. In a traditional set-up, there are multiple points where the data can be compromised.
Who are your clients from the pharma industry and how DV is helpful to them?
In India, we have over 3,000 customers and in 2011, we have implemented over one lakh virtual desktops. For desktop/ application virtualisation, we work with pharma companies such as Anthem Biosciences and Ind-Swift Laboratories. DV is used by the pharma sector mainly for the following reasons:
Information Security: In traditional environments, employees typically save data on their individual PCs. A full back up is not always possible, thus the companies are concerned about the security. Virtual desktop is a great way to manage and control where critical data flows in the organisation. Here, your data is secure in the data centre with no transactions happening at the end point devices and no data being stored there. All the user sees and accesses is the image of the application on his device.
Field force mobility: DV helps the executives who are travelling to various locations and they want ready access to information. Since all the data is moved to a centralised location, it can be delivered to any device at any time.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): Using DV, pharma companies can cut down costs. Instead of supplying devices to the workers, companies can tell the employees to use their own devices, thereby saving costs on either procuring those devices or management of devices over a period of time.
Application and Desktop Centralisation: In case of one of the organisations that we worked with, their challenge was that they were unable to manage a very large infrastructure with multiple locations, multiple users and hundreds of applications involved. It was a very complex setup. But, by using DV, they were able to get everything in a central location and then relay it back to the user. It became very easy for them to manage and run it.
Workshifting: Many organisations are using DV for workshifting by allowing employees to work from home or other locations, instead of them operating out of the same location. There are many support functions that can be moved out of the organisation which will cut down on a lot of costs.
Besides field force who are the other members of an organisation that can use DV?
DV can be used by everyone in an organisation.
The senior management can use DV as they can have access to all information from any of their mobile devices and anytime. The top management of companies usually require maximum flexibility, and thus, DV is a good tool to meet their demands.
In a scenario, where the company wants to setup a large head office or a new branch and they want to replace traditional desktops with Virtual Desktops, a lot of users can make use of DV. Also, if a company has third party employees such as distributors, etc who need access to the system, all applications and data can be delivered inside or outside the office without compromising on security.
Departments such as R&D Treasury, deal with very sensitive information which can be protected with DV.
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