Once Upon A Time….
One of my favorite communications leaders and public speakers is Conor Neill.
Among the many presentations he’s given on effective communication, is a particularly popular speech on, of all topics, “How to Start a Speech”.
Paradoxically, he begins by telling you what not to do and then offers this very simple and practical advice: Speak like you’re talking to a child. From Neill’s perspective, perhaps beginning your talk with one of the most recognizable lines from almost any classic children’s story … “Once Upon A Time” … not only gets your audience’s attention but creates a sense of anticipation for the story that is about to unfold before them.
The reason for this, I offer, is that a story is not only easy to understand, it also, in the best examples, transports you to a place other than where you are. It suspends time, takes you on a journey, and makes you believe.
Think of history’s greatest storytellers (e.g. Mark Twain, Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, etc.). You may not enjoy or believe what some of them had to say but, you have to admit, they are great storytellers. You understand the message they’re trying to deliver. Most especially Buffet who has this great ability to take a very complicated topic of finance, and explain it in terms that (almost) everyone can understand.
After working in this business for more than 25 years and leading RCH Solutions for the last 15 of those, I’m a firm believer in telling a story. Why? Because despite our tenure in the industry, I’m often asked “what exactly does RCH Solutions do?”
The challenge is not that I’m unable to articulate our services or value, but rather, RCH is in a very unique business. One which supports a relatively narrow audience, to solve some very specific and challenging problems. So, the answer requires some level of explanation even to our ideal customers. And many times, the explanation is not brief and requires specific detail that demonstrates the very specific problem in a very specific market that we aim to solve. Besides, would you like to listen to a solution pitch or hear a story about a customer, just like you, who experienced the same challenge then realized a great outcome?
If RCH made software or technology (which, BTW, we don’t do either of those things), the answer would be much simpler and likely the same no matter who’s asking.
But how do you present or deliver a complex answer in a concise manner, to one individual or perhaps more, in a way they can understand?
Like Neill says, the answer is to tell a story. So here goes.
Once upon a time, there was a kind and wise young man, David, who was sent to disarm the mighty and powerful Goliath. Despite all odds, the seemingly inferior David defeated the battle-wise behemoth that is Goliath by hurling a stone to the center of his head. Through a cunning combination of skill, agility, speed, and the effective use of tools, he proved that the things many believe to be an advantage, like size, actually have little to do with ability.
And what does this have to do with RCH Solutions, you might ask? I’ll tell you.
Although RCH is in a unique market serving a specific customer base, we do battle competition as well (or at least other vendors who are believed to offer similar products or solutions). Often, we are the challenger. The David to the incumbent in Goliath. And what lessons have we learned from that story?
- Speed and Agility Beat Size
- Focus on a Specific Area
- Not all Rules Apply
- Embrace Emerging Technologies
The Stories that Matter Most to Our Customers
At RCH Solutions, we have a top-notch marketing group. They have prepared some terrific material to tell the story of RCH. What we do, what we offer, and most importantly the value the customer will see from our services. Like most companies, we have pitch decks to tell our story. After all, customers expect you to have material. They expect you to have slides and slicks and sales pieces that help prove your value to internal stakeholders.
However, whenever we have a chance to speak to a prospective customer—who, by the way, are some of the smartest people on the planet—I always ask the same questions. Would you rather have material about what we do? Or, would you like to hear a story? A story of how RCH helped a customer, just like you, solve a very specific challenge?
Every single time, they choose a story.
So I tell them about a time we have tackled a challenge like theirs or improved an outcome similar to what they hope to realize, or finished a project started by some other vendor who had the size, but none of the skill to actually get it done. Pulling from our experience, I can help our prospective customers understand what we do through their lens, helping them to see why our service would be valuable to them.
If a vendor can’t tell a story, then the book isn’t yet finished. Wouldn’t you rather hear a story with a great ending?
Let RCH tell you a story. It begins with “Once upon a time in Scientific Computing….”
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.
Disruptive innovation requires flexible and scalable IT resources.
Scientific and medical innovation depends on specialized expertise. There is no substitution for the value that years of experience and highly focused competence bring to research projects.
This is as true for sequencing a genome as it is for storing, processing, and analyzing genomic data itself. Yet, many Life Science companies use non-specialist vendors for scientific computing and IT infrastructure.
In an industry that heavily relies on applying focused expertise within a dynamic environment to succeed, fragmented IT support from multiple providers doesn’t deliver optimal results. This approach to ongoing IT support contradicts and constrains the research model as a whole.
Several factors contribute to the value of a scientific IT approach that favors smaller, more tightly focused groups of IT professionals with industry-specific experience. These teams enable cross-functional IT execution that improves research outcomes in ways that fragmented vendor relationships cannot.
Evaluating the Science-IT as a Service Model for Bio-Pharma Research
There are several principal areas where subscribing to scientific computing services with a holistic, integrated approach can significantly improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Life Science research.
1. Cloud Computing
When properly implemented, Cloud computing has a transformative impact on Life Science research. Optimizing that impact requires using Cloud computing resources to deliver results in a transparent, secure way, yet Cloud integration can be a challenge for scientists and research IT administrators.
Expert-led Cloud deployment enhances the efficiency of Life Science research. These gains are only possible with guidance formulated from years of practical experience with scientific applications and workflows across the industry.
2. Data Management
Sound data management practices can accelerate Life Science innovation, enable better collaboration, and simplify compliance for researchers throughout every phase of the research cycle. When management makes data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR), it improves the quality and accessibility of clinical data as well as real-world data and encourages innovation in research and development.
However, deploying a FAIR data management strategy remains a challenge for many Life Science research organizations and biopharma companies. The process of unwinding old, inefficient processes and implementing optimized infrastructure does not happen overnight. You can’t simply stop research and dedicate all your brainpower to restructuring data management – the transition must be strategic.
3. Emerging Technology
Emerging technology includes artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and other machine learning-based innovations. These technologies carry a great deal of transformative potential in the Life Science field. Furthermore, they represent disruptive innovations that can compound into industry-leading advantages.
The downside is that emerging technology expertise is hard to find and difficult to integrate. Scientific computing consultants are far more likely to attract and retain top talent than individual research laboratories or scientific equipment manufacturers. As a result, organizations that contract consultancy services are better equipped to capitalize on that advantage.
4. High-Performance Computing
Life Science research is one of the industries best poised to capitalize on what high-performance computing has to offer. These technologies include predictive analytics and machine learning, which typically require large infrastructural investments to deliver consistent results.
Individual Life Science research organizations do not necessarily have to invest in their own high-performance computing infrastructure to enjoy the rewards of best-in-class technology. What they do need is expert guidance on applying high-performance computing resources towards research goals in a cost-efficient way.
5. Research Application Support
Software applications change and evolve all the time. From Commercial software, to open source and custom code, it’s not enough to purchase and deploy research applications for Life Science research. These solutions must also be strategically integrated within the compute ecosystem as a whole.
Life Science researchers with access to highly integrated systems can improve research outcomes while reducing the amount of time it takes to arrive at conclusive outcomes. It takes an agile, knowledgeable support team to ensure peak performance for a complex scientific research system.
6. System Administration
Life Science research organizations need to monitor sensitive data and review their security framework on a constant basis. Excellent system administration is key to effectively managing an environment that may contain millions of data points stored across innumerable devices and spread across networks.
Every single device – from smartwatches to genetic analyzers and more – can store and transmit sensitive, research-critical data. The process of organizing and maintaining the policies researchers use when handling this data is exactly the kind of work best-suited for an experienced specialist.
Restore Research Agility With Science-IT as a Service
It’s easy for Life Science research laboratories to overburden their research staff with scientific computing tasks that fall beyond the purview of their research responsibilities, yet outside of the core areas of expertise of most enterprise IT teams. Deploying and maintaining an optimal scientific computing workflow is work best delegated to expert partners who can support research outcomes and enable scientists to do what they do best.
At RCH Solutions, we call this approach “Sci-T.” We apply scientific expertise to cross-functional IT execution for Life Science research organizations, implementing innovative solutions that are scalable, agile, and cost-effective.
Interested in learning how we can apply this model in your organization? Contact our team to learn more.
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.
I find it interesting that when I’m speaking with a prospective customer or a prospective employee, I often hear many of the same questions.
How long have you been in business?
What is your growth plan?
How do you make a decision on a project that may be outside your comfort zone?
How do you compare yourself to a “Big Professional Services Company”?
Often, the context changes but the interest and intent behind the questions remain the same. What they really want to know is:
Are you stable and reliable?
Will you be able to scale with us if we give you this project?
What if the project fails?
We don’t know much about you—why should I choose you?
And I get it. These are all legitimate and fair questions, especially of a company or solution that is “unknown” (which is not to be confused with unproven).
At the heart of all of these questions is a common theme: minimizing risk. On the heels of a tumultuous year, a tendency toward risk aversion helps us feel more in control. It helps us feel safe.
But in the business of science—a business built on boundary-breaking innovation—there is an equal, if not greater, amount of risk that can be associated with mistaking static for safe.
While this tendency is not necessarily inherently wrong (so much of the business world, in general, is about minimizing risk as there is much to lose) the business of Life Sciences is dichotomously at odds with this philosophy.
Research and Development teams are constantly pushing boundaries. In their quest to find the next cure, they often fail, and when they do, it’s important they “fail fast”. But a model that is customized to meet these unique needs of the R&D business is costly, challenging, and risky. More directly, it’s in conflict with the enterprise IT model chartered to provide services that work for all.
But in this attempt to minimize risk, do you not stifle innovation?
I think of the questions two executives may ask when considering an investment in more training for employees.
Executive 1 – What if we pay for this and they leave?
Executive 2 – What if we don’t, and they stay…?
Perhaps innovation is risky but the outcome of doing nothing is the same.
Reap the Reward of Innovation Without Out-sizing Your Risk
Now, when it comes to support services for R&D within Life Sciences, I’m not suggesting that you abandon your plan. I’m not suggesting that you allow the business to completely dictate and own the new scientific computing model. Although, we could make a strong argument why doing so, based on proven examples, would serve to both innovate and reduce risk.
I’m suggesting a sort of compromise. The compromise involves identifying which projects, processes and/or workloads would be better managed by other service providers.
You see, too often, we see scientific computing services falling under the consulting and support umbrella of one of those ‘Big Professional Services Companies’. And why?
Not because they are less expensive. (They usually cost more.)
Not because they execute better than others? (When is the last time you hear some sing their praises?).
Because their processes are better? (No, they often layer on another process and throw more resources at the problem which only services to increase costs, stifle innovation and decrease satisfaction.)
So why? Why keep giving projects to generalists when specialists are what is needed?
The only answer is to reduce risk.
However, the reality is choosing the big name in the space just because it seems “safer” can keep the company from moving forward. And—in a process that can almost become self-fulling—these players often become little more than a scapegoat when something fails.
So I would challenge you, isn’t the risk of doing the same thing over and over with the same very average vendor greater than doing something different?
If you’re interested in finding out how you can reduce risk through innovation, I offer you this three-step process to get started:
Step 1 – Identify those areas and projects that need special attention and/or knowledge and skills. Perhaps those in R&D.
Step 2 – Find a partner with a proven track record of success addressing those special needs through its own advanced knowledge and skills (for example, the important difference between IT and Bio-IT).
Step 3 – Leave the other projects to the generalist vendor
This compromise is one that supports innovation and reduces risk at the same time. Besides, you might also find that you are also able to reduce costs, complete projects faster and more efficiently, and gain that much needed internal customer satisfaction.
Or, perhaps the risk is that you may find a better partner.
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.
Implement these strategies to accelerate drug R&D success in the New Year.
2020 was a tough year for everyone, but it was also a landmark year for medical science.
New advances, like Pfizer and Moderna’s innovative mRNA COVID-19 vaccines as well as an emerging option from J&J, hold great promise in the world of drug development. Drug researchers are now using similar technologies for innovative therapies like individualized, mRNA-based cancer vaccines.
While these are exciting times for research scientists and Bio-IT teams, capitalizing on early drug discovery innovation is a growing challenge. The need to improve efficiency and accelerate drug discovery outcomes is greater now than ever before.
Research scientists must now review their IT strategy and audit data-centric workflows. The efficiency with which research laboratories handle large quantities of data can become a bottleneck on the quality of research outcomes. Bio-IT teams have a unique opportunity to identify data analysis gaps, automate manual processes, and leverage emerging technologies to improve research outcomes.
5 Strategies to Improve Research Outcomes for 2021
We’ve identified five steps that research scientists and their IT teams can implement to improve research workflows during early drug discovery. Make data optimization and workflow efficiency a priority now to save valuable time and money without negatively impacting the quality of your data. These strategies will speed up research and development processes without sacrificing their scientific integrity.
1. Review Your IT Infrastructure: Identify Gaps and Opportunities
In order to reach your lab’s full potential, you need to perform a systematic overview of the way you handle data during drug discovery. The goal is to identify time-consuming processes that modern data infrastructure can improve.
Biopharmaceutical research is a cutting-edge industry, but it’s also an industry where adopting new technology can be expensive and difficult to manage. Your Bio-IT team likely faces time-consuming obstacles in at least one process in its overall data structure, and most teams have several areas they could enhance.
There are structural reasons why this is the case. To begin, many scientists are incredibly protective of their data, and rightfully so as it’s the primary currency in the business of science. The result, however, is that they may be more hesitant to change systems that handle and store that data, even if for the better. And if data management standards have not kept pace with best practices—which point to a system where data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and readable—their scientific workflows could be hindered.
Optimized IT infrastructure can help free scientists’ time for high-impact research tasks. Look for opportunities to automate processes that rely on manual data entry and analysis. These are tasks for which emerging technologies generate solid returns by streamlining the lowest-impact processes in the drug discovery workflow.
2. Deploy Emerging Technologies (AI, ML, DL)
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning are among the most exciting technologies emerging in today’s world. New advances in these fields are rapidly changing the way data-heavy industries like drug research and development work.
Upgrading your IT infrastructure to incorporate AI, ML, or DL technology is not a simple task. There is no one-size-fits-all approach that is guaranteed to produce optimal results.
Instead, drug researchers and Bio-IT teams need to look for unique, situational opportunities where emerging technologies can generate value. These depend heavily on the way your particular lab is set up, what kind of equipment you use, and how data is handled day-to-day. Contracting a scientific IT consultant can help you identify the processes best-suited to emerging technologies.
3. Optimize Lab Processes and Workflows
It’s common for scientific organizations to focus too intently on physical equipment. But modern drug discovery does not rely on any single tool over all others. Drug research and development is an iterative, collaborative process that requires multiple teams (and their tools) to communicate with one another smoothly.
A truly optimized laboratory environment is one where data can be seamlessly exchanged, processed, and interpreted along the entire biopharma workflow. Data silos and manual data entry need to be replaced by secure systems that enable efficient data-driven decision making and operational excellence.
4. Invest in Scalable Team Support from Qualified Specialists
Your IT needs will grow as your infrastructure expands. The average IT support team doesn’t have the bandwidth to handle the support requests of a biopharmaceutical team and won’t be able to assist with advanced data analysis or your lab’s daily computing needs.
IT support teams must understand how your research IT team handles your technology. This requires an intimate grasp of the unique software your team works with, as well as clear processes for maintaining the integrity of research data.
5. Get Objective Advice From Specialized Consultants
Scientists often over-rely on equipment manufacturers for advice. While it’s true that manufacturers know their products best, they don’t know your laboratory nearly as well nor, are they as familiar with another vendor product. In fact, they have no incentive to understand your laboratory as long as you purchase their equipment.
Get objective advice from a scientific computing consultant who understands your laboratory and the unique environment it represents. This kind of specialized guidance will help you concentrate spending in ways that verifiably improve research outcomes.
Find Out How to Optimize Your Drug Research Processes
Our scientific computing experts will help you identify areas where your laboratory can improve and help you deploy emerging technologies to improve research outcomes. As objective consultants, we aren’t beholden to any particular manufacturers or technologies – we’ll only recommend the providers that best serve your research goals.
By recommending technologies and vendors that will save you time with data entry and analysis; reduce inefficiencies in your workflow, and improve the security and speed of your IT infrastructure, RCH Solutions can help you make faster, more meaningful contributions to the ground-breaking Life Sciences research that advances our world every day.
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.
On-demand R&D infrastructure is becoming increasingly popular among biotech research organizations.
Biotech and pharmaceutical organizations are at the forefront of some of the world’s biggest problems. From developing pest-resistant crops, creating new biofuels, and treating deadly diseases, the march of scientific advancement enables the march of social and civic progress.
Unsurprisingly, developing innovative biotech products is one of the most complex tasks an organization can undertake. Maximizing computing and workflow efficiency is crucial to achieving results in this incredibly challenging industry.
Beyond workflow optimization and collaboration challenges, biotechs must also keep a close eye on compliance and security. The ability to address, analyze, and predict risks is critical to sustainable, long-term success in the biotech and pharmaceutical fields.
Science-first IT advisors offer valuable experience and resources to help biotechs address these problems. Scientific computing partners are becoming an integral part of the biotech value proposition, especially among emerging startups that need to leverage limited resources in a scalable, competitive way.
What Is a Science-First IT Advisor?
Science-first IT advisors are not just technical consultants – they are scientific computing partners who propel the business forward. Where a technical consultant might create a comprehensive blueprint on how best to structure IT assets and resources to achieve research goals, a science-first IT advisor will actually implement, operate, and maintain those solutions on their customers’ behalf.
Scientific computing and IT collaboration is a service better-suited to a managed subscription model than a strictly consultative one. Biotech research organizations need more than answers – they need decisive action that empowers scientists to do what they do best.
Life Sciences companies that enable their researchers to painlessly draw insights from data, collaborate effectively, and automate low-impact, high-volume tasks in the research workflow are able to develop innovative products faster, cheaper, and with fewer compliance risks than those that don’t.
In the world of biotech R&D, managed infrastructure represents a game-changing competitive advantage. Science-first IT advisors are the providers that make these gains achievable, especially among small organizations and startups that need access to enterprise-level technology solutions.
True scientific computing advisors share the following six characteristics:
- They understand the business behind scientific discovery on a granular level.
- They have experience in a particular niche, like early drug discovery or clinical studies.
- They think beyond the service-level agreement, striving to help organizations reach concrete research goals.
- They are not satisfied with finding “a solution” to a problem – it must be the best solution to the problem.
- They have the confidence to challenge conventional thinking and ask probing questions that can lead to valuable insights.
- They demonstrate accountability for the outcomes their work produces.
A scientific computing partner is the natural extension of your Bio-IT team, providing both insight and scalable on-demand infrastructure for meeting the challenges of biotechnological advance.
What Makes Scientific Computing Partner So Valuable in the Biotech Field?
Working with a science-first computing partner generates cumulative benefits for biotech and pharmacological research organizations. It is not the researcher’s job to deploy and maintain the infrastructure that enables research – every moment spent on these types of tasks is time not spent achieving research goals.
Biotechnology executives are increasingly relying on their infrastructural partners to guarantee robust and scalable technical solutions so that their research teams can focus on research. These partnerships allow biotech employees to maximize their productivity across the enterprise by lightening the administrative and technical load they have to carry.
Some of the most significant benefits that this approach helps biotech research organizations leverage include:
1. Scalable, Whole-of-Life Infrastructure Deployment
Leveraging a cross-functional IT and science team avoids organizational silos within the biotech environment. This enables scalable infrastructure deployment without creating bottlenecks between different stages of the equipment and computing lifecycle.
Biotech organizations that have to acquire, own, operate, and upgrade their own scientific computing solutions end up spending an inordinate amount of time and resources on tasks that are not directly related to biotechnological research.
Computing equipment comes with a significant total cost of ownership, especially when specialized expertise is required to operate and maintain it. Delegating these tasks to an expert service provider who is committed to helping the organization achieve its research goals reduces the number of obstacles researchers face when approaching those goals.
With a scientific computing partner running the infrastructural side of a biotech research firm’s operations, biotech executives can make better acquisition judgments.
2. Streamlined Security on Demand
Increasing security needs go hand-in-hand with regulatory compliance but protect company assets from far more insidious threats. Intellectual properties are among the most valuable assets that biotech organizations have to protect and constitute prime targets for cyber espionage initiatives.
Clinical trial data, confidential manufacturing schematics, and commercial trade secrets are some of the most valuable items of information that attackers are looking to pilfer from biotechnology companies. The industry as a whole is among the most frequently targeted in the entire US economy, and it is not just large biotech enterprises that are at risk – small research organizations and startups present easy targets for opportunistic cybercriminals.
The cybersecurity landscape of the biotech industry offers one of the most compelling motivations to delegate scientific computing to a reputable, compliance-oriented service vendor. Scientific research staff don’t have the cybersecurity qualifications required to deploy and maintain secure technology stacks, but every position in the biotech company is also a cybersecurity position now.
3. Hyper-Care Service Modeling
The “hyper-care” service model is about more than building transactional agreements and service-level guarantees for biotech organizations. It is about developing whole-of-life solution stacks that cultivate positive relationships over time. Scientific computing advisors are not outsourced equipment vendors but full-scale collaborative partners whose interests are deeply aligned with those of the biotech firm.
Service-level agreements do exist within the science-first IT advisor service environment, but they are structured to drive innovation. Commodity services like phones and desktops are included under the service-level structure, while platform-agnostic advisory staff retain the freedom and responsibility to recommend the right tools for the job. Approaches that fail to align with the goals and demands of research workflows will be questioned and adjusted as needed.
Most managed service vendors neglect to offer biotech organizations what they are really looking for. It is not the technology stack or the scientific equipment that delivers value to research initiatives – it is the insight those analytics empower that count. The hyper-care model is about delivering insight, not pointing to a technology stack and saying, “that’ll do the job.”
4. Technology Solutions That Follow the Pace of Innovation
Biotechnological research is all about outcomes. A scientific computing partner who is invested in the outcome of your biotech research initiatives will continually invest in technological solutions that support results.
Putting a science-first IT advisor in charge of your infrastructural services ensures that your research time can focus on the viability of their innovations instead of constantly looking for opportunities to improve the supporting technology infrastructure. The pace of technological advancement moves so quickly that most biotech organizations are perpetually catching up with the newest workflow-enhancing developments – but every infrastructural change comes at a steep price.
With a managed service infrastructure agreement in place, biotech organizations can rely on having access to the best tools and technologies for their research tasks on-hand. There is no need to delegate research talent to identifying and deploying the latest technology infrastructure – it is already available the moment it becomes viable. As the needs of the biotech research firm change, so too can its technology infrastructure.
5. Risk Reduction and Regulatory Compliance Awareness
Life science companies do not often have a comprehensive, enterprise-wide view of compliance risk. The biotech regulatory environment is hugely complex, and many biotech research organizations struggle to see how their technology and equipment choices impact their ability to demonstrate regulatory compliance.
Leading companies in the biotech industry build regulatory engagement into their innovation models. It is not enough to embrace new technology – regulatory engagement is absolutely critical in an area where unforeseen ethical challenges can pop up well after stakeholders have invested time and capital into an innovative initiative.
Delegating scientific computing and equipment operation to a Bio-IT advisor familiar with the nuanced regulatory considerations associated with drug discovery, reduces long-term risk for the organization.
Experienced Scientific Computing Partners Empower Bio-IT Innovation
There are a plethora of managed service vendors targeting the biotech industry. Some are innovative newcomers, while others are well-established names with years of experience behind them. In a competitive, tightly regulated industry like biotech and pharmaceutical development, a successful track record is the best predictor of a successful partnership. You will know when you partner with an experienced, reputable scientific computing vendor because their team will operate as an extension of yours.
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.
The climate in which R&D teams are operating today is competitive, to say the least.
The breakneck pace at which innovation must move in its earliest of stages creates a battleground within the research landscape, one where data is the best weapon against the invisible enemies science aims to destroy, and technology provides the differentiating high-ground from which the fight can be won.
Yet, following a wash, rinse, repeat formula is how many organizations source or implement the outsourced or “tactical” support so critical to their data and compute workflows, where organizations or bodies are assigned to a project simply because they’re on an approved vendor list.
But this model is fundamentally at odds with the needs and goals of science, which requires agility, curiosity, and most importantly, a critical thinking process and ability to introduce new solutions to solve routine challenges.
There is a better solution out there—it’s called a Bio-IT Thought Partner.
So, what is a Bio-IT thought partner and, more importantly, why do you need one?
A Bio-IT thought partner looks different than a typical staff augmentation solution provider and brings a different level of value and accountability. Typically, it includes the following:
Specialized experience that breeds a willingness to challenge existing assumptions AND the ability to offer potential alternatives and recommendations for better outcomes.
Unique, and highly skilled Scientific IT expertise that informs an agile strategy based on specific business and project needs and goals and, often, at a lower cost based on the overall return. Together, this creates a responsive and scalable model for execution.
A full-service philosophy that provides comprehensive ownership of the project and accountability and transparency through all project phases, to meet the needs of the most critical stakeholders.
Spotting a Bio-IT Thought Partner
We’ve been in this business for a long time. Many times, our customers have led the conversation with our team by introducing the solutions they’re expecting to implement. The challenge with this thinking, however, is that it can close the door on potentially new or more innovative approaches and, often, glosses over much of the critical discovery work that helps ensure the project’s success.
In those situations, it’s the responsibility of the partner/provider to hit pause and be willing to ask those pointed questions. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen.
Here are just a few examples of how those conversations have gone based on real experiences and stories shared with us by RCH customers:
The Organization’s Objective: “Use Analytics”
Typical Provider Response: We have a solution for that.
Thought Partner Response: Analytics tools can be really powerful, but before we get there, we have to talk about your data. Where is it located? How are you ID’ing and categorizing it?
The Organization’s Objective: “Move to the Cloud”
Typical Provider Response: Good choice, the Cloud will save you money.
Thought Partner Response: The real benefits of accessibility, scalability, and innovation will reduce time to market which translates to reduced costs, but there are other considerations as well. Let’s talk about you where the Cloud may and may not make sense in your business.
The Organization’s Objective: “Scale Computing Infrastructure”
Typical Provider Response: Storage is cheap so let’s just buy more.
Thought Partner Response: True, but it still does not solve the problem of data curation especially with an increased amount of data, from a variety of sources in different formats. Let’s discuss your growth and scale goals, and evaluate the best options to achieve them.
A Better Model for Scientific IT Projects
Your projects—and the businesses that drive them forward— deserve the opportunity for maximum success. Often, that means introducing a fresh and objective perspective, fusing new approaches with proven best practices, and tapping into a specialized, experienced and accountable team to fill in the gaps.
It means having not simply a provider of Bio-IT services available to your team, but rather, leveraging the relationship of a true Bio-IT thought partner by your side.
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.
How to Overcome Common Bio-IT Challenges As Your Biotech Grows
How do you maximize success as a Biotech startup? For most, it begins with a core goal: Improve patient outcomes through novel discovery. From there, you dedicate yourself to science. Hone your discovery. Secure funding. Hire a few exceptional people. Demonstrate results through pristine data and analytics. Secure even more funding. Maybe hire a few more great people until, ultimately, you’re given the opportunity to market your great innovation. Easy, right? Wrong. The reality is, maintaining the core focus that inspired your discovery is not always easy, particularly as science becomes a business.
Leaders who once lived R&D may find themselves removed from that work as they attend to all the realities of running a business; while those who were hired to support a particular effort, maybe thrust into new roles simply because there is a need to get something done. And fast. There’s an exceptional amount of gray when it comes to growing a Biotech. And one area that we’ve seen most often alter their trajectory and momentum, is their Bio-IT infrastructure. It’s important to get that piece of the puzzle right as it (obviously) helps you advance your initiatives. But beyond that, it makes your organization more attractive to talented employees, instills confidence in investors, and demonstrates to a potential buyer (if that’s your goal) that you’re able to deliver results outside of the Wild West. But “getting it right” is not always easy. As scientists, a curiosity to improve the world around you naturally leads to questions on how something can be done better. Why not apply that same logic to your Biotech? If you (or members of your team) find yourself asking these questions, it may be time to consider the value of support from a specialized external partner.
- “Who owns that?” As you grow, it’s unavoidable that your focus will begin to shift. Though your role was once well-defined, managing the technical complexities of a growing Biotech requires that you—or your lean and mean team—are likely spending time on tasks that fall outside of your areas of expertise. Like scientists modifying Cloud workflows or enterprise IT personnel designing analytics frameworks. While the work needs to get done, is that model making the best use of everyone’s time? Probably not. The bottom line is, if you find yourself or members of your team taking on responsibilities that aren’t maximizing your Biotech’s success, it’s time to reassess.
- “How do we scale to reach out next milestone?” While many view scalability as an action item for the future, the reality is, it may first warrant a review of the past. Some of us have come from Big Pharma, where equal access to resources and the need to find creative solutions to skirt restrictive policies and procedures led to operating outside of the boundaries. But building-up your Biotech is best accomplished when the proper Bio-IT framework is in place. That means a shared and well-adopted platform, upon which you can develop specialized applications and compute workflows, thoughtfully manage data, and execute through individuals experienced in and accountable for the right outcomes. Remember, there’s no better time than now to implement best practices.
- “How do we get a better handle on our data?” When data is the most important asset of the company, aside from the people in the organization and the partners you choose, the demand to better manage (e.g, locate, store, retrieve, and share) data grows as you do.
- “How can we accomplish all that we need to?” There comes a time in the life cycle of every emerging company when there are simply not enough hours in the day to accomplish all that is needed. The upside is that it’s a sign of progress. But the downside is that it can temper productivity and steer outcomes in the wrong direction. Without the right infrastructure, technology, workflows and, most importantly, the roles to execute science properly, the fail-fast mindset can feel more like a failure.
- “Is there a better way to do this?” The short answer is, typically, yes. In an industry where disruption is the goal (a better drug, a more targeted diagnostic tool, or a more personalized therapy) being unable to leverage disruption within your own company to yield better outcomes puts you at a disadvantage. Assessing and reassessing your processes and resources to make sure time—and expertise—is being spent where it matters most, is an easy first step down the right path.
How the Right Support Resources Can Make a Difference
In the industry of innovation, putting your business in the best position to succeed requires focus, attention, and the willingness to ask the right questions of yourself and your team in order to get to the next level. If you’re unsure of what those questions are, perhaps the question you should be asking yourself is this: “Who can I call to help?”
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.
We often become a victim of our own success. You do great work, build a terrific reputation and then, even after many years of diverse service, become typecast.
At RCH, we still hear comments such as, “Oh, you’re the Linux people!” or “You’re the ones that just get things done” — two statements that are both accurate and therefore complementary in their own right, but only scratch the surface on the continuum of strategy and support services we’ve provided for nearly three decades. And while the vote of confidence toward these specific and presumably valuable skills can be rewarding, helping our customers rethink the box RCH fits into has been a critical contributor to our—and their—success.
For one, we work in an industry where innovation is not only evident, but also the goal. Our team—which includes research application specialists, data scientists and PhDs as well as systems, security, network and Cloud engineers—is made up of individuals who are curious by nature and seek to expand their horizons in order to bring new solutions to our customers.
But, what makes that fact more tangible for our customers, is how it translates into the ability to truly partner with internal R&D I.T. teams and business area leaders to drive transformation.
Take these cases as examples of how an experienced scientific computing partner can supplement your team in the right ways:
1. Supporting Teams with Advice Where It’s Needed Most
A top 10 pharmaceutical company was in need of a partner to help evaluate an I.T. designed environment to support specific business groups in early discovery through development. Based on our exclusive focus in this very specific arena of R&D I.T. and objective approach compared to a prior global professional services computing company, RCH was selected. After working closely with internal stakeholders, the outcome was a comprehensive strategic plan which was not only implemented and utilized by both I.T. and the businesses, but that continues to evolve today.
2. Implementing A Model Made for Specialization
A managed services approach to supporting scientific computing has proven to provide better value than traditional staff augmentation attempts. For another well-established pharmaceutical company, this was demonstrated when RCH served as an invested, and accountable extension of their team, providing comprehensive support for their technology infrastructure, operating systems (Linux, Windows, Serverless) and most importantly, the multitude of software applications essential to scientific analysis and discovery. The circle was complete until new disruptive technologies (Cloud, DL/AI, Analytics) were introduced in the businesses and I.T. Once again, RCH has been tapped to lead the charge.
3. Bridging from Break-fix to DevOps
Roughly 12 years ago, while RCH began its support of several business groups within a global pharmaceutical company, the Managed Services provided included mostly non-standard solutions which, at the time, including this “thing” called the Cloud. Our early exposure and subsequent successes led to referrals to other customers who needed a partner with Cloud experience. The evolution at one specific customer has gone from ‘break-fix’ to expand on Operations services and now to DevOps practice that are truly transformative for the customer.
A Partner In Your Success
Over the years, RCH has evolved from the team that “just gets things done” to an invited member of the table where strategic decisions are being made. Why? Because we take this role as trusted advisor very seriously, and approach projects of all scale with the same mindset:
Over-deliver on our commitments.
Do more than what is asked, and succeed.
And above all else, add value for the teams most responsible for scientific computing outcomes as a responsive, collaborative, and knowledgeable partner for their success.
RCH Solutions is a global provider of computational science expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes clear the path to discovery for nearly 30 years. If you’re interesting in learning how RCH can support your goals, get in touch with us here.