Why SAP is the Best Fit for Pre-Commercial Biotech Companies
The biotechnology sector is expanding, both in terms of the number and size of businesses in the market, and, most importantly, in the range of positive health outcomes it delivers. Global market size was estimated at over $1000 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.9% from 2022 to 2030
Pre-commercial biotech is a core element of the industry. As companies in this sector expand, they need systems solutions that can both run and support their business processes today and scale seamlessly as the business grows.
Life sciences in general, and pre-commercial biotech in particular, has attributes and requirements that are unique to the sector, making it even more critical that enterprises choose a systems platform that is right for their specific needs.
WHY SAP OFFERS THE BEST FIT FOR PRE-COMMERCIAL BIOTECH ERP NEEDS
Often, the first requirement for a pre-commercial biotech is a finance system to keep track of its financial activities and maintain compliance.
Many ERP platforms offer this core capability and claim to be able to scale functionality as the business grows to cover inventory, production, and supply chain management.
SAP is one of very few, if not the only, ERP platforms that can cater specifically to the demands of pharmaceutical manufacturing. It has the specific capabilities and robustness to deal with the complexities inherent in the life sciences industry, from inventory controls to complex planning and supply chain management.
MANAGING GROSS TO NET SALES RECONCILIATION IN COMPLEX SUPPLY CHAINS
Within finance, SAP has well-tried functionality to manage the gross to net sales reconciliation that is a key part of the pre-commercial biotech business model. It handles complex networks of suppliers and payers, and recognizes revenue in a compliant manner when parts of the supply chain are outsourced and some inventory is held at contract manufacturers.
EASING FINANCIAL TRANSACTION OVERHEADS
Pre-commercial biotech companies need to focus financial resources on research, development, and clinical trials, rather than on managing consolidations and financial transactions. With SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP can consistently and continually improve the efficiency of these transactions to reduce management overhead so that resources can be focused where they add greatest value.
EMBEDDING INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICE
SAP is generous in sharing best practices with clients. The platform offers a set of best practice preconfigured workflows, including four that are specific to life sciences.
SAP has worked specifically on how life sciences businesses manage inventory and work across supply and demand networks, enabling them to offer embedded life sciences best practices from the first conversations with a client.
This best practice approach is also reflected in SAP’s ability to implement, adopt, and create systems for their customers that are more scalable in size and functionality, because they're aligned with other companies around the world, enabling easier, coordinated upgrades and functionality enhancements.
DELIVERING CLOUD BENEFITS WITHOUT COMPROMISING DATA
Pharmaceutical companies have specific needs around controlling their data that can create nervousness around adopting public cloud solutions.
SAP uniquely mirrors its full public cloud functionality in a private cloud model, enabling pharma clients to maintain the required control over their data while still reaping the benefits of operating in the cloud.
MEETING GxP REQUIREMENTS
SAP has devoted much attention to GxP requirements, offering a qualification service for their SAP S4/HANA cloud that validates adherence to ISO standards in quality management, security management, and business continuity.
This gives SAP pharma clients confidence that standards are being met, and more importantly, the assurance that the system is robust, with manufacturing and supply chain stakeholders benefiting from the system being maintained at that level.
MEETING THE NICHE CHALLENGES OF BIOTECH PROCESSES
Biotech products and processes create some niche supply chain and ERP challenges.
Inhaled products are extremely temperamental, with very specific handling, transport, and storage requirements.
Some products start their lifecycle as uncontrolled but undergo changes during their lifecycle that bring them under DEA license, with all the associated controls.
Supplying lyophilized products can involve a variable and unpredictable number of process steps.
SAP has the flexibility and depth of functionality to accommodate these use cases and track products through the complex life sciences lifecycle.
AN SAP IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER WITH DEEP INDUSTRY EXPERTISE
In the pre-commercial biotech space, companies must be able to deliver high-quality, error-free outcomes. At Crescense, we understand that imperative, and we leverage our industry expertise to help small- to mid-size biotech companies meet their specific needs. At the same time, we are also flexible to adapt to the resource and financial constraints that those biotech companies often face.
If your business is looking for an SAP implementation partner in the pre-commercial biotech sector, we can help. Reach out to our team at Crescense today.
By Irene Birbeck and Michael Fein