Digitalization

Alcimed supports its clients on digitalization and digital transformation topics to help them understand and define how digital can change their offers, their businesses and their processes, and to put in place their digitalization strategies.

Challenges related to digitalization and digital transformation

What is digitalization and what is digital transformation?

Digitalization and digital transformation refer to the use of technology to radically improve the performance or impact of a business. Often restricted to its marketing dimension, this transformation takes place at all levels, from R&D to industrialization, from client relations to marketing and sales. Properly operated, it leads to a significant increase in operational efficiency and the development of completely new business models.

Digital transformation is an expression that has been found in all companies and industries, especially in Industry 4.0 for more than 10 years. While as consumers, digital takes center stage in our daily lives, businesses and industries must adapt. Some sectors (retail, finance, media, etc.) are ahead of the game, while other sectors (healthcare, construction, agriculture, automotive, chemicals, etc.) are lagging behind. For these sectors in particular, a rapid transition to digitalization is a prerequisite to remain competitive in an ultra-connected world.

What are the challenges related to digitalization?

Due to its pervasive nature in business, digital transformation is quickly becoming a strategic issue. For several industries, it is also complex to apprehend because it is far from the habits and practices rooted for several decades in the life of the company. Challenging existing organizations and processes, it can also be difficult to make operational once planned.

For companies wishing to start or continue with digitalization, several challenges arise:

Identifying the partners and technological blocks necessary to move forward

These technological blocks are rarely held internally. It then becomes necessary to acquire them via centers of academic excellence, start-ups, suppliers, etc.

Understanding how these blocks will transform the businesses of the company, suppliers or partners

This transformation impacts the entire value chain: organization, training, impact on the ways of managing the activity, impact on the ways of interacting with other stakeholders in the ecosystem, etc.

Identifying, characterizing and evaluating the useful and available "datalakes" to fuel the company's digitalization

Quality, quantity of data, accessibility, inclinations of data holders to form partnerships with industrial players (hospitals or insurers and pharmaceutical companies for example), etc.

Building and challenging models for the valorization of this data

Data collection and governance, organization, value proposition, etc.

Have a project? Write us!

How do we support you in your digitalization and digital transformation projects?

Alcimed supports its clients by providing sector expertise and knowledge of technological challenges related to the integration of data into strategic thinking. Our team has also acquired skills in “data science” for several years – and our data scientists are called upon whenever we work on the use and exploitation of data, as when implementing a Data Driven strategy, or even when we handle complex data sets in our client projects.

Beyond technical skills, Alcimed supports its industrial clients to better understand what digitalization brings to the various functions of the company:

In R&D, in order to accelerate upstream research, increase the success rate for new products to reach the market, predict in healthcare, for example, the profiles of future treatments in terms of efficacy or toxicity, etc.
In industrial operations, for example to imagine what quality control will look like in 15 years using connected digital technologies, or to imagine new batch release procedures, etc.
At the level of sales operations and marketing, to understand how digitalization can strengthen client relationships – a major issue in times of health crisis, etc.

The types of projects we carry out for our clients in this field are:

State of the art
Customer experience
Business models
New services
New offers
Open innovation
Workshop

Strategic positioning
Innovation strategy
Business case
Business plan
Value proposition
Search for partners
Roadmap

Competitive analysis
Benchmark
Business development
Opportunity evaluation
Scouting
Learning expedition

A project? Contact our explorers!

EXAMPLES OF RECENT PROJECTS CARRIED OUT FOR OUR CLIENTS IN THE FIELD OF DIGITALIZATION

Identification and characterization of data sets to launch a phase III “data-centric” clinical trial

In this project, Alcimed combined for a pharmaceutical laboratory its field investigation skills with its ability to understand the data science environment in healthcare in order to qualify the data sets useful for launching a phase III clinical trial. This qualification was based on an assessment of data quality, quantity, volume and accessibility. Our project resulted in a recommendation on the partners to be favored on the international scene in order to develop a “data-centric” clinical trial and the avenues of collaboration to be considered.

Development of a “customer-centric” digital strategy for an industrial player

Our client, a major industrial player, had the ambition to become “fully customer-centric”, placing the customer at the center of its concerns at all levels of the company. To feed this reflection and contribute to the company's roadmap, we carried out an investigation project based on benchmarks of the digitalization of customer relationships (in its sector and outside of its sector) and interactions with its customers in Europe and in the United States. Our project made it possible to question our client's initial ideas by integrating a more concrete dimension, and to transform a reflection into an operational action plan.

Benchmark and competitive analysis of digital for a “Release by Exception” process for a biopharmaceutical player

In this project, we studied how digital (new sensors, algorithms, new professions) could support the “Release by Exception” (RBE) process, a more fluid and real-time vision of the release of batches. Through interviews with experts and providers of digital solutions in this very specific sector, we drew up a panorama of the real maturity of RBE in biopharma and observed more closely the activities of 3 competitors over the last 10 years in this sector. The project resulted in a better understanding of the topic and a clear vision of the steps and key success factors to implement an RBE digital transformation for our client.

Customer and digital experience: rethinking a more digital sales approach in the field of oncology

We supported a leading player in the pharmaceutical industry in redesigning its sales approach to prescribers to make it more digital. The Covid-19 crisis having strongly impacted the usual interactions of the sales force with physicians, our client wanted to rethink their entire go to market approach on the 'customer experience' part to develop a new, fully digital approach and differentiating from the competition. By identifying trends and benchmarking key non-pharma stakeholders in their digital sales approach, and by analyzing physicians' receptivity to pre-identified ideas, we supported our client's sales and marketing team in defining their new customer experience, from inspiration to the implementation of new practices within the field team.

WHO IS ALCIMED?

Founded in 1993, Alcimed is an innovation and new business consulting firm, specializing in innovation driven sectors: life sciences (healthcare, biotech, agrifood), energy, environment, mobility, chemicals, materials, cosmetics, aeronautics, space and defence.

Our purpose? Helping both private and public decision-makers explore and develop their uncharted territories: new technologies, new offers, new geographies, possible futures, and new ways to innovate.

Located across eight offices around the world (France, Europe, Singapore and the United States), our team is made up of 220 highly-qualified, multicultural and passionate explorers, with a blended science/technology and business culture.

Our dream? To build a team of 1,000 explorers, to design tomorrow's world hand in hand with our clients.