IT is the key to Quality Products- Suresh Shenoy, VP IT, Wockhardt

The pharma industry, by virtue of being related to people's health is highly dependent on the quality of products. But the way to achieve that quality is to create an internal culture for it, and that's where IT can help,says Suresh Shenoy, VP IT, Wockhardt

Quality is sacrosanct and the very basis of the pharma and biotech segments. Quality needs to be imbibed in the work-culture. If your processes are well-documented, standard, quality processes then they are likely to result in “Quality Products”. All compliances and quality standards are manifestations of this concept. A good IT-system needs to be in place to ensure integrity of compliance and quality standards. IT therefore, covers all processes end-to-end.

Companies are trying to put all transactions, processes across the globe on a single uniform platform so that functions can talk to each other and collaborate in “one single language”. Technologically, the future holds to see an integrated converged platform for all functions. Substantial value is hidden for the organization that could unleash this synergy.

The stumbling blocks currently for IT lie in the reluctance of functional users to assume ownership of the data and systems.

Among the other goals set for the user, and this onus lies as much on the individual as on the organisation, one aim has to be to imbibe the use of technology in day-to-day working. The users also have to find consensus across functions on a standard process and system. IT systems are often also compromised due to over-expectation from a technology or a system, which can at times be limitless.

The evaluation of technology nonetheless should be based on ROI along with other aspects of measurement such as TCO. It is important to ascertain strategic benefit and advantages gained by the business.