If you had any doubt before, researcher IDC has just demonstrated that pharma manufacturing information management is fast becoming a globally outsourced business. A 49-page report released in July finds that 63 percent of surveyed manufacturers say they outsource some aspect of manufacturing or supply-chain-related IT. That's a 15 percent rise over two years.
And 41 percent of those who say they outsource say also that they use a mix of U.S. and non-U.S. service providers.
Manufacturing IT capabilities currently ripe for outsourcing: solutions that boost supply chain visibility and monitoring. Analytics and business intelligence solutions also are making their way up the list.
The results jibe with those of a UPS survey reported earlier this year. In that study, 64 percent of respondents from about 150 companies in the pharma, medical device and biotech industries report being "very" or "extremely" concerned about managing supply chain costs, up from 55 percent the year earlier. The visibility, analytics and business intelligence needs identified in the IDC study are very likely related to cost management.
- see the IDC release