Strategic collaboration enables Life Science companies to adopt a cloud strategy

Life Science companies are historically late adopters of new technology, due to the heavily regulated nature of the industry. Patient safety and product quality are priority one, which means they must continuously prove they are in control of their IT systems. Staying in control of ERP systems has always been a challenge for Life Science companies. And today the challenge is even greater, with cloud systems forcing patches and upgrades several times per year. It’s now exponentially more demanding to maintain the validated state of your ERP system after go-live.

Columbus and Epista are leaders in digital transformation and operation of Pharma solutions via Microsoft Dynamics 365FO - both in terms of experience, insight and volume. The new strategic collaboration between these two IT consultancies enables Life Science companies to take advantage of the cloud benefits that other industries have been enjoying for a long time.

With more than 30 years in the global digitalization industry and emphasis on a regulated market, Columbus has established a stable and comprehensive foundation of operational offerings by means of current, structured services making sure that cloud-based pharma solutions will remain validated.

Epista Life Science is dedicated to continuously improving regulatory compliance. Throughout their decade of growth, they have pioneered new methods to help Life Science companies take advantage of technological advances in IT while remaining efficient, in control and in compliance.

The result of the trinity between product (Microsoft Dynamics 365FO), offerings and services (Columbus) and quality assurance and validation (Epista Life Science), enables Life Science companies to pursue a cloud strategy that will keep them efficiently in control and future-proof their business.

“In recent years, we have successfully specialized in accommodating the increasingly high demand for continuous updates. Updates that especially Cloud environments require in order to streamline processes and procedures. In addition to world-class Change Control, Release Management Processes and Automated Testing Programs, Columbus is now able to deliver - in collaboration with Epista Life Science. GxP validation services around the individual future updates of Microsoft D365FO, securing effective and efficient decision making. Therefore, we have high expectations of our for, and are very pleased about with, our the collaboration with Epista Life Science,” says Lasse Bruhn, Vice President, Customer Operations, Columbus A/S.

Klavs Esbjerg, CEO and founder of Epista Life Science states: “When Life Science companies consider a new ERP system, they naturally focus on the large and complex implementation project standing before them. In Epista’s extensive experience, we commonly see Life Science companies make a huge mistake here. All too often, they underestimate, or overlook altogether, the next phase in the system lifecycle – namely ongoing operations and maintenance. We’re excited about our collaboration with Columbus in this area, because we believe it will help us turn our client’s obstacles into real business opportunities - and finally take advantage of all the benefits that cloud ERP systems have to offer.

This strategic collaboration between Columbus and Epista will future-proof Life Science companies with ERP solutions which that can be scaled as products develop and the business grows.