How To Get More Value From Professional Services in Pharma - Interview with Cameron Smith

Larger pharma companies are renown for spending a large amount on management consultants and other professionals services, due in part to the pharma industry's unique and high-risk business model.
There is a real opportunity to managing professional services better in life sciences, but it is far from straightforward, as Cameron Smith, Procurement Senior Partner for Professional Services at Novartis explains in the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast.

“Procurement is constantly evolving” says Cameron “I don't think we're anywhere near close to scratching the surface of the value that procurement can bring.“

Professional services meets life sciences

The pharma business model comes with significantly greater risks than industries as "Pharma has to take a long-term view" says Cameron.

"If we're doing a deal with a strategy house, that strategy should help define what the business looks like for medium term, tie-in with the drug development pipeline and look at growth opportunities in market".

Another challenge is that the high-margin nature of big pharma means that a "mindset shift" is sometimes needed before stakeholders are prepared to consider alternatives to their existing suppliers.

Procurement professionals supporting business leaders is these decisions have to be aware of the importance, and politics, of these business issues. "If you're not, you're going to be left behind very quickly. Stakeholders are going to take a fairly dim view of what sort of value you can bring to the table."

7 strategies for transforming professional services procurement

Cameron details his recommendations for how procuerment professionals can manage professional services in the pharma industry.

1. Know your data down to the cent

2. Segment the existing supplier base

3. Find the category experts

4.Benchmark against the market

5. Align with your stakeholders

6. Consolidate your supply base without compromising quality

7. Measure only what is useful

Read the full article here: https://pharmasource.global/content/podcast/how-to-get-more-value-from-professional-services-in-pharma/