5 Benefits of ERP Software in the Life Science Industry.

Life science companies face serious operational and regulatory challenges, ranging from commercialization, raising funds, intense competition,  successfully finishing stage 2 clinical R&D trials,  preparing for commercial launches, and pressure of managing costs.

Manufacturers in the life science spaces are tasked with careful documentation and adherence to strict operating procedures. They are also tasked with proper management to ensure quality and maintain compliance with FDA and other international regulatory bodies.

As one of the industries held in the highest level of accountability, any errors due to poor or outdated operation methods will have grave effects on consumers and the credibility of the enterprise. Therefore, there is a  need to generate reliable insights through market research and analysis of performance data to ensure quality, scalability, productivity, and compliance while reducing cost.

Outdated methods like Quick books, spreadsheets, and other manual methods are no longer reliable methods for gathering real-time information and giving accurate reports 

With the world evolving around digital transformation, FDA-regulated industries will benefit greatly from  Life Science Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) softwares for the regulation and automation of processes.

Life Science ERPs are tailored to meet the varying needs of the industry with centralized internal and external data sources which ensure simplification of operation processes and management of the overwhelming amounts of projects with flexibility and agility.

How does this age-old industry, benefit from the new-age Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software?

In this article, we will discuss 5 core benefits of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) in the life science industry.

• Quality Maintenance and Traceability.

Traceability is one of the core requirements of FDA validation. It is important for the optimization of quality management and efficiency.

Effective traceability allows you to systematically recall events, trace quality issues and take corrective measures at minimal cost,  without disturbing your supply chain.

Traceability or tracking is a crucial part of Life Science ERP. It is important to know who or where products are being delivered to if they are in the right hands and everything that went into forming or producing the products.

During isolation processes, the ability to pull out data at once from every network in the supply chain and effectively follow corrective and preventive plans helps to save time, money, people’s health, and of course, the company’s license.

NetSuite life science ERP solutions provide a reliable and centralized record system, providing the traceability needed without the integration of external tools.

• End to End Financial Transparency.

As a core part of the national economy, this industry faces a lot of challenges including cost, pricing pressures, and increased demand for growth and value in an ever-changing regulatory environment. 

Due to these challenges, the life science industry faces a lot of pressures when it comes to financial reporting.

Just like in every other industry, transparency in reporting is key. Life science industries are required to disclose revenue recognition, research, development costs, acquisition, income taxes, and any other data.

Mistakes in reporting these data can lead to heavy costs on compliance leaders, who try to manage the errors in these reports before the stated deadline. This is why Life science ERP is an effective strategy for minimizing conflicting data in reports and optimizing processes.

Sometimes life science companies need to release detailed information on general and research payments made to registered physicians and teaching hospitals. They may also need to release data about the ownership and investments of these recipients in the respective companies.

Life science industries need to adopt sophisticated data systems to ensure proper reporting and collection of financial data.

Optimization of report processes is important to properly communicate the company’s position at any time and future strategies clearly and convincingly. 

This is especially beneficial when seeking grants and sponsorship for projects.

NetSuite cloud accounting software, simplifies the process of recording transactions, managing payments, and streamlining tax management.

 It enables timely and accurate reporting and greater control of financial assets.

NetSuite cloud accounting software provides real-time access to financial data.  This enables digging into details quickly to resolve issues, and generate statements and disclosures to align with regulatory financial compliance requirements. It also provides a role-based dashboard to properly monitor the enterprise.

• Global business management. 

Life science industries are usually a complex network of global suppliers, manufacturers, and logistic providers to get finished products to the final consumers. However, this industry faces challenges in expanding its portfolios beyond existing geographic and sector boundaries. The way some countries in the world do international business has changed especially since the COVID pandemic.

The Life Science industry faces intense tax authority scrutiny of their transfer pricing in different parts of the world.

 Life science ERPs like NetSuite OneWorld will enable these companies to manage transfer pricing, currency, and tax controversies.

This NetSuite feature provides a real-time, unified global management platform that manages multiple applications in different countries, currencies, languages, and subsidiaries. It brings visibility to all aspects of your business worldwide and ensures consistent and compliant management both locally and globally. 

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Life science industries face several unique challenges including, increased competition, lower margins, and little or no customer relationship and communication channels. 

They are also affected by regulatory considerations regarding marketing, promotional materials, and customer communication management controls.

It is important to implement business strategies aimed at understanding, anticipating, and responding to your customers in a way that builds a good relationship between company and customer.  CRM provides market access, customer acquisition, and strategies that increase revenue and company growth.

However, there is very little CRM software tailored to Life Science ERP, and using conventional CRM tools for the Life Science industry is a grave mistake and will result in many challenges.

NetSuite CRM is tailored to the unique challenges and objectives of the Life Science industry. Its Life Science ERP solution enables customer relationship management and customer interaction across clinical, safety, sales, support, and other marketing operations. It is built to enable the industry to manage prospects, customers, partners, and vendors in a single, integrated system.

• Project Management.

An increase in global competitiveness and the increasing demand for new and innovative projects in the life sciences space are becoming global. The pandemic threw the Life Science industry under more pressure to carry out a variety of vaccine projects and participate in other initiatives alongside its regular projects.

This means that demand still greatly numbers supply leading to a serious need for speed, flexibility, and agility in this industry for  proper management of these fast-paced projects, especially in tight time frames.

Being able to set up accurate budgets, processes and schedules allow for smooth and successful execution of projects.

NetSuite OpenAir provides life science industries with benchmarking data, reports, strategies for pricing and distribution, and timelines.  This ensures a better understanding of what is involved in their projects and how to improve best practices. It is a Life Science ERP software that provides project management, resource management, time and expense tracking, project accounting, and project financials all in one system.

Final words

Life science companies that do not adopt a reliable cloud-based ERP are faced with the threat of missing out on emerging opportunities.

Life science ERP is a core part of reducing costs, automating workload and projects, maximizing global market opportunities, and gaining a competitive advantage. It ensures effective compliance with regulations and customer expectations.

To gain all the benefits of Life science ERP, only systems that are tailored to the unique needs of this industry should be adopted. Other industries may seem to be fairly managing a one-size-fits-all Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution but doing that in Life Sciences ERP can result in a disaster.

NetSuite provides support tailored to the specific needs of specific sectors in this industry to cater to their different growth and scalability needs in a unified system.

 All data, information, and insight are stored in a cloud-based system which means you can access your data anytime you wish, anywhere you are with an internet connection.

Whether you are a small, medium, or large-scale Life Science company, NetSuite provides you with solutions to manage core functions specific to your company.