You have likely heard of cloud computing, but do you know exactly what it is? Are you aware of how the power of cloud computing is helping various industries in today’s high-tech world? In this article, we will explore what cloud computing is and how it has changed the way the pharma industry operates.
Cloud Computing Explained
The simple definition of cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet. The types of services vary from server use and storage to databases, analytics, intelligence, and software. These computing services are offered through the internet because it provides for quicker innovation, economies of scale, and flexibility of resources unavailable anywhere else.
The main benefit of cloud services is that you only pay for what you use. This reduces operating costs, permits expansion as needed, and aids in the efficient use of business infrastructure.
The Benefits of Using Cloud Computing Services
The way businesses view IT resources has changed with the introduction of cloud computing. There are a few main reasons that have attracted this shift. They include the following:
Price
Cloud computing removes significant costs. This includes the initial capital expenditures on hardware and software, the setting up and operation of data centers and servers, the utility fees for electrical services to keep everything operating, and the wages for IT management staff.
Fast and Flexible
Because cloud computing services are available for you as needed, without additional assistance, it is readily available and accessible with just a few mouse clicks. What this does, is it makes cloud computing fast and flexible compared to traditional IT services.
Geographic Scalability
IT scalability is another major benefit of cloud computing. This means that your business receives the number of IT services needed—with more or less to meet demand. Plus, it comes from the correct geographic location in proximity to the business address.
Productivity
The mechanics of operating an on-site IT data center are eliminated when cloud computing services are utilized. This removes IT teams from the server, hardware, and software management to focus attention on short-term and long-term business goals.
Performance
Probably one of the largest benefits of cloud computing is the way it runs. It operates on a massive, worldwide network that contains secure data centers, which have the most up-to-date security and current software upgrades. This ensures fast and clean operation.
Reliability
As a cloud computing provider has access to several storage options, issues such as data backup and disaster recovery from a system crash or security breach do not have an impact. Business operations will run as usual with little or no downtime slowing things down.
Safe and Secure
Cloud computing providers utilize a variety of security protocols. They include various policies, controls, guidelines, measurable requirements, and technologies to add strength to your security. This keeps data and infrastructure protected at all times.
How Cloud Computing Has Helped the Healthcare Industry
According to an analytics survey conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, more than 83% of pharma companies are utilizing cloud services. The pandemic turned out to be a shot in the arm that proved cloud services could drive innovation.
Vaccines were in development, drugs were being repurposed, and new drug discoveries were in progress. Cloud computing services improved efforts through a reduction in IT costs, which enhanced efficiency. Research Reports World indicates that pharma cloud computing revenue in 2019 topped $31.73 million and should soar beyond $70.21 million by 2025. That amounts to a 14.15% CAGR from 2020 to 2025.
How Cloud Computing Assists with Clinical Trials
New medicines require extensive scrutiny. This follows years of development that often includes long-term communication with countless volunteers and patients. This is normally a massive and time-consuming undertaking. Cloud computing applied to this application removes much of the hard work in data collection.
It also permits collaboration from researchers located around the globe. Global pharma cloud computing allows clinical trials to be conducted remotely in various locations, reducing the cost of developing multiple data centers for the same purpose.
Enhancements to Drug Development Process and Production
It takes a very long time for research and development of any new drug. It also takes a lot of money to take these new drugs from idea to reality, with an eye on maintaining a competitive foothold within the marketplace.
According to Dickson, cloud computing is the most logical solution affording pharma companies the tools to accomplish all of these goals within budget. Cloud-based HPC (high-performance computing) gives R & D teams access to technologies that ramp up the process, resulting in the quicker release of new drugs in a fraction of the time it once took.
Improvements to Business Operation and Patient Experience
One of the most noticeable benefits to come of cloud computing is how it has streamlined operations within the pharma industry. Real-time monitoring with cloud computing supports better business decisions through big data insights that may not have been as easy to access.
Pharma cloud computing includes predictive analytics that makes future planning less risky and permits improved targeting. It also enhances patient experience through monitoring, messaging, and promotion. The global science analytics market size was worth $7.7 billion in 2020. According to research conducted by Grand View Research, it should expand by a CAGR of 7.8% from now to 2028.
Final Thoughts
Cloud computing is not just an online solution for digital storage. It is, quite honestly, a problem solver in the healthcare industry because it has superior security, compliance, and privacy components. When strategically utilized as pharma cloud computing, it cuts various costs associated with traditional IT solutions and introduces several enhanced features that cannot be matched by current methods.
A few examples include scalability, security, disaster recovery, archiving, and backup systems. Although the healthcare industry is reaping the benefits of cloud computing, that is just from early adoption. Based on how cloud computing has improved various aspects of the pharma industry, it makes sense that it would be a good fit elsewhere as well.
