Productive outsourcing in the 2020s

Outsourcing is increasingly prevalent with the global market for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) expected to reach over $340 billion by 2025. Our pharmaceutical sector clients are increasingly reliant on strategic partnerships to deliver their strategic objectives. However, anecdotal evidence suggests these outsource partnerships do not always deliver their potential, particularly where the partners fail to develop the fundamental building blocks of a successful partnership. Our article in Pharmaceutical Executive in January 2020 addressed the question: “how should biopharmaceutical companies structure outsource relationships to unlock the true potential of outsourcing?”.

We propose eight points to help pharmaceutical executives focus on the role they need to play to build and maintain robust long-term partnerships.

1. Prioritize opportunities to increase quality over cost

2. Failure to understand/mitigate business risk

3. Outsource to build on strengths, rather compensate for weakness, in your own business

4. Build genuine engagement

5. Aim for a good cultural match

6. Start with a collaborative mindset

7. Build on effective communication and oversight

8. Lack of commitment

Outsourcing is here to stay, so executives will increasingly need to re-imagine their organization’s plan to deliver outsourcing value. By following the eight points set out in this article, pharmaceutical executives will focus on the role they need to play to build and maintain robust long-term partnerships founded on cultural compatibility, genuine engagement, and collaboration between decision-makers and third-party vendors.

This link takes you direct to our article on Pharmaceutical Executive’s website.