Operational Excellence Initiative: International Pharmaceutical Firm

Abstract
In the aftermath of a recent merger, IT standardization and efficiency became critical initiatives for this leading pharmaceutical firm. The client is one of the largest, global pharmaceutical groups, providing some of the most successful and profitable drugs in the market today.

The company’s Chief Information Officer was not satisfied with their outsourced network-operations management and wanted to bring operations in-house. He believed a centralized IT operation would provide significant benefits (cost and quality). The CIO realized that to own their network services, the company needed the organizational infrastructure to support service delivery.

Problem—the client engaged ThruPoint to help establish processes and standards to create a best-in-breed IT organization. 

The Business Challenge
The client had outsourced most of its IT functions, a solution that was not cost effective and offered little benefit to the firm. The IT organization had no documented processes, no established standards, and little understanding of the appropriate processes and standards needed to create an effective IT organization in-house. Based on their positive experience with ThruPoint in prior engagements, the client engaged us to help define their processes around the components of the ITIL framework—instance management, problem management, change management, release management, and configuration management. 

How We Helped
ThruPoint ran planning sessions, conducted interviews, and documented information. We analyzed the data and identified gaps between the current processes and procedures. ThruPoint made service-management recommendations and developed a strategic plan to implement the new model. ThruPoint defined operational performance metrics, including dashboard requirements and remediation techniques to measure and ensure operational efficiency.  

Lessons Learned
ThruPoint’s consultants helped the client factor in regional and global considerations to implement an ITIL framework. The client established a best-in-breed IT organization with full in-house ownership of their network, increased efficiency, and measurable cost savings.