In a lot of ways, even your average biotech company is more than just another business. It’s an organization filled with people who are dedicated to improving our lives by enabling innovation in areas like healthcare, the environment, and even agriculture – just to name a few.
Companies that fall under the broad umbrella of life sciences rely on technology more than most. They leverage the best that modern IT has to offer in a way that supports the pivotal goals they’re trying to accomplish. However, far too many continue to rely on old, outdated, legacy IT systems that are still supported entirely in-house.
Thankfully, over the last decade, more and more of these businesses have come to embrace the wonders of cloud computing with open arms. This is because of the wide array of different, industry-specific benefits that only an advanced cloud infrastructure can bring to biotech.
Biotech and the Cloud: The Perfect Pairing
Not only can cloud computing significantly streamline the business processes that biotech companies depend on, but it facilitates faster innovation and speed to market, too. The cloud helps contain costs, improve data security, and maintain compliance. Considering all these advantages, it’s clear why the cloud has been embraced by so many in such a relatively short amount of time.
Why do biotech companies need advanced cloud environments? Because of the ability to store and transfer big data, maintain compliance with industry regulations, and deliver greater operating speed and efficiency.
Handles Big Data with Ease
Maybe the biggest reason why pharma and other biotech-related organizations need the type of advanced infrastructure that only cloud computing provides can be summed up in just a single, critical word: data. Your average biotech company is working with massive volumes of data on a daily basis. Their computer-based instrumentation alone is generating an enormous amount of information.
Ensures Security & Compliance with Industry Regulations
Then, all of this must be effortlessly shared with other departments in a way that is also secure AND compliant with rules and regulations, like HIPAA. As an IT infrastructure ages, even the “simple” act of making sure that this data doesn’t get siloed off can feel like an uphill battle. There is the added difficulty of balancing essential security with the stability needed to get that actionable intelligence into the hands of the people who need it the most.
Cloud computing, on the other hand, is practically built for efficient storage and networking with large datasets in mind. Reputable cloud providers handle factors like compliance and security simultaneously, and continuously as well. Data encryption is baked into the very DNA of the cloud in a way that makes it a natural part of the environment you’re working with. Similarly, advanced backup and disaster recovery options guarantee that, even in the unfortunate event of equipment failure, biotech companies won’t lose even a kilobyte of their important projects.
Speeds Up Business Operations
All of this segues nicely into another one of the major benefits that the cloud platform brings with it for biotech companies: speed. So many pharma, biotech and other life sciences organizations don’t realize just how constraining legacy systems and aging hardware really are. Sure, that old equipment may “get the job done” in the most literal sense of the phrase – but it’s not allowing you to do anything particularly well. Data is available, but integration with various software and apps is painfully slow – thus harming innovation instead of helping it.
Likewise, legacy hardware is difficult (not to mention costly) to adapt to each new wave of regulatory changes. When adjustments are made to FDA compliance for IT, it demands yet another round of updates to applications and systems. If an environment is still maintained entirely in-house, that requires updating all these elements manually. Every minute someone spends to get their applications updated is a minute they’re not spending on something more important. Again, this does little to further the goal that an organization was built to achieve in the first place.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), on the other hand, enables biotech companies to break free from the restrictions of legacy IT. Companies can retool and redeploy resources away from maintaining their old legacy system and towards more productive activities. They can focus on utilizing the best applications to make their operations even smoother and more efficient. Cloud storage on virtual servers enables continual backup activity and lightning-fast disaster recovery so that your lab experiences minimal downtime.
Huge Advantages of Managed Cloud Infrastructures
But the real benefits of advanced cloud infrastructures are seen with managed IT services. Managed services mean having the infrastructure designed and built specifically for your company’s operations and needs. Moving forward, your service provider will provide comprehensive technical support and make adjustments and updates as needed. Your business is bound to change over time; with managed cloud services, the IT environment can easily be modified to satisfy, support, and enhance operations in each business unit.
Security & Cloud Compliance Start Here
At I.S. Partners, we’ve been helping organizations in the biotech field and beyond to analyze, document, and assess their cloud environments. And we work with them all the way up to achieving and maintaining regulatory compliance. Use the form below to find out how you can get started with us.
