Five Technology Trends That Will Impact Clinical Research

By Ed Miseta, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader

Zikria Syed, CEO of enterprise software company NextDocs, has seen many technology advancements in life sciences, including open standards, mobile access, tablets, and cloud computing. However, despite the cost and compliance advantages offered by many of these advancements, clinical research firms are still slow in adopting them. Research conducted by his firm shows this dynamic is about to change. 

“Our sales and marketing personnel talk to clinical researchers and their CIOs every day,” he says. “I believe there is a message we are delivering to them that they are finally starting to understand: There is a technology shift going on that your peers are starting to take advantage of. If you do not embrace these changes as well, you will soon be operating at a costly productivity disadvantage.”

Syed notes many clinical firms are now meeting compliance regulations with less complexity and cost than in the past. “We have been working closely with Sanofi,” he says. “When the company first adopted an open platform, it estimated the changes being made would remove over $9 million per year in costs associated with time wasted on managing documents. While the ROI is high, there is also reduced risk associated with helping firms prepare for audits.”