Reflection on P&G Case

As a C-level executive, I understand the importance of keeping up with the ever-changing industry of pharmaceuticals. That being said, in order to keep up with the rapid pace of the healthcare industry, I do believe our company needs to improve processes, information, technology and more. Although the transition will not be easy or completely smooth, it’s going to have to happen, now, before our competition, or later, after our competition has the edge. Although it works, pushing around paper can only be so fast, I would like to eventually eliminate all paper processes because it is very laborious and cumbersome.

The only hesitation I have towards EDC is being the first ones to implement such a drastic change amongst our rivals. If it fails, we can potentially loose millions of dollars, but if it is successful, we will be considered as innovators and our stocks can increase, which will make our stockholders very happy. In terms of “teaching old dogs new tricks”, this is just something that we have to work with. Within the past 10 years, there has been a significant amount of changes in the health, science and technology field, which directly affects our industry. The current process is very burdensome and involves many steps where human error can decrease accuracy, and a decrease in accuracy can be very costly and waste the effort of many employees.

My recommendation is implement EDC one phase at a time, or one step at a time, before a full transition into the new system because this can disturb a number of process that may not have been considered yet and many people who are not fully trained or efficient in the new technologies. However, the goal is to completely transition over to the electronic system after a certain level of comfort and knowledge about the new system is attained. I do like the idea of having a third party/consultant in-house at all times to educate the staff and help them with any questions and concerns they may have. However, before any implementation occurs, I, as well as the staff, would like to see the system and have the opportunity to navigate through the pages in order to fully understand the efficiencies and effectiveness before a definite decision is made.