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CKM:
Key to pharma industry growth
Besides
material resources, pharma and biotech companies need to seriously
consider the management of information resources, says Devendra
Tripathi in the concluding article
Companies
have two major resource bases namely material resource base and
information resource base. Of the two, the information resource
base is younger one and it will not be incorrect to say, that people
are still grasping its extent, its structure and its potential.
The ratio of value of information resource to that of material resource
directly depends upon automation, standardization and quality of
life which has been growing.
In
pharma and biotech industries, the executives have to give serious
consideration to how much of the company value lies in information
resources and in material (capital & drugs) resources. The moot
point lies in creating and managing the information resource. One
of the collaborative knowledge management applications called Online
Field Activity Management (FAM) is used to illustrate here.
Structure
of company knowledge
 Following
figure shows the six major components of company knowledge. The
centre constitutes the description of compositions and processes
and is the core of the knowledge. The next layer consists of issues
(problems, enhancement requests, queries) and various literature
which is developed to explain the benefits and usage of the products.
The outermost layer consists of various reports and communications
among the MRs, managers and executives of the company.
Collaborative
Knowledge Management (CKM)
Knowledge
management, which is individual-oriented, is not conducive to dynamic
nature of knowledge growth. To manage the company knowledge, the
system has to be collaborative in nature. A CKM system is characterized
by following:
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The knowledge is captured by a team as opposed to an individual
-
The knowledge is used by a team as opposed to an individual
-
The team consists of two or more groups that have different interests
-
The team works towards a definite business goal (like deployment
of a drug)
Formally,
a collaborative management system can be defined as the one which
allows data sourced at the convenience (time, place and format)
of data producer group to the consumer group at their convenience
(time, place and format), subject to restriction of ranges applied
to time, place or format. For example MRs have one set of knowledge
to contribute (mostly reports), one set of convenience requirements
(objective data format, internet cafes as places and evening/nights
as time). Managers have other set of knowledge to contribute (issues,
literature, reports), one set of convenience requirements (objective,
narrative, graphics format, offices as places and daytime as time).
Solutions
to CKM
Lot
of SW solution vendors have sensed the huge potential of knowledge
management. However, many of them are either extending existing
client server type resource management solutions (like ERP), by
web enabling them or creating point solutions (like one for managing
email database or catalogues). Only a few companies provide platforms
like EveryPath, Visuale and other applications.
VidyaWeb
(a subsidiary of CoVisible Solutions Inc) started with “Enabling
Collaboration” that also in the area of domain specific knowledge
management. We have developed a collaborative platform (called CoServer)
as well as targeted applications on top of that. This architecture
provides focus of point solution and scalability of enterprise one.
In
the area of CKM, VidyaWeb has three solutions:
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PKM (Product Knowledge Management) addresses the inner two layers
of company knowledge
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PEM (Product Evaluation Management) which addresses field testing
of drugs and second layer of company knowledge
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FAM (Field Activity Management) addresses top layer and part of
second layer
On-line
FAM
The
need to manage knowledge through a computer system becomes more
acute when team, which contributes to knowledge, is big and dispersed.
Accordingly, for companies, the priority is to bring the knowledge
of outer two layers (refer to the picture of structure of company
knowledge, above), under a collaborative system. The human productivity
improvements are very dramatic, here.
VidyaWeb’s
on line FAM provides three ‘‘consoles’’ for
three interest groups namely MRs, Managers and Executives. Optionally,
it also includes console for customers like doctors, chemists, stockists
etc. Each console provides relevant information in relevant format
to given group.
Understanding
FAM
Following
are some of the FAQs about FAM
Who
will benefit from this package?
MRs
and their managers
What
are the main benefits?
The
three main benefits are as follows:
-
Efficiency of MRs & managers
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Economy of communication & postal expenses
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Strategic benefits in terms of competitive intelligence &
better awareness/branding
How
can it be implemented?
Excluding
any integration with existing system (like ERP), it takes less than
a month to install, train and get the system in operation.
Can
a MR, who is not well-versed with computers & the Internet learn
the package?
The
system is as simple as browsing the Internet.
Give
an ROI example
Here
is a sample of ROI based on just efficiency and economy
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MRs (100 no, 100K loaded, just 10% saving)= 10 lakhs
-
Managers (25, 5 lakhs loaded, just 30% saving)= 37.5 lakhs
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Postal & stationery (5/wk, Rs 30/day, 100 MR)= 7.2 lakhs
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New expense (5/wk, 1/4 hour, Rs 20/hour, 100 MR)= -1.2 lakhs
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Total (per annum for a 100 MR company) = 53.5 lakhs
How
expensive is it?
The
cost is very much dependent on feature set, user community size
and integration work.
Summary
Company
knowledge is finally being acknowledged as the key asset. The only
question is absence of an enabling technology. This technology should
have very clear focus of the problem at the hand of an employee
(that is the only way to make it attractive and useful to him/her)
and at the same time, it has to be scalable to extended enterprise
(meaning, it should include customers, partners and vendors in its
realm). These two requirements generally go against each other and
only certain architecture can satisfy both requirements together.
VidyaWeb’s
CKM solutions have been developed on web and for web. When a company
needs another solution (different problem or different set of people),
one can just get the new application and plug on same CoServer.
The
writer Devendra Tripathi is with Vidya Web (I) Pvt Ltd, Pune and
can be contacted at tripathi@covisible.com or Suneel Puranik (puraniksm@yahoo.com)
Mobile: 98204-42176
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