LIFE SCIENCEs
BEACON 2021
34% $1B-$4.99B
23% $5B-$9.99B
17% $10B-$14.99B
13% $15B-$19.99B
12% $20B+
The pandemic’s aftershocks have only begun. Medical innovation isn’t just helping the world recover—it’s feeling the pressure too. After a year of life sciences in the headlines, how else is the market set to change?
By speaking to over 120 cross-functional leaders—with hundreds of billions in combined revenue—we’ve created a Beacon Report fit for extraordinary times.
2019 Revenue:
40% C-suite
31% Executive
19% Director
11% Sr. Manager
LeVELS:
40% C-suite
23% IT
15% HR, Ops,
and Strategy
FUNCTIONS:
After a grueling year, many organizations want to trim costs and do more with less. Efficient operations and supply chains are coming under extra scrutiny. They’ll accelerate R&D like little else. However, few of our leaders feel very prepared to make operational or supply improvements for 2021. Liquidity, capacity, and skill gaps are a huge hurdle.
This report is your ultimate resource for the next 12 months and beyond, with insight and advice for how to use pressure to your advantage.
More data, more digital pressures
Cybersecurity is 11% higher than the average for other industries
Competitive advantage
Attainability
Preparedness
71% of respondents say it’s a priority
Product/service innovation
71% of leaders cite this as a priority for the year
Role of R&D
Innovation is at the heart of 2021 strategy
What you need to know for the year ahead.
We’ve found the top strategic priorities for 2021.
Despite clear priorities in 2021 (cybersecurity, operational efficiency, and growing or penetrating new markets), there are still big concerns. Like health. Wellness. Making sure customers and employees are safe and happy. Also: cyber protection, the value of which is higher than any other industry we surveyed. To come out on top, you must make the right investments in people, tech, and fresh working methods.
feel very prepared to address
cite as a strategic priority
feel very prepared to address
cite as a strategic priority
feel very prepared to address
cite as a strategic priority
Efficiency and growth are top of the agenda
Make people-first transformation continuous
Drive efficiency with Agile
True innovation and efficiency rest on a solid digital foundation. Specifically, tap into AI to reshape the narrative around patient-centricity. You’ll gain insights for patient populations, as well as patterns for improving human health. Furthermore, digital capabilities can improve precision medicine. They’re brilliant for real-time revelations on new products or services, how markets are reacting to you, and R&D strategy (providing failure rates in clinical trials).
Expand your digital capabilities
Taking action today
COVID-19 hasn’t only forced more of us to work remotely. For life sciences, there’s added responsibility to protect patient and employee data. Research, clinical trials, and supply information must be impervious to leaks and cybercrime. Once leaders prepare sufficiently (for example, focusing on business incentives and financial viability first) they can expand digital security, differentiating themselves.
Fresh planning and work models can fuel technological change.
As consumer behavior shifts, growth will be awarded to the most innovative businesses—those that broaden or refine their offering. And our leaders are mostly prepared for it. Yet budgets are tight and talent needs to be maximized. People are a top enabler (or barrier) of innovation, not just technology or operational maneuvers.
Key factors
Where do you start? Here are our main takeaways for people-first improvement:
Expand your digital capabilities
Drive efficiency with Agile
Make people-first transformation continuous
75% of organizations identify workforce capacity, skills, and capability as a factor helping (or hindering) their preparedness for top priorities like innovation
Agile and digital walk hand in hand. A more nimble, flexible operating model challenges ingrained behavior, propelling employees towards cross-functional collaboration. The result? A more efficient business with quicker success. Agile also breeds autonomy – you’ll build a ‘trial-and-error’ culture that encourages informed experimentation and progress over perfection. At the same time, you’ll help people innovate with improved velocity and outcomes, trim costs with less waste, and prevent bottlenecks in the work chain. Efficiency will be yours.
A sound digital blueprint means you can adapt strategies, processes, and operating models for an ever-changing market. There’s a critical catalyst too – your workforce. It can power new capabilities or limit their potential. A transformed workforce, paired with Agile, can drive continuous transformation. You’ll be able to assess their impact quickly and course-correct for maximum value.
94% of leaders believe cybersecurity is somewhat attainable
83% of organizations are somewhat prepared for their cyber goals
71% of leaders cite this as a priority for the year
Cybersecurity is 11% higher than the average for other industries
After a grueling year, many organizations want to trim costs and do more with less. Efficient operations and supply chains are coming under extra scrutiny. They’ll accelerate R&D like little else. However, few of our leaders feel very prepared to make operational or supply improvements for 2021. Liquidity, capacity, and skill gaps are a huge hurdle.
Efficiency and growth are top of the agenda
This report is your ultimate resource for the next 12 months and beyond, with insight and advice for how to use pressure to your advantage.
We’ve found the top strategic priorities for 2021.
Despite clear priorities in 2021 (cybersecurity, operational efficiency, and growing or penetrating new markets), there are still big concerns. Like health. Wellness. Making sure customers and employees are safe and happy. Also: cyber protection, the value of which is higher than any other industry we surveyed. To come out on top, you must make the right investments in people, tech, and fresh working methods.
LeVELS
FUNCTIONS
2019 Revenue
30% $1B-$4.99B
25% $5B-$9.99B
16% $10B-$14.99B
12% $15B-$19.99B
18% $20B+
What you need to know for the year ahead.
The pandemic’s aftershocks have only begun. Medical innovation isn’t just helping the world recover—it’s feeling the pressure too. After a year of life sciences in the headlines, how else is the market set to change?
By speaking to over 120 cross-functional leaders—with hundreds of billions in combined revenue—we’ve created a Beacon Report fit for extraordinary times.
40% C-suite
31% Executive
19% Director
11% Sr. Manager
40% C-suite
23% IT
15% HR, Ops, and Strategy
Make people-first transformation continuous
Arm HR for continuous change
Expand your digital capabilities
Find your shared definition of value, linking employees, customers and business needs together. Then manage changes carefully, with as little friction as possible. How? With flexible governance structures like the Transformation Value Office. They connect top-down vision with the work that gets done.
TAKING ACTION TODAY
Where do you start?
Here’s our main takeaways
for people-first improvement.
11%
94%
83%
71%
75%
Where do you start? Here are our main takeaways for people-first improvement.
Treat transformation like a
critical asset
Find your shared definition of value, linking employees, customers and business needs together. Then manage changes carefully, with as little friction as possible. How? With flexible governance structures like the Transformation Value Office. They connect top-down vision with the work that gets done.
11%
94% of leaders believe cybersecurity is somewhat attainable
94%
83% of organizations are somewhat prepared for their cyber goals
83%
Hand-in-hand with digital, the vast majority of organizations agree (92%), saying data and analytics are a higher priority than last year. They’re also fairly prepared to take action. Get it right, and there’s significant ground to be gained from your competitors.
71%
71%
Just 7% of leaders feel very prepared to address talent management and development
Key factors
75%
Expand your digital capabilities
Drive efficiency with Agile
Make people-first transformation continuous
With technology at the core, consider how you organize, govern, and transform without friction. Unroll a blueprint that balances the needs of your business, workforce, and other stakeholders. To deliver your transformation, flexible governance, such as a Transformation Value Office, seamlessly connects executive vision and the work that gets done. Ask questions like, "What are the skills my team will really depend on?" or "What's our guiding vision, and what are the outcomes we'll aim for?”
With technology at the core, consider how you organize, govern, and transform without friction. Unroll a blueprint that balances the needs of your business, workforce, and other stakeholders. To deliver your transformation, flexible governance, such as a Transformation Value Office, seamlessly connects executive vision and the work that gets done. Ask questions like, "What are the skills my team will really depend on?" or "What's our guiding vision, and what are the outcomes we'll aim for?”
Who we talked to
top priorities for the year ahead
71%
feel very prepared to address
cite as a strategic priority
feel very prepared to address
cite as a strategic priority
feel very prepared to address
cite as a strategic priority
LIFE SCIENCEs
Striving for Efficiency, Security, and Innovation in 2021
Read the 2021 E-book
Read the 2021 E-book
An Eye Toward Data and Technology
to Drive Growth in the New Year