.: An InformationTechnology ConsultingCompany That Is Perfectfor a Biotech Firm

Small and midsize Biotech
companies do not have the
financial resources that their
larger pharmaceutical
counterparts have. This
means that they must be even smarter in how they spend.
Larger firms have deeper
pockets for their projects
while Biotech startups and
medium sized firms must
find investors if they do not have enough in the R&D
budget. Thus, due to budget
limitations, the small to
midsize Biotech companies
must find creative methods
to use their limited resources while growing their
business. The most effective
way for them to do this is to
make sure that the company
they are hiring is a great long
term match. When looking for an Information
Technology firm to hire,
Biotech companies should
look for seven major signs. An Information Technology
consulting company that
truly understands and
embraces their Biotech
clients' needs should be
experienced and knowledgeable in serving
the Biotech industry. We
believe there are seven traits
that a successful IT partner
should have: 1. They should have an
understanding of the
biotechnology industry and
specific needs that may come
up such as regulatory
requirements, clinical trial needs, GMP standards, HIPAA
(in some cases), FDA
compliance, ISO
certifications, trade secret
protections, vendor relations
with proprietary lab equipment manufacturers
etc. 2. They should have a
leadership background and
many years of experience in
the industry (over 10 is a good
number). They should be
able to work with C-level executives as well as line
workers so they know the
needs at the front line as
well as the needs of a growth
business at a high level. 3. They must be responsive
and agile. In the
biotechnology industry,
innovation is key and getting
to the market faster means
reaching profitability sooner and thus, having less need to
get additional rounds of
funding. In other words, an
agile response is equal to
time and money saved. 4. They must work closely
and strategically with the
company. They should not
just be on-call technicians
who come and fix things
without seeing the big picture. There are two
distinct needs within every
biotechnology company:
administrative and research.
Therefore, technicians must
be able to keep computers working for admin purposes
but must also be
technologically strategic
enough to leverage their
knowledge of technology
into profits; thus allowing their clients to increase
productivity, decrease costs,
and get to the market
quicker. 5. An Information
Technology firm that has
their clients' best interests in
mind will consistently be
thinking about cost savings.
Based on their years of experience, a veteran IT firm
will have several methods as
to how to cut or even
eliminate extra costs dealing
with equipment, labor or
time, for their client. Thus, by choosing an IT money
saving expert, the client will
be able to save on
expenditures. 6. An efficient IT firm
knows how to find creative
solutions to a current
network issue a client may
have and may even be able to
foresee related issues in the future and prevent them
from happening. 7. An Information
Technology firm that is
familiar with the nuance
associated with proprietary
lab equipment is able to
understand that they are manufactured differently
and that they are unique in
their operation. For example,
some are standalone units,
some work in an active
directory domain environment, some operate
in a quasi-domain
environment, and some
come with very lax security
protection that should be
corrected. The IT firm will also understand that they all
require careful security
reviews and possibly security
changes in order to integrate
it to the company network. As the owner of an
Information Technology
consulting company in San
Diego, I have had the
opportunity to work with a
number of San Diego based biotechnology companies.
Often times, the pains and
needs that they share with
me are very similar. After
all, they are all racing to
bring their products to market sooner, they want it
done right the first time, and
done cost effectively. Some
say, with this economy we
have to do more with less. I
say, you should do more with less - always! Being well-versed with the
biotechnology sector does
not give the IT consulting
company license to
overcharge their Biotech
clients. A good Information Technology partner will
have a good handle of
human resources on their
team to appropriately assign
the needed resource when
that expertise is required on a project. An IT firm that is dedicated
to their client establishes a
relationship with them that
is more of a partnership.
Instead of labeling the client
as just another account, an Information Technology
consulting company that
truly cares for their client's
best interests goes the extra
mile for them. Here in San
Diego, we once got a call from a client that had a
problem with his laptop
computer. He could not get it
to work and had an
important presentation at an
executive meeting to do. We took his laptop, fixed it for
him and delivered it to his
meeting just in time. Our
client was very pleased and
so were we. The perfect Information
Technology partner for a
technology, research and
development oriented
company is one that can
leverage IT and help their client move agilely with the
market, get their products to
market sooner and, most
importantly, do more with
less. Joyce Tang
Founder & Lead Consultant
Agilis IT http://www.agilisit.com Article Source: http:// EzineArticles.com/?
expert=Joyce_Tang