Accenture's survey on digitalization in biopharma R&D reveals that while 72% of executives believe digital will enhance strategic success, risk aversion hampers broader adoption, with many companies operating digital initiatives in silos. Key opportunities identified include utilizing real-world data and fostering open collaboration to improve R&D outcomes. To overcome barriers and accelerate digitalization, companies should prioritize it strategically, assess cultural readiness, foster collaboration, embrace iterative testing, and establish clear success metrics.

1. DRIVING
DIGITALIZATION IN
BIOPHARMA R&D
Which direction
should you take?

2. About the survey
Accenture conducted a survey to
understand the state of digitalization
that included responses from 250
executives from North America, EMEA,
and Asia representing diverse R&D
organizations within biopharmaceutical
companies.
Company HQ & Respondent Location:
Revenue of Respondent Organization:
The survey respondents were R&D executives, with one third
holding a Vice President, Senior Vice President or Executive Vice
President title.

3. Driving Digitalization
In an era of New Science, the
survey focused on these areas
related to the progress of
implementation and adoption
of digital technologies in
biopharma R&D:
Strategy
Value
Progress
Barriers to adoption

4. Four findings emerged that provide insight into the
current state of digitalization in the biopharma industry
Checking the signposts
Navigating the curves
Companies can overcome operational and cultural impediments
to move digitalization forward
Moving toward a clear destination
The industry sees the value of digital
Tapping the brakes
Risk-aversion is an impediment to progress
Staying in one lane
While digital pockets exist, digitalization at scale is elusive

5. 72% of companies
believe digital will drive
success in achieving
strategic imperatives
Up 200%
Moving toward a clear destination:
Digital is increasingly perceived as an enabler to
achieve R&D imperatives
According to respondents, digital
will help achieve the following
three imperatives:
85%
Be more focused on patient outcomes
72%
Revitalize the pipeline by enabling breakthrough science
75%
Improve R&D productivity
from 2016

6. Moving toward a clear destination:
Digital is increasingly perceived as an enabler to
achieve R&D imperatives
In order to achieve the full value of digitalization at scale, there
was a strong response to these specific opportunities:
88%
of respondents said using real world
data (RWD) across R&D would
enhance decision-making
79%
reported that open collaboration with
other companies would improve R&D
outcomes
77%
believed the ability to better manage
data across the enterprise could
deliver measurable business value
68%
felt that improved digitalization
would improve the patient
experience in clinical trials

7. Two Thirds of respondents
believe an aversion to risk is
preventing them from fully
embracing digitalization.
In companies with market caps
above $10B, that number jumps to
Tapping the brakes:
Risk-aversion is an impediment to progress
As noted, 72% of companies believe digital will
drive success in achieving strategic imperatives…
72%
36%
of companies are
adopting digital as
a key strategy in R&D
… yet only
75%

8. Tapping the brakes:
Risk-aversion is an impediment to progress
The industry’s hesitation to take the “foot off the
brakes” is slowing the adoption of digital
capabilities and translating into activity that does
not follow a clear vision or roadmap
50%
of the respondents
are only “exploring”
how digital
technologies can
enable R&D
15%
continue to take a
“wait-and-see” attitude,
observing how others
are benefiting from
digital before embarking
on their own exploration

9. A cautious and incremental approach has resulted in
widespread digital pilots, proofs-of-concept, and minimum
viable products (MVP)
Staying in one lane:
Digitalization is happening in silos
R&D functions will often focus on select digital use
cases to meet a need at a point in time, all without
an eye towards repeatability and extensibility
81%
say there is strong alignment on
the importance of digitalization
strategy across R&D
yet
88%
report that digitalization is
happening in silos

10. Staying in one lane:
Digitalization is happening in silos
Globally, less than half of respondents say that
digitalization is being driven at an enterprise-wide
level by the organization’s C-suite leaders
41%
Agreed with that
statement
Outside of North
America, only
60%
Agreed that digitalization
is being driven across
the enterprise
In North
America,

11. Top 3 barriers to digitalization:
▌Ability to measure value
▌Ability to invest
▌Access to talent
Navigating the curves:
Companies can overcome the barriers
In addition to risk aversion, our research found
several operational and cultural barriers to the
adoption of digitalization

12. Navigating the curves:
Companies can overcome the barriers
Ability to measure value
Ability to invest
60%
do not have the budget
available to fully realize our
plans for digitalization
Access to talent
are struggling to measure the
success of digitalization so far
60% 46%
say there is a lack of IT
resources to implement
digital technologies
34%
not able to attract
the right skills and
talent

13. Will these companies stay
on their current path of
experimentation, or will
they find a path to
accelerate to digitalization
at scale?
Industry at a crossroads:
stay on course or move
to scale?

14. How to accelerate R&D digitalization:
Make it a
strategic
priority
Create a goal for
digitalization tied
to strategic
objectives and
aligned to an
enterprise-wide
digital strategy
1 2
Assess &
address the
full scope of
change
Review the
company’s
appetite for
investment and
cultural change to
choose the order
and pace of
transformation
3
Makeitateam
sport&break
downsilos
Move beyond
digital pilots and
experiments
through
collaboration,
cross-functional
data strategies,
and data sharing
platforms
4
Learn how to
fail fast
Establish a robust
digital use-case
pipeline that
allows for
abandoning
losers and quickly
picking winners
to progress from
rapid design
sprints into
prototyping
5
Prove the
value of your
investments
Determine how
you will measure
success and use
those metrics to
build a case for
sustainable digital
investment

15. For more information,
please contact:
TOM LEHMANN
Managing Director
Accenture Life Sciences
thomas.w.lehmann@accenture.com
KATIE MIINCH
Senior Manager
Accenture Life Sciences
katie.miinch@accenture.com
PETRA JANTZER
Managing Director
Accenture Life Sciences
petra.jantzer@accenture.com
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