Novartis
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- Europe
Country
- Switzerland
Product
- Vanguard System
- Vanguard Software’s simulation-based forecasting features
- Vanguard System’s Optimization Module
Tech Stack
- Simulation-based forecasting
- Web-based forecasting and optimization solution
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Customer Satisfaction
- Digital Expertise
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Applicable Industries
- Pharmaceuticals
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
- Business Operation
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies by both market capitalization and sales. Novartis is structured to deliver innovative products, exploit global scale, and respond to new opportunities and risks. Its businesses - Innovative Medicines, Alcon, and Sandoz - are supported by functional organizations with global scale. R&D is at the core of the company and central to the Novartis strategy.
The Challenge
Long development cycles, huge R&D investments, and a high chance of failure make the pharmaceutical industry a risky business. For Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, which develops preventive vaccine and diagnostic tools, it’s crucial to effectively manage its R&D pipeline and vaccine investment decisions. In order to be competitive, Novartis sets strategic objectives for the timing and number of its commercial product launches. Having the right portfolio of vaccine development projects across the various stages of its R&D pipeline is key to achieving these objectives. If the project portfolio becomes unbalanced, it must be rebalanced by investing in new vaccine development projects. To improve its portfolio management process, Novartis first required better forecasts of how vaccine development projects might move through its R&D pipeline. Then, using these pipeline performance forecasts, Novartis sought to optimize its acquisitions of new vaccines to augment its existing R&D project portfolio. Finally, Novartis needed to understand how its portfolio management decisions translated into financial performance.
The Solution
Vanguard System delivers an interactive web-based forecasting and optimization solution. Using Vanguard Software’s simulation-based forecasting features, Novartis accurately models how each of the vaccines individually progresses through its virtual lifecycle. “We had been using spreadsheets to model the process, but they could not handle the complexities of our business. We were being forced to simplify the models to the point of being inaccurate,” says Dr. Joachim Schwarzkopf. Novartis is now able to incorporate a wide range of risk and uncertainty assumptions about each vaccine development project such as stage/phase durations, costs, likelihoods of advancement, and the spawning of new projects. Vanguard Software automatically rolls up the complete portfolio of vaccines into a multi-year, company-wide projection of future operational and financial performance. These performance forecasts are dynamically generated for each vaccine acquisition strategy that Novartis tests as part of its “what if” analysis. To gain maximum value from its pipeline, Novartis runs Vanguard System’s innovative Optimization Module feature which automatically evaluates thousands of strategies and selects the best ones based on business objectives and constraints.
Operational Impact
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