Abstract:

Problem:

During the merger of two international pharmaceutical companies, a new, diverse Research and Development Information Systems (IS) organization was established.  The model adopted for this unit demanded strategic alignment with the functional business units across the Value Chain.  The successful implementation of this approach necessitated enhanced communication between IS and its user community.  With this increased communication, an awareness arose among the various IS Directors that the nature of application development efforts was changing and that IS would have to address project work in a different manner.

Solution:

Strategic Software Solutions devised, recommended, and implemented a plan for the organization to evolve to a “cross-functional” mode of operation.  In order to plan for this evolution, plans were instituted to enforce collaboration between the management team and the project team.  This enabled the IS organization to develop a deeper, common understanding of how to address the complex challenges of cross-functional solution development and delivery.