Cantabria Labs

Beatriz Marco is currently CIO of Cantabria Labs, a Spanish pharmaceutical company specialized in dermatology, with presence in more than 85 countries.

She has held her position for 2 years and previously worked 16 years in Sanitas in different positions of Quality, Processes, Projects, Technology or Digital Transformation. This extensive career has given her the vision that technology without processes and people does not favor transformation.

Following is the conversation we had with Marco.

As the Chief Information Officer at Cantabria Labs, what are some of the roles and responsibilities that you have? Please elaborate.

● Technology: Define the strategic IT plan in all countries. The main achievements: Migration of JD Edwards release 23, migrate all the data bases to autonomous and cloud migration (90% infrastructure in cloud) and creation of a data lake.

● Cybersecurity: Define and implement a cybersecurity program that allow Cantabria Labs be more safety. This program includes (Implementation of Backup Policies and Recovery Plans, SIEM and SOC, vulnerabilities management, Intune, MFA, central identity management, training and definitions of ethical hackings).

● Data & Analytics: Lead GOLD project, the Data transformation program across all countries that allow to have one source of truth of the main KPI’s across different countries (Sell in, P&L, Commercial processes, Sell out). Tech used: Tableau and Board.

● Applications: Define the standards of the applications used in Cantabria (Salesforce, JD Edwards, Tableau, Board…) and define a country plan to implement it. Design, develop and launches a new app for customers (Pharmacy).

● People: Define and implement a transformation program to create a cultural change in terms of agile methodologies, project management and use of new tools of Microsoft 365 with the launches of new Intranet for all our employees.

● Manufacturing process: Define the Digital Transformation with the Factory to have a Smart Factory and to have more data and automatized process that allow us to improve our operations.

How has the digital transformation impacted pharmaceutical manufacturing processes in your organization?

I think the digital transformation impacts all the process in an organization and also in the manufacturing processes, more machines and devices connected, more data to take netter decisions and more automatized processes in the manufacturing, quality and all the processes in the pharma industry.

“For me the big transformation will be the data, and the data will allow us to use AI, to create new possibilities.”

For me the big transformation will be the data, and the data will allow us to use AI, to create new possibilities. One of the major advances with data in the pharma industry is the application of ML and AI in clinical trials in the search of new molecules.This helps to reduce lead times for product launches, as we saw during covid-19.

What are some of the major challenges or bottlenecks you face in integrating technology into pharmaceutical manufacturing?

I think it's not just a question of technology; processes and people are also involved, and when those three pieces work, that's when you achieve your objectives. You need to use technology to change processes and this technology is used by people and you need to consider it to change anything in any process. In our case, we are in the process of digitalizing our factoriesand it’s important to take time to the change management, to make sure that the technology is used by these people.For me that´s the key. And sometimes, depending on the profile, bottlenecks may be encountered.

What would be your piece of advice for your fellow peers and colleagues?

From my part the key thing is:

● You need a multidisciplinary team to change things and sometimes you need to look for this team outside of your organization.

● You need you go outside your company, see what other sectors are doing. Susana Rodríguez, our CEO, always says that we all need to move your heel.

● You need to create and ecosystem with partners and universities to improve and to innovate.

● You need to train yourself and your team to keep eyes open for what is to come.