Why life sciences businesses are reliant on S/4HANA

S/4HANA was released in 2015 as the fourth product generation and is considered the platform's most significant change since the introduction of the R/3 system in 1992. The 'S' in S/4HANA stands for 'simple,' and the '4' stands for its generation sequence.

What are the benefits of S/4HANA?

S/4HANA has seen a massive increase in functionality compared to its previous instalment. With technical innovations in artificial intelligence, it utilises machine learning, advanced analytics, and predictive analytics to discover insights, identify trends, make predictions and help make data-based business decisions. As a result, S/4HANA can optimise and automate business processes and ensure companies are adequately prepared for a digital future.

 A significant improvement of S/4HANA is its new interface. The new SAP instalment features a Fiori interface that allows the applications to be used on mobile devices and provides a simplified experience for the user. It is also personalised to the user, allowing for increased efficiency and faster access to relevant information. Another significant benefit of S/4HANA is its improved performance. The SAP Hana in-memory database stores users' data in the cloud instead of storing it on a hard disk. This reduces the size of data that must be stored and keeps the data more secure as it is backed up. Another benefit is that it can be accessed anytime, anywhere, on any device, by whoever is granted access.

Pharma 4.0:

Pharma 4.0 refers to Industry 4.0 concepts concerning the pharmaceutical and life sciences. It represents the fourth industrial revolution and society's rapid changes to digital technology. Pharma 4.0 focuses on using data and analytics to maximise efficiency and quality in production. Pharma 4.0 leads to life sciences businesses having to transform their business processes and models as the world progresses digitally.

S/4HANA in life science businesses:

Life science businesses have to adapt to keep up with the increasing digital technology; one way they are doing so is by utilising S/4HANA. With so much data stored currently and growing exponentially, life science businesses need AI technologies to analyse and visualise it quickly. Life science businesses need to be able to access this data in real-time as well as insights into it. They also need to compare their current data with other sources instantly.

This makes S/4HANA so effective, allowing real-time analytics while working with large data sets. One of the most beneficial features of S/4HANA in life science businesses is its ability to store large amounts of data from various sources that can be easily accessed anywhere, anytime. A significant benefit is that companies do not need to store a large amount of data on physical hard drives, as it can all be stored on one external cloud. In this cloud, the data is stored in a centralised system, acting as a database that businesses can easily share.

The life science industry plays a significant role in producing lifesaving medicines. Therefore, many processes, frameworks, and efficiencies must be addressed to meet standards. The recent digitisation of the industry has led to business processes and models being restructured to fit the industry's needs.

S/4HANA has been implemented in life science businesses to make documentation seamless, provide real-time data visualisation and monitoring, limit the amount of physical storage needed, enhance quality control measures, and much more. Utilising S/4HANA in the life sciences industry ultimately increases product quality and patient safety. As digital technologies continue to grow in today's day and age, SAP will become even more vital to life science businesses.

Image Source: Shutterstock_2137211293