Adriano Riboni is the IS/IT manager of Sanofi in Italy, a pharmaceutical company based in Milan with a 2012 turnover of 1,383.6 million euros; approximately 2,500 employees, of which over 1,300 work in the 6 production plants; export share: 23% on 2012 turnover.
What are you bringing to the cloud? Only data archiving or also management programs? If yes which ones? And which ones have you considered bringing them to the cloud but rejected? And why?
"The infrastructural cloud is a good opportunity for many small and medium-sized companies, as it makes it possible to have all the necessary IT services available - from hardware platforms to application software and storage - but with the advantages offered by the outsourcing of services. A pharmaceutical multinational like Sanofi - with over 110,000 employees in more than 100 countries - has instead opted for the private cloud. In Europe, for example, there is an IT infrastructure created and managed centrally from the Group's headquarters in Paris and made available to branches operating in Europe.As regards, however, the cloud software, a Crm (Customer Relations Management) system is currently available in Sanofi Italia.In the pharmaceutical sector, the Crm is a fundamental and indispensable work tool as it is the application used by all Pharmaceutical Representatives (DFIs) to plan and manage the medical-scientific information activity aimed at clinicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals in Italy. Alongside this software, Sanofi has recently launched a new specific application for agents and promoters that allows them to acquire orders directly from partner pharmacies via tablet".
What was the driving force behind moving to the cloud? On-demand staggering versus software purchase? The expiry of maintenance contracts?
"There are mainly three benefits deriving from the cloud. From an infrastructural point of view, it is possible to generate substantial economies of scale, with significant advantages in terms of investment compared to the actual use by each individual country. The centralized structure is in fact able to guarantee sufficient resilience in terms of elasticity and mobility, to meet the greater needs of a country by compensating where requests are lower or less frequent. Furthermore, the infrastructural cloud allows to reduce the risks relating to the exchange and storage of information, as it has environments that guarantee high levels of security and data protection. It is important to underline that the cloud provides a disaster recovery structure capable of restoring systems, data and infrastructures in the event of an emergency in the primary centre, always guaranteeing business continuity. Finally, the use of cloud software allows the company to limit investments, as it allows for more flexible management, providing costs only for the use of the software and based on how much it is used".
Beyond savings and efficiency how the cloud is changing your operation
