Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Adopt Cloud Computing in Pharma

You open ChatGPT to draft an email. You hit send through Gmail. Later, you hop on a Zoom call with your boss to go over the details. In all three cases, the cloud is doing the job. You don’t worry about servers or storage. There’s no need to buy hardware or install software. You just get things done. 

For businesses, it’s cheaper and faster. You pay only for what you use, and you get it instantly, as you don’t need to wait for IT to set things up. 

Today, you can already see cloud use cases across life sciences. Even though many brands are still cautious about this technology, adopters are seeing clear benefits, including faster innovation uptake, agility, and higher ROI. 

What Is the Cloud in Pharma?

Cloud solutions give life sciences companies a flexible way to handle data storage, eliminating the need for costly investments in physical data centers and servers. The cloud computing model often has a “pay-as-you-go” pricing structure, which enables brands to save resources and scale quickly when needed.   

Cloud computing architecture helps combat data silos, so companies can better use their data to drive growth. Cloud computing services also empower them to adopt innovative technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).

Key Benefits of Cloud Computing

Ultimately, the cloud is the latest example of Schumpeterian creative destruction: creating wealth for those who exploit it, and leading to the demise of those that don’t.

Joe Weinman, Senior VP at Telx  

Cloud technologies have changed the way life sciences brands approach research and development, commercialization, supply chain, manufacturing, and clinical trials.  

Cloud computing speeds up drug discovery  

The gap between companies that invest in cloud technologies and those that avoid them is only getting wider. Take AstraZeneca. The team uses a Platform as a Service provider, Amazon Web Services, to build software that can analyze genomics data at scale.  

They store more than 25 petabytes of genomics data in the cloud and use it to run 110 billion tests in under thirty minutes. That level of speed is simply not possible without the cloud.  

Thanks to the cloud, research teams can collaborate and share their findings securely and efficiently. This allows scientists to analyze lab results and draw conclusions more quickly.   

Cloud computing facilitates collaboration  

Cloud services make it easier for life sciences companies to collaborate globally. With cloud platforms, professionals can share ideas, seek second opinions, and fill knowledge gaps faster, speeding up breakthroughs in healthcare. Today, cloud-based collaboration tools help stakeholders keep communication open at every product lifecycle stage, from discovery to manufacturing.   

Cloud applications also let healthcare providers (HCPs) cooperate with patients, track their side effects, and prompt patients to seek care when needed. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) teamed up with Oracle to develop a cloud-based health check system that allowed the reporting of COVID-19 vaccine side effects. 

This quick reporting helped the CDC gather crucial data on the vaccine’s effectiveness, contributing to its further improvements. Medical journals then used this data to debunk myths about the vaccine circulating online and raise public awareness about the deadly virus.  

Cloud computing optimizes manufacturing 

Cloud computing services let pharma and MedTech companies build more connected and efficient manufacturing processes. When the cloud works together with IoT data and AI, companies shift from reactive to proactive data analytics.

Big words to say, teams can now see what could happen, not just what already happened. Leading brands like Merck, Pfizer, and Novartis use this to predict equipment failures and fix issues in real time, which reduces downtime and costs. 

Cloud and AI also help manufacturers spot tiny defects that the human eye would most likely miss. Merck uses the cloud to train computer vision models to catch small errors in vials. Because real defects are rare, generative techniques help the model learn what problems look like and avoid rejecting good products. This helps Merck cut waste and make sure patients receive enough medicine. 

Cloud computing offers secure data sharing for trials  

As of 2025, the average dropout rate in Phase III clinical trials is around 11%. This is a serious problem because many trials end up with too few participants to detect small effects. Almost half of the studies can’t even reliably detect medium effects at the standard 80% power level. 

Why do so many patients leave clinical trials? Many still require patients to make frequent hospital visits without compensation for their time or effort. Cloud-based tools are helping to change this by enabling decentralized clinical trials.  

Patients can now report their health status from the comfort of their homes. With less time commitment and fewer scheduling conflicts, it is no surprise that dropout rates have decreased dramatically.  

Besides, cloud computing pairs well with AI, allowing scientists to analyze clinical trial data with surgical precision. This is especially helpful in recruiting participants and designing the trials. 

Cloud technology also merges with other technologies like electronic health records (EHRs), wearables, telemedicine, and AI virtual assistants, improving patient engagement. Recently, we built an AI chatbot to help trial staff quickly find protocol information and address participants’ questions on site. When patients see their concerns handled instantly, without time for anxiety to build, they’re more likely to join the trial and follow through with the study. 

Cloud computing helps to comply with regulations  

Cloud technology helps life sciences companies navigate a heavily regulated industry. The regulatory submission process has become much smoother and quicker. The regulatory bodies can now access company data directly from cloud servers and track drug safety in real-time.   

Traditional pharmacovigilance leads to time-consuming manual reporting. Cloud computing makes real-time monitoring possible, allowing timely detection of drug safety signals. The data submitted to the cloud lets regulators perform immediate analysis and speed up approvals.  

Pharmaceutical regulations change and evolve rapidly, which makes ensuring compliance quite tricky. Cloud technology empowers companies to trace regulatory changes and revise processes and procedures accordingly.  

Cloud computing improves supply chain resilience  

Counterfeit products are a serious issue in the life sciences industry, posing a significant threat to patient health and safety. Cloud computing enhances transparency in the supply chain by enabling drug manufacturers to trace every component back to its origin.   

Real-time monitoring of a drug’s location drastically reduces the chances of errors and prevents counterfeiting. Cloud-based systems collect data at every stage of the drug journey, combating the grey market and ensuring product authenticity.  

Cloud computing enhances pharmaceutical marketing

Cloud computing is transforming life sciences campaigns, and our expertise in commercialization shows how to make the most of it.

Faster content generation and approvals 

Email often makes collaboration messy. Teams struggle to keep track of content versions and revisions. Cloud platforms like eWizard fix that. Marketers and agencies can work together in real time on one platform, which speeds up launches and prevents duplicate work.  

AI content tools live in the cloud, too. For example, our AI agent eVa, built on ChatGPT, connects to your DAM to produce compliant assets instantly.

These tools allow you to scale up and scale down when necessary. A small team can use them for a few projects, while a leading global brand can run dozens of marketing campaigns at the same time. And because it’s cloud-based, there’s nothing to install. You log in and use the solutions whenever you need them. 

Easy content reuse 

Imagine you’re running campaigns in twelve markets across four channels. This requires you to create forty-eight content variations. Even if your marketers finish all the content, tracking the right file is such a headache; they’d rather be in the dentist’s chair. 

A better approach is a cloud content hub or DAM, where all approved modules and templates live in one place. Connect it to an AI-powered platform like eWizard, and your content gets automatically tagged for easy organization and quick navigation. Suddenly, managing campaigns across markets and channels becomes a matter of several clicks. 

Better personalization 

Data silos in on-premises solutions won’t give you the level of personalization you’re aiming for. Cloud platforms or Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions let your data travel freely, so HCPs and patients get the right message at the right time through the right channel.  

This means your CRM should connect to your marketing automation platform to combine personal customer details with their digital behaviors. This lets your team create precise segments and build complex omnichannel campaigns that drive better engagement. Ideally, you’ll also need to add a content experience platform to this ecosystem, so you can build personalized content quickly.

You might want to connect to other cloud tools for even deeper personalization. For example, by integrating an event coordinator app like Lexi, you can send more tailored follow-ups and turn industry events into a natural part of your omnichannel journeys. 

Cloud Computing Services in Pharma: Today’s Challenges 

Cloud adoption in pharma is much slower compared to other sectors. Why are so many companies digging in their heels and resisting innovation? 

Compliance red tape 

Life sciences companies need to ensure that cloud services are fully verified and validated before adoption. Validation can eat up to 40% of a project’s total budget, which is why many companies wait until their on-premises systems are no longer supported before making the move.  

Pharmaceutical brands need time to design and run tests and controls that make a new solution compliant and reliable. Many hesitate to adopt cloud early, preferring to wait for others to prove its value. But this caution comes at a cost: early adopters capture the biggest benefits, and catching up later can be two to three times more expensive. 

Security concerns 

Anything connected to the internet can be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Moving your data from in-house servers to the cloud exposes your system to potential security risks. In addition, this change shifts responsibility for security from your organization to a third-party cloud provider, which can be difficult, especially if there are trust issues.   

However, if you choose reliable cloud service providers, like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure, these extreme worries are often overblown. Leading providers typically have hundreds of experts dedicated to data security, ensuring your data remains safe and is not accessed by unauthorized third parties.  

Data sovereignty 

Data sovereignty is another key concern for most pharmaceutical brands as they decide whether to move to the cloud. Personal data is subject to the legal regulations of the country where the individual resides, which can make transformation rather painful.   

For instance, if you are based in Greece and want to work with a trusted provider like AWS, you could run into data sovereignty issues, as AWS does not have a data center in your country. 

To address this, many major cloud providers set up data centers in various countries to enable local data storage. Yet, they must navigate different internet governance regulations to make this happen.  

Moving to the Cloud with Ease

These days, nearly every sector has its own success story of moving to the cloud. However, this shift did not happen overnight. It has brought significant changes to companies of all sizes, impacting everything from business operations to internal processes.  

If you want to build a cloud infrastructure, the Viseven team is here to guide you through the entire journey. We have over a decade of expertise delivering our cloud-based content experience platform, eWizard, and helping top 50 pharmaceutical companies make a smooth move to the cloud. Our cloud services also cover cloud architecture design, consulting, management, DevOps as a service, and cloud cost optimization.