Automation AI
Intelligent automation: the active ingredient in the advancement of human data science
ABOUT
IQVIA is a human data science company that helps customers across the healthcare ecosystem advance human health with new found confidence. Located in more than 100 countries, IQVIA provides a seamless integration of unparalleled data, advanced analytics, transformative technology, and deep domain expertise. The company has provided trial services to four of five COVID-19 vaccines available around the world and 11 of 51 other vaccines in Phase 3 trials.
THE CHALLENGE
All healthcare organizations are tasked with managing large amounts of data, including unstructured data. IQVIA workers were spending significant time fetching data from a database, uploading it to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship management(CRM) system, and producing reports to support the study of various diseases. The company wanted to increase operational efficiencies across geographies and free its workforce to focus on high-value duties that made better use of their healthcare expertise. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was identified as the right technology to support the company’s goals.
20K
Customer notifications automated every month
1,500
Sales documents processed
85%
Support requests managed by bots
“Automating IT infrastructure will actually open a whole new direction to all industries.”
Shantanu Kar, Global Head, Cognitive Robotics, IQVIA 
THE SOLUTION
In need of a user-friendly RPA tool capable of processing semi structured data and working across different systems, IQVIA considered several automation providers prioritizing those offering the right support. It selected Automation Anywhere because of its high customer ratings and its RPA platform's ability to seamlessly integrate with different enterprise systems and databases. The company implemented hyperautomation to integrate machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) models on top of the RPA platform to automate clinical trial research, finance, analytics, and IT infrastructure processes. To support and scale its RPA efforts, IQVIA created a federated RPA center of excellence (COE) which has successfully deployed over 200 bots and counting across several business units.
Processes Automated
Clinical Trial
Research
IT support ticket resolution
THE WHOLE STORY
Whereas many organizations choose to start automating the easiest processes, such as those in human resources or finance, IQVIA decided to tackle the most critical parts of its business first: clinical trials and IT infrastructure.
Pharmaceutical organizations across the globe outsource their clinical trials and research to IQVIA. At each stage of a trial, IQVIA collects data from participants, models it, compares it, and forwards it to the appropriate government for validation. It's critical the process is carried out accurately as wrong results can manipulate the outcome of a drug. Using Automation Anywhere, IQVIA automated the repetitive tasks involved in clinical trials, including accessing and transitioning data between systems and building models. Bots also manage the comparisons, analytics, and data processing tasks. Once bots complete the repetitive work, trained healthcare professionals review for quality and accuracy.
Automating IQVIA’s IT infrastructure support proved more challenging. Anytime a healthcare organization builds a bot, it must adhere to specific regulatory requirements. The company found a way to implement RPA so that when a support ticket is initiated in its ServiceNow system, bots carry out the actions to resolve the issue based on defined service-level agreements (SLAs).
THE FUTURE
IQVIA has created a long-term automation roadmap and has begun provisioning bot deployment to other areas of the business, such as HR, analytics, and deeper engagement in finance. The company plans to explore country-specific projects in its major cost centers, such as Americas, APAC, and Europe.
The focus is not on headcount reduction but on making employees’ lives easier and equipping the organization to deliver more with a combination of humans and bots.
“Our objective was to make our processes more efficient and equip our people with the tools to help them produce better results.”
-Shantanu Kar, Global Head, Cognitive Robotics, IQVIA
FIND OUT WHY THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS CHOSE AUTOMATION ANYWHERE
CUSTOMERS LOVE AUTOMATION ANYWHERE, BUT DON’T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT
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