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Peeking behind the Cloud by CNN

Written By: Brian Daleiden

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

We at TraceLink have been taking a hard look at Cloud computing for a while now and it isn't a huge surprise. The solutions we built at SupplyScape shifted from on-premise software with perpetual licenses to SaaS-based software with term licenses back in 2005. There was admittedly a lot of wailing and knashing of teeth as we tried to determine the appetite in the pharmaceutical supply chain for hosted software running critical operations. To the surprise of a few of us, adoption actually occurred pretty quickly as performance and security questions were quickly put to rest. As a result, our SaaS infrastructure continues to bubble along nicely running our Nexus, E-Pedigree and RxAuthentication solutions.

Thus, my antenna was up as I came across this article (and video) by CNN today. Fun stuff! The synopsis is that the author (John Sutter) basically woke up one day and became intrigued at where does all of his data go when he uses Flickr, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. The hunt is on as the John starts down the path of trying to put his arms around the Cloud. (Spoiler Alert) What John finds is that the Cloud is far from soft and fuzzy...rather it is made up of a huge infrastructure of data centers, servers and all of the other accouterments of a typical IT shop. Now, that isn't exactly a surprise to us here but his exploration is a fun ride. Especially as he tries to get the people in charge of these systems to talk about them.

One question in particular that Mr. Sutter raises relates to service levels and trust in an infrastructure that you have a hard time touching. As he puts it: "I thought about what I want in a cloud service. I want my data to be available all the time. And I don't want there to be any chance the company could lose it, a tricky request since the hardware that stores our data is designed to fail from time to time." This is a common question that we have worked with customers on over the years and our own John Kordash will be diving deeply into the Cloud in all its glory over the next few months. Until then...don't let the Cloud rain on your parade!

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Pharma and Twitter - Patients and Providers but what about Operations?

Written By: Brian Daleiden

Friday, October 30, 2009

I have been keeping an eye on Twitter for a while now. Not that I paint myself as an expert by any stretch of the imagination and Tweeting is still more of an activity that I consciously force myself to think about rather than feeling it is part of my DNA. A little different than, say, our own Peter Spellman here who I swear needs a third hand just to keep up with all the ideas that he would like to convey. Can you say drinking from the fire hose??

Much of the buzz about Tweeting usually centers on its usage for personal interests. A 24x7 channel for thoughts and ideas that you want to share. What has been on my mind lately, though, has been the business communications side of the issue. In that light, any new bi-directional channel that enables me to listen to what others have to say and improves my ability to communicate back to them is great.

A recent post by ePharmaRx got me thinking more about how this channel is used and viewed by the Pharmaceutical industry. As ePharmaRx comments, many pharmaceutical companies have just started to "officially" Tweet in the past year. This is somewhat understandable given the concerns noted in several places over the liability issues involved, particularly in the patient care arena. Certainly, these official channels are somewhat separated from the individual discussions that pharma employees have already opened via Twitter.

So what about the operational groups and Twitter? How do the people leading the charge in manufacturing, supply chain, contract outsourcing and other functions view and use it? Based on my conversations with people in these areas, the responses are all over the map. Some are starting to find it a valuable new channel for "pushed" information from companies and individuals which they can take note of if interested or ignore if not. Others are keeping Twitter solely in the personal realm, for now.

This is an issue that we here at TraceLink are looking at closely. Today there are such a variety of ways for us to share information about what we are doing, listen to what others are doing and gain quick, pointed feedback on key issues. What exactly is the right role in B2B for the 140 character soundbite?