Implementing Cloud Computing in Small and Mid-Market Life-Sciences: A Mixed-Method Study

INTRODUCTION Life-sciences organizations such as bio-tech and pharmaceutical companies are natural candidates for cloud-computing implementations. These companies, whether they are start-ups or well established market players, are typically characterized by their intense research and development (R&D) efforts that constantly generate massive volumes of data. The data emanate from various phases that include the pre-clinical trials phase, clinical trials phase, drug approval phase and finally the production, marketing and post-sales phases. At each phase, the large volumes of data generated require to be analyzed, categorized and securely stored in accordance with regulatory mandates and corporate directives. The data analysis and processing can be time consuming, yet have to be accomplished expeditiously, given the intensely competitive global environment under which these companies operate. The need for cost and time controls is critical, as life-sciences companies need to adhere to increasingly aggressive development timelines and comply with changing global regulations in a timely manner. The cost and security requirements alone would deter most start-ups in the life-sciences. Recent developments in cloud computing and cloud implementations offer the promise of efficient and cost-effective data analysis and processing as well as multi-layered security and controls to small biotech and pharmaceutical organizations that often cannot achieve these on their own. Given the constraints that small life-sciences companies face, and the promise that cloud computing offers, it is useful to study the experiences of small to medium sized life-sciences companies that have moved to implement cloud-based computing. This paper discusses the results of a study of cloud computing implementation in the context of four emerging life-sciences companies in North America. The study identifies the common themes shared by the companies in their move towards cloud implementation. The focus is on the processes involved, perceptions of the various stakeholders, benefits and challenges, and lessons learned. Our primary focus is the experiential aspects of cloud implementation and the realistic challenges that such implementations pose on small and emerging life sciences companies. As a result of our study we are able to provide a comprehensive set of recommendations pertaining to cloud implementation that would be useful to other similar small and medium life-sciences (and possibly other) companies. The study used a mixed-method approach, employing library and media research, public and confidential documents, interviews, surveys and case-studies. We believe that our results and recommendations are a valuable addition to the available literature in the field, in addition to serving as a comprehensive guide to potential cloud implementers. This paper is organized as follows. In the section that follows immediately, we provide a background on cloud computing and various cloud computing models. Following that, we provide a detailed literature review and show how our work differs from past work in this area. We then list the questions that we hope to provide answers for. We follow that with a discussion on the methodology used in our study along with our justification and the data collection methods we employ. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the data collected. The data analysis includes cases of representative companies that were studied. Finally, we provide a comprehensive list of recommendations for small life-sciences companies that intend to move towards cloud computing. Following that we offer our conclusions and propose some future work in this area. BACKGROUND Despite the present-day hype that surrounds it, the concept of cloud computing mystifies many organizations--especially those dealing with the deluge of data being generated, such as small life-sciences companies. Multiple terms are often used to describe cloud computing, e. …