XL-Lead Consulting has capabilities in Process Improvements as well in Technology Development. As Pharmaceutical companies spend a considerable amount of energy and money into exchanging information with their Investigator Sites, XL-Lead Consultants worked to develop a technology that would streamline that interaction.
This ‘Investigator Portal’ functionality consisted of document exchange, digital signature, a Physician View and a Clinical Operations View. The entire platform was built on Force.Com a leading edge development platform. XL-Lead Consultants worked with the Senior Management staff of a Fortune 500 Pharmaceutical Company based in the United States to better understand what was required.
“Getting the requirements understood is something we always do early on”, says John Waldern, Senior Director at XL-Lead Consulting. “Throughout my career I’ve seen project after project fail simply because of poor communication. It’s something we are committed to changing at XL-Lead”.
It’s true. When asked seasoned professionals why projects fail, they list poor communication and no uniform vision around end goals as the top reasons for failure. “Our Principle is one of the best communicators in the business”, boasts Waldern.
The Investigator Portal took an entire year and a half to develop between ideation and pilot launch. When asked if this time line was justified Waldern responds astoundingly with a hearty ‘Of Course!” “These things take time. Even just the concept alone is brand new to many people so they have to adjust their way of thinking. Sure in the early days we weren’t working on it as heavily as possible, but taking the right amount of time in the beginning allowed us to win over key people who were eventually instrumental in the overall progress”.
Waldern explained XL-Lead’s project management methodology and explained how in the early days, it was just one director that went in to the client to provide the right presentations and education around the concept. In later months he transitioned the role to Project Managers and Developers who brought the project to execution. “Even our Project Managers are actually Directors” says Waldern. “They are responsible for organization readiness from the moment we say ‘Go’. They aren’t just there to finish a project, they are there to ensure that we create the most amount of value as possible”.