| | December 20199CIOReviewto the required business growth. Unlike IT organizations of the past where IT was viewed as a utility that didn't provide much value, today most businesses view IT as a required strategic partner to support their strategic goals. It is clear to see that today's CIO must deliver systems and services that contribute to the business objectives.Almost all biopharmaceutical companies are global and therefore under pressure from many regulatory agencies. These regulations, which are constantly changing, include not just quality regulations such as those mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, and the European Medicines Agency, but also financial regulations such as Sarbanes­Oxley and IT general controls. In addition to compliance with quality and financial regulations, IT organizations also must comply with legal regulations such as data privacy laws. CIOs must be familiar with these changing regulations to ensure they have the proper governance in place to manage regulatory risks. It is important that today's biopharmaceutical CIO is driving the proper quality culture and ensuring that solid IT quality management systems are in place. The biopharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly competitive as more companies are joining an already crowded industry. This is driving growth in the industry at an accelerated pace. The challenge for the CIO is keeping pace with the business to ensure company success and not hinder business growth. Further, today's CIO is tasked with managing the balance between performance and control. As more controls are introduced, IT performance can be negatively impacted, resulting in less efficient processes. The key to balancing and keeping pace with the business is to ensure IT has the right people, process, and technology in place. It is also important to understand what has not changed substantially in the role of the CIO in the biopharmaceutical industry. Talent management has always been a key role of the CIO. It is critical to the success of any IT organization to find, develop, and retain good IT talent. Since the 1990s, technology has been a strategic driver for most all industries and not just the biopharmaceutical industry. As a result, more pressure has been put on companies to find and retain key IT skills and leadership. This trend is not expected to change, so it is important that talent management be a key foundational component of the CIO strategy. An organization is only as successful as the people who run it.As Charles Darwin said, it is the species that is most responsive to change that survives. This is applicable to the role of the CIO in the biopharmaceutical industry. The biopharmaceutical business will continue to be a fast paced, rapidly growing industry that will rely heavily on evolving technologies such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud to support their competiveness in the crowded space. The ever changing regulatory environment will continue to be a challenge for almost every CIO in the biopharmaceutical industry. CIOs will need to be business partners and change agents that understand the business and are aligned with the business strategy. This will ensure IT is providing the highest value at the speed required by the business. Andy NewsomAs IT leaders, CIO needs to ensure that the IT organization is led by business, and not driven by technology
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