With Claus Thomsen
CIO, Lundbeck
Med Claus Thomsen
CIO, Lundbeck
At heart, Lundbeck is a company born from biology. For more than 50 years, the core of Lundbeck’s business
has been the composition of pharmaceutical products and the health benefits they provide. And Lundbeck’s CIO, Claus
Thomsen, keeps that in mind as he navigates the digital course for the company.
– We basically don't believe that digital is going to replace our core products. But it can augment it. There are a
lot of open roads to explore and in some areas, we're moving quite quickly. For instance, we are buying and
analyzing a lot of external data to build better solutions for both research, development and sales, says Claus
Thomsen.
Inderst inde er Lundbeck et selskab født ud af biologien. I mere end 50 år har kernen i Lundbecks forretning været
sammensætning af lægemidler og de helbredsmæssige fordele, de giver. Og det har Lundbecks CIO Claus Thomsen med sig i
tankerne, når han navigerer virksomhedens digitale kurs.
– Vi tror dybest set ikke, at den digitale udvikling vil erstatte vores kerneprodukter. Men den kan styrke dem. Der er
mange veje at udforske, og på nogle områder flytter vi os ganske hurtigt. For eksempel køber og analyserer vi mange
eksterne data for at opbygge bedre løsninger til både forskning, udvikling og salg, siger Claus Thomsen.
Lundbeck has chosen to digitalize based on four distinct tracks: Administration, Production & Supply
Chain, Research & Development and Sales. All digital initiatives are funded through one of the four tracks, which
ensures a clear ownership and senior level sponsorship, with the four top executives providing the necessary
investment muscle to launch projects and keep them going.
– Ownership of the digital journeys in Lundbeck is shared between the business stakeholders, who owns the strategic
direction, and IT, who owns the technology. Put together, that equation equals digital innovation. It's a yin-yang
relationship that ensures that we are pulling towards the same goal, says Claus Thomsen.
Lundbeck har valgt at digitalisere med afsæt i fire forskellige spor: Administration, Production & Supply
Chain, Research & Development og Salg. Alle digitale initiativer finansieres gennem et af de fire spor, hvilket
sikrer et klart ejerskab og opbakning på seniorniveau, da de fire øverste ledere leverer den nødvendige
investeringsmuskel til at lancere projekter og holde dem i gang.
– Ejerskabet af de digitale rejser i Lundbeck deles mellem de forretningspartnere, der ejer de strategiske
retninger, og it, der ejer teknologien. Og den ligning resulterer i digital innovation. Det er et yin og
yang-forhold, der sikrer, at vi trækker mod det samme mål, forklarer Claus Thomsen.
One of Claus Thomsen’s most impactful leadership decisions has been to outsource Lundbeck’s own IT
resources down to key tactical and strategic IT functions. Now, the skillset of the internal IT staff is focused
around six key competences: Business partnering, Architecture, Project & Change management, Vendor management and
IT Service Management processes. Access to additional capabilities are through external partners.
– Not long ago, we had a lot of very skilled developers, who were great at building solutions for sales or
production, for instance. But I was always constrained by having to find work to exactly that specific group of
competencies available internally. Now we have six things that we do really well and an adequate budget, which we
apply as needed. It's a lot more agile than having a specific number of people who are locked into a specific
platform or business area, Claus Thomsen explains.
This approach is only possible through a series of strategic partnerships built on trust and solid track records,
and Claus Thomsen sets high standards for Lundbeck’s external partners. Lundbeck also had to be willing to make
other sacrifices, for example saying goodbye to a lot of inhouse knowledge and capabilities.
– I was challenged a lot internally on this point. But our assessment is that the agility we gain is more valuable
for us.
En af Claus Thomsens mest effektfulde ledelsesbeslutninger var at outsource Lundbecks egne it-ressourcer ned til
taktiske og strategiske it-kernefunktioner. Nu fokuserer de interne it-medarbejderes færdigheder sig rundt om seks
nøglekompetencer: Business partnering, Architecture, Project & Change Management, Vendor Management og IT Service
Management-processer. Er der behov for yderligere kompetencer, sker det via eksterne partnere.
– For ikke så længe siden havde vi en masse meget dygtige udviklere ansat, som var virkelig gode til at bygge løsninger
til for eksempel salg eller produktion. Men jeg var altid begrænset af at skulle finde opgaver til netop dén specifikke
gruppe af kompetencer, der var til rådighed internt. Nu har vi seks ting, som vi gør rigtig godt, og et passende
budget, som vi anvender efter behov. Det er langt mere agilt end at have et bestemt antal mennesker, der er låst i en
bestemt platform eller i et bestemt forretningsområde, forklarer Claus Thomsen.
Denne tilgang er kun mulig på grund af en række strategiske partnerskaber, der bygger på tillid og solide track
records, og Claus Thomsen sætter høje standarder for Lundbecks eksterne partnere. Lundbeck var også nødt til at gøre
andre ofre, for eksempel at sige farvel til en god mængde intern viden og kompetencer.
– Internt blev jeg udfordret meget på dette punkt. Men vores vurdering er, at den agilitet vi opnår, er mere værdifuld
for os.
One of the areas where Claus Thomsen sees a great potential for digitalization is faster and more
efficient clinical research through AI and data analytics.
– Because of the financial potential in medical research, there has been significant willingness to invest and
experiment in research data, and Lundbeck is quite advanced in this area. We're already running a lot of
experiments, but we can see that the progress is slower than we would have guessed just a couple of years ago.
The slow pace underlines the importance of managing expectations, both with senior management and the rest of the
organization. Especially in a culture that is accustomed to very high quality standards.
– AI is going to be amazing – at some point! In general, all parts of the organization are very pro-technology,
which creates a positive pressure on us in IT. We don't want to become naysayers, but often it's more complicated
than people realize and can't be done in half a day. If we don’t align expectations with our business stakeholders,
when experimenting with immature technology, it will backfire, says Claus Thomsen.
Et af de områder, hvor Claus Thomsen ser et stort potentiale for digitalisering, er hurtigere og mere
effektiv klinisk forskning gennem AI og dataanalyse.
– På grund af det finansielle potentiale inden for medicinsk forskning har der været betydelig velvilje til at
investere i og lave forsøg med forskningsdata, og Lundbeck er ret langt fremme på dette område. Vi kører allerede
en del forsøg, men vi kan se, at udviklingen sker langsommere, end vi havde forestillet os for et par år siden.
Det langsomme tempo understreger vigtigheden af at afstemme forventningerne – både med ledende medarbejdere og med
den øvrige organisation. Især i en kultur, der er vant til meget høje kvalitetsstandarder.
– AI bliver fantastisk – på et tidspunkt! Generelt er alle dele af organisationen meget pro-teknologi, hvilket
skaber et positivt pres på os i it. Vi ønsker ikke at blive nejsigere, men ofte er det mere kompliceret end folk er
klar over og kan ikke klares på en halv dag. Hvis vi ikke afstemmer forventningerne med vores forretningspartnere,
vil det, når vi forsøger os med umodne teknologier, give bagslag, siger Claus Thomsen.
In other fields, Claus Thomsen believes that the pharma industry has much to learn from for instance the
financial sector, which is far ahead on customer interaction. But regulatory constraints often prevent Lundbeck and
other pharma companies from getting too close to their end users.
– Regulations forbid most direct contact with the patients, so all dialogue takes place through patient
associations. The only place we are in direct contact is the patient portal for clinical trials we're building.
Here, we involve patients directly in UX-design through a series of agile sprints.
På andre områder mener Claus Thomsen, at pharma-industrien har meget at lære af for eksempel den
finansielle sektor, som er langt fremme på kundeinteraktion. Men regulatoriske begrænsninger forhindrer ofte
Lundbeck og andre pharma-virksomheder i at komme for tæt på deres slutbrugere.
– Regulativer forbyder de fleste direkte kontakter med patienterne, så al dialog foregår gennem patientforeninger.
Det eneste sted, hvor vi har direkte kontakt, er i patientportalen for kliniske forsøg, som vi bygger. Her
involverer vi patienter direkte i UX-design gennem en række agile sprints.
Lundbeck is part of Digital Dogma, a joint initiative by major Danish companies who have committed each other to lifting the digital qualifications of their employees. This is done through a series of initiatives such as retraining and including the employees in projects with learning potential.
Lundbeck recently hired a corporate entrepreneur, who originally was part of an external startup project testing technology to prevent depression. She has been tasked with establishing several internal startups that are intended to operate completely independent from Lundbeck.
In cooperation with an external partner, Lundbeck is working to develop a tool that will be able to determine where in the world it is most cost-effective to recruit patients for clinical trials. The tool displays the info on a map in real time using public data and machine learning.
Don’t get tied down by your in-house staff. It can constrain you in an unhealthy way.
A change mindset is key to the modern IT organization – you must be able to get people to experiment outside their narrow field of expertise.
Partners must also be permitted to fail. Outsourcing won't work, if you see you partners exclusively as suppliers, who are not allowed to make any kind of mistakes.
Lundbeck er en del af Digital Dogma, der er et fælles initiativ blandt store, danske virksomheder, der har forpligtet hinanden til at løfte deres medarbejderes digitale kvalifikationer. Dette sker gennem en række initiativer som efteruddannelse og medarbejderinvolvering i projekter med læringspotentiale.
Lundbeck har for nylig ansat en corporate entrepreneur, som oprindeligt var en del af et eksternt startup-projekt, der testede teknologi til forebyggelse af depression. Hun har fået til opgave at etablere en række interne startups, der skal fungere helt uafhængigt af Lundbeck.
I samarbejde med en ekstern partner arbejder Lundbeck på at udvikle et værktøj, der kan afgøre, hvor i verden det er mest omkostningseffektivt at rekruttere patienter til kliniske forsøg. Værktøjet viser informationen på et kort i realtid ved hjælp af offentligt tilgængelige data og machine learning.
Bliv ikke bundet på hænder og fødder af din stab. Det kan begrænse dig på en usund måde.
En forretningsparat kultur er afgørende for den moderne it-organisation – du skal kunne få folk til at eksperimentere uden for deres snævre fagområde.
Partnere skal også have tilladelse til at fejle. Outsourcing vil ikke fungere, hvis du udelukkende ser dine partnere som leverandører, der ikke har lov til at gøre nogen form for fejl.
By taking the test you will unlock access to Digital at Scale cases featuring insights from 10 selected CIOs across industries: Arla, Bang & Olufsen, Copenhagen Airport, Danish Capital Region, Danish Crown, Lundbeck, Nilfisk, Octapharma, Spar Nord and Stark.
Når du har taget testen, får du adgang til eksklusive Digital at Scale cases med indsigter fra 10 udvalgte CIOs på tværs af brancher: Arla, Bang & Olufsen, Copenhagen Airport, Region Hovedstaden, Danish Crown, Lundbeck, Nilfisk, Octapharma, Spar Nord og Stark.
Jonas Dan Jørgensen
CIO, Copenhagen Airports
Jonas Dan Jørgensen
CIO, Copenhagen Airports
The report on Digital Innovation draws on the answers of 250 respondents in the spring of 2018. Also, we have supplemented the publication with interviews of 6 innovative CIOs, who contribute with their insightful input and experiences.
Få resultatet af sidste års Forventningsbarometer om digital innovation, som trækker på besvarelserne fra 250 respondenter. Vi har krydret rapporten med interviews af 6 innovative CIOs, der bidrager med deres skarpe input og erfaringer.
At NNIT we supply the right gear and targeted services to help your business scale up from fragmented digital pilots to implementation of an agile digital mindset throughout the organization. Visit our Digital Transformation hub, and learn about the counselling and solutions that can bring you to the next level.
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