October 2022 – TwonaBlog

October 29, 2022June 30, 2023

Kaizen 改 (kai -change) 善 (zen- for the better)

Photo by Connor Ludy - Japanese signs on orange background — Photo by Conor Luddy

Kaizen is no new concept, it is quite an old concept well renowned in the industry, in relation to quality management.

Most sectors nowadays must adapt quickly to a changing environment, in a nearly organic manner. There is that resistance to change nearly inherent to human beings. Once we are used to something, and we are agile in a specific process, it takes a while for us to amold to a change that means learning a new technology, forgetting or unlearning the previous process.

Considering that a new adjustment or process would be beneficial, could it be that adding a new process would be what causes the initial friction?

How many of the changes you experienced in the last year meant learning to use a new tool or software?

There are possibly workers that can manage their jobs with 2 or 3 tools, buy I would dare to say that most of us use at least 5 or 6. Is that too much? Without too many details, I can count: Task and team manager + internal communication tool + online cloud storage + CRM + ERP + Invoicing system ; Shared document editor + Wiki + Password manager + Video conferencing system + Email + Time tracker + Process automation and workflow management…

So, just working with half of these tools is quite a lot to use on a daily basis, each team would have their own tools to manage and control their processes in the best way possible. Does it mean that we have enough and we cannot absorb any more tool-related changes? I do not have an answer to that but I do not think that is the best approach to the matter. It is, however, the time to reflect on how the process can be simplified, which is why I am taking on the automation of processes or integrations.

In that search for continuous improvement through change, it could be that we have become obsessed with wanting to use the best tool for everything – the most complete CRM, with a task manager and teams easy and usable; tools to communicate; intuitive invoicing system; and organized resources planning to link operations in different areas, ERP.

Do not get me wrong. Of course, we all want the best for our teams, and we want to provide the best in market tool for each process. But, sometimes, when we study processes from a top perspective, looking at the big picture, maybe the answer is in learning the connection between different tasks to create a sequence and automate as much as possible.

Is tool integration the new Kaizen of our time?

October 22, 2022February 3, 2023

Leaflet digitalization in the European Union?

Photo by Danielle Rice - map of europe — **Photo by Danielle Rice**

If you follow us, you would remember an earlier article about changes in the pharmaceutical industry in the last years, around tools and technology for document management.

Was it an exponential change in the industry ?

Some examples of these changes are:

A paper archive/database
Tracing in an spreadsheet
Control of changes on paper
Email or Fax as project manager
Visual Artwork review

These types of processes are now a thing of the past, and are being replaced by Artwork Management systems, and proofing tools that take change management to a totally new level.

The change has been enormous and more changes could be needed due to agreements between the European Medicines Agency (EMA) , management at Medicine agencies (HMA) and the European commission projects from 2018, aiming at a digital transformation in sanitary support in the European Union (see the draft here: EMA)

This transformation has implications that are beyond my knowledge, but some of the phases that it entails were:

March 2017 – report from the European Commission with an action plan for the EMA to identify areas susceptible of improvement to satisfy the needs of patients and professionals.
2018 – collaboration between EMA-HMA-EC identifying the needs for a future digitalization.
March 2017 – report from the European Commission with an action plan for the EMA to identify areas susceptible of improvement to satisfy the needs of patients and professionals.
28 november 2018 – EMA runs a workshop with patients/consumers, health professionals, interested parties in the industry, academics, NGOs and regulators. This returned the key principles of this process.
February to July 2019 – public consultation with over 500 comments.

After reviewing these comments in relation to the key principles defined, a pilot program emerged in January 2022, aimed at evaluating the impact of the removal of the paper leaflets in a small portion of medicines for human use, within hospitals.

These medicines should include in their primary packaging a non serialised Data Matrix code that, once captured, would allow direct access to the digital version of the leaflet from the information allocated in CIMA.

The pilot duration will be at least 2 years, and it will be implemented progressively.

Would there really be a digitalization in health assistance in the European Union? I believe that after all the effort, this will become a reality. The only question is to what extent is the EU capable of coordinating for the big change of digital times.

And you, are you ready?

October 4, 2022February 3, 2023

Remote work is here… to stay?

Photo by Nelly Antoniadou - image of small scrabble like letters in black wooden pieces, saying Work from home — *Photo by Nelly Antoniadou*

Unfortunately, change sometimes comes hand in hand with a crisis, of different types. The last change in the working environment had as a catalyst a sanitary crisis.

Even though it is of course true that not all jobs can be performed remotely, a great percentage of these only require a computer connected to the internet. Although it did not go without difficulties, imagine how this pandemic would have looked like for us 20 years ago!

Would have you been able to do your job from home 20 years ago?

If you go back in time … do you remember the amount of paper that was used at the time, that needed to be archived… a large room with the photocopiers, maybe even a fax… using telephone for everything, and access to an intranet with servers in the same building?

I have been working from home for a while and I feel confident that I have all the documentation I need and that the servers we use are on the cloud. If you work with Artworks and think there is some room for improvement for your process or moving to more modern technologies, I invite you to have a look at us.

There are many pros and cons about remote working depending on your activity and job environment . Working remotely you avoid unnecessary travel back and forth to your office, although it is true that sometimes that commute also helped “disconnect”. You remove distractions with chit chat and extra long breaks to talk to people. But the job is more isolated, and sometimes there are meetings where an email was enough (although that also happened in the “real” world).

In my view, there is still a process before the job environment adapts to this new paradigm, where there are many possibilities: mixed formats and phased approaches for new hires, etc.

Similarly, it is important that regulation comes to place for those remote / home workers based on what this means for their economies: support for extra expenses (utilities for instance). If you are working from home and are new to this topic, make a search around legislation that has been approved/promoted in this respect .

This article is not a fear monger about what would happen if we are forced again to all work/stay at home; on the contrary, the article is a praise to the fast adaptation of many companies in a difficult situation, demonstrating how agile they could be to make sure they could work as usual in a changing world, from one day to the next.

Do you think remote work has come to stay?